How do I download or save a YouTube video to my computer?

YouTube has been designed to only allow users to watch and view videos on their website. Many users want to download or save their favorite YouTube videos to their computer so they can watch them without being connected to the Internet or on other devices. Below are the steps required for downloading and watching YouTube videos on your computer for free.

Note: This page only provides instructions for downloading or saving a YouTube video to your computer. Instructions for saving a video as audio is on our saving only the audio of a YouTube video to an MP3 file page.

Tip: Unless you plan on transferring the video from your computer to your smartphone or tablet after it has been downloaded, we suggest using our how to download a YouTube video on a smartphone or tablet steps for these devices.

Saving YouTube video as a video file on your computer

Today, there are many websites that allow you to enter the URL of the video you want to save to your computer and get a link to download the video file. Below is a simple three-step process to download any YouTube video.

Note: If you are at a school or job that is blocking YouTube, these steps may not work.

1. First, go to the YouTube page containing the video you want to download. When you've found the page, press Ctrl + L on your keyboard to highlight the text in the address bar, and then Ctrl + C to copy the Internet address.

2. Once this address has been copied, paste that URL into the text field below by clicking inside the box and pressing Ctrl + V on your keyboard. Then, click the Download Video button.

Note: If the text field or Download Video button above is not visible or clickable, you can also go to savefrom.net and paste the YouTube video URL into the text field on that web page.

3. If done properly, a new window will appear displaying a preview of the video (as shown below), along with a green Download button and the video format. The default format for downloading the video is the MP4 360p format.

If you click on the "MP4 360p" format option, a drop-down list will appear. Click on theMore option in that drop-down list to see additional video formats, such as FLV, 3GP, and WebM. Select the video format you want and click the green Download button.

Note: A Subtitles option may be available in the list when clicking on the "More" option. If subtitles are available for the YouTube video you are downloading, you can choose to include subtitles in the downloaded YouTube video.

After the file has been downloaded, it will be available in your downloads folder.