With YouTube Premium, you can now temporarily download YouTube videos to your device and play them offline for a limited period of 30 days. However, many people may be wondering, "I want to download YouTube videos for free" or "How can I download videos from YouTube without premium?"
There are tons of methods for downloading YouTube videos online. After spending days trying each one, I found that many are no longer working. Fortunately, I discovered these four simple and effective methods for downloading YouTube videos, some of which even support batch downloading and are 100% effective!
In this article, we will introduce how to download YouTube videos for free without the premium subscription and save them forever, from PC software, mobile apps, and websites. Not only can you download high-definition videos, but you can also download covers and subtitles!
iFunia YouTube Downloader
Free Download macOS 10.13 or later 
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
A safe and easy-to-use video downloader app is a top alternative to YouTube Premium. iFunia YouTube Downloader is a dedicated YouTube video and audio downloader that have been in the market for more than 10 years.
| Number of supported video streaming | Over 1,000 sites (including YouTube) |
|---|---|
| Download Quality | Original video (8K, 4K, 1080P, etc.) |
| Free trial period | Available (Download 3 videos for free) |
It has an app for both PC and Mac. If you want to download a whole YouTube playlist at a time this app supports that too. You can also grab the YouTube URL of a live-streamed video, and it will download just like a regular video.
Though it named YouTube downloader, It actually supports downloading videos from 1000+ websites including Vimeo, OK.RU, YouTube, Facebook, Dailymotion, Twitch etc.
What distinguishes it from others is that it downloads the video in its original quality and format (4K, 8K, and 1080P are possible) - that is, it won’t do any compression or conversion when downloading the video you need, so you get an exact copy of the video uploaded by the author. Although it is a paid program, it offers 3 free downloads for users to try its full features before purchasing.
How to use:
Download, install and launch iFunia YouTube Download on your computer.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.13 or later
Once installed, go to the YouTube video you want to download, copy the URL. Paste the URL into iFunia YouTube Downloader, hit Enter on the keyboard or the “+” icon to analyze the YouTube video. You can add as many videos as you want to the app without limitation.
Tip: To add multiple YouTube videos, you can go to File -> Input URLs** to paste URLs in bulk in the pop-up box. One URL per line.
When the video is loaded, choose a video quality from the Format drop-down menu. You can download a video at the highest quality, but if you want to save space, you can always select a lesser quality setting.
Choose where the file should save to and click the Download button to begin downloading YouTube videos to your computer. That’s it! This powerful YouTube downloader allows you to pause and resume download process at will.
Tip: When the video is successfully downloaded, you can preview it with the built-in video player. Also, click the checkmark icon to quickly find the downloaded file.
Browser compatibility: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Yandex, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi
Chrome Web Store doesn't allow extensions to download videos from YouTube. Therefore, you can’t find an extension that supports download YouTube videos here. The extension we introduced here named Addoncrop Youtube Video Downloader.
This extension is not available in Chrome Web Store, you have to download the extension from its website. It supports download YouTube videos to AVI, FLV, WebM, MP4 and MP3 files. For video quality it can download video resolutions up to 1080p, though it says it can support 4K video download.
To download a YouTube video, it also requires one to download another extension which named Foxified, which has the function to emulate firefox extensions in Chrome, Opera and other Chromium based browsers.
Steps to download YouTube videos using this Chrome extension:
TubeMate is a dedicated and easy-to-use YouTube video downloader for Android users. Users find and access the videos with the built-in browser and save videos comfortably with just a tap. It is lightweight and the download speed is quite excellent compared to other app.
Besides YouTube it also supports downloading videos from DailyMotion, YouKu, Facebook, MetaCafe, Google Video, etc. You can also choose from four sizes and image quality for the videos you download, from 1280x720 to 320x240 pixels.
How to use:
Apple have straight restrictions on video download app, iPhone users don’t have much options to choose. To download YouTube videos on iPhone or iPad, you can try Documents by Readdle. Documents is actually a file management app, downloading video is one of its secret functions. Documents can download videos in HD quality up to 720p.
How to use:
Both iPhone and Android phones has screen recording function, this also helps record the video and save an offline copy.
If you want to download YouTube videos without any software, then you can download videos using online sites. There are tons of free video download sites, but the following 4 sites are the most recommended:
VLC isn't just for playing videos; it can also help you download videos from online sites like YouTube. Compared with other solutions, VLC is a trusted name, so there are no security concerns with this option. In our test, VLC only download YouTube videos in HD, typically in 360p, 480p or 720p, so you are not expected to download YouTube videos in 1080p or 4K with VLC.
How to use:
There are some things to be careful when using free video download sites and apps.
"YouTube Premium" is a monthly paid service offered by YouTube since November 14, 2018.
| Plan | Standard Plan | Family Plan | Student Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly plans | $13.99 | $22.99 | $7.99 |
| Annual plans | $139.99 | $139.99 | $139.99 |
There are five main things you can do with YouTube Premium:
Videos that are downloaded and temporarily stored can be played offline for up to 30 days. Once you cancel YouTube Premium subscription, everything you've downloaded goes away.
So, YouTube Premium downloaded videos is not the same way we download videos in a standard video file formats which an be saved permanently on your PC. This also means videos downloaded with YouTube Premium can not be used in other apps this include video editing softwares.
Downloading videos from YouTube without premium is easy as long as you use the right tools. All of the tools we introduced in this article are free to use, so you can choose any method that suits you.
For occasional downloads of short videos, online sites and browser extension is enough. When using a download site, you should be especially careful of "fake ads" when saving YouTube videos. Do not click on them.
But for frequent video downloads and from a safety perspective, a desktop YouTube downloader is top choice. iFunia YouTube Downloader not only lets you save videos from YouTube in the highest quality, but offers practical functions like batch download videos, download a playlist in one go, download only the audio, download live YouTube videos, etc. Also, besides YouTube, it can download videos from Rumble, Dailymotion, Facebook, Vimeo, etc. Now you can save your favorite YouTube videos and watch them offline without a premium subscription.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.13 or later
Chloe LEE is good at explaining and solving complex technology problems to her readers. Since joining iFunia Studio, she has focused on writing articles about video and DVD software, and how-to tutorials.
