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Top 10 Best Free YouTube Downloaders

youtube-downloader

Unfortunately, the internet doesn’t always travel with us. So for those who are addicted to YouTube, being able to download YouTube videos is hugely valuable. In this article, I will cover 10 of the best free YouTube downloaders.

But before I get stuck in, here are some reasons why you might want to download a YouTube video.

Disclaimer: You should only download videos when you have permission from the copyright owner of the content. Reading YouTube’s terms of service notes that downloading content without permission is explicitly prohibited.

Top 10 Best Free YouTube Downloaders


1. Free YouTube Download

You don’t really need to be a rocket scientist to know what this program does! The title is pretty self-explanatory. Free YouTube Downloader is a slick software that is designed for one thing only and help you to download youtube to mp4: download videos.

Overall, this option is by far the favorite that we have used from this list and its a great mp4 converter It consistently gave us the fastest download speeds, ease of use, lots of functionality and not to mention the ability to select video quality. Can’t go wrong!

Pros

The downloader is simple; all you need to do is paste the URL. If the auto-downloading option is enabled the software downloads the video on its own. Batch downloading is also available by default, and requires no premium or paid credits. It is also available for Mac and PC.

Cons

After using Free YouTube Download, it was quite hard to fault. It serviced all my needs which was great. The only thing I would prefer would be a more modern user interface. But overall a great tool and easily deserves my number one spot.


2.Snap Downloader

Snaptube is another easy-to-use application allowing you to download YouTube videos in different resolutions and formats. Similar to the Android edition of Videoder, in addition to YouTube, Snaptube allows you to download content from more than 50 popular websites.

3. 4K Video Downloader

Looking for simple, ad- & worry-free YouTube downloads? 4K Video Downloader is one of the safest bets out there and provides comprehensive YouTube downloading capabilities. Its most decorated features include:

Pros

Simply superb, all that 4K Video Downloader requires is the video’s URL, and from there on out, you can download the video with a single click. The downloader supports multi-stream downloading that speeds up downloads while eliminating any risk of getting the IP address blocked.

Cons

There’s no free meal, right? Right. While the downloader is available for free, its features are limited The most major ones of these limitations is the version’s inability to download playlists with more than 24 videos. Apart from this, the free version doesn’t put you in a tight spot with the video’s source website, the quality, or its download speed.


4. WinX YouTube Downloader

Most people who are looking to make YouTube videos work offline aren’t looking for an overloaded or fancy software. They just need to get the job done.

WinX YouTube Downloader is one of the best free YouTube downloaders available. It’s able to:

Pros

The downloader can download video at any of the resolutions available, while also supporting batch downloads. In addition, it is completely free so missing out on any feature is impossible.

Cons

With that being said, the interface feels a bit outdated, and the downloader misses out on some of the more advanced features such as multi-stream downloads.


5. Any Video Converter Free

Don’t be fooled by the software’s name, since it has the ability to do way more than what you might think. Any Video Converter is a YouTube downloader, that’s capable of:

Pros

On its face, this is one of the best free YouTube downloader available, but its limited functionality within the free version puts it on hold. The interface is fluid, and requires little interference once a download has begun. Once done, you can edit the video and save it in a variety of formats.

Cons

The free version’s installer comes with adware such as ByteFence and Yahoo software so be sure to decline that. In addition, the you can’t initiate batch downloads unless you buy the premium version. These two drawbacks keep the downloader from going up the list.


6. ISkySoft Video Downloader

One of the best free YouTube downloaders there is, ISkySoft Video Downloader is a simple yet effective software. It is highlighted by features such as:

Pros

Available for both Windows & Mac, the simple YouTube downloader lets you download & convert video files from YouTube. If you want, you can extract audio-only from videos as well.

Cons

The downloader is certainly free to try but some of its features don’t work until you pay. One of these is batch downloads & converts. With the free version, you’ll be able to carry out only basic YouTube downloading tasks, none of the fancy stuff!


7. FastestTube

Do you really need an entire software program installed on your computer in order to download YouTube videos? No, a web-browser extension would suffice. FastestTube is a web browser extension that downloads videos without requiring any additional software installed on your computer.

Pros

The extension works with popular browsers such as Internet Explorer, Chrome & Firefox. You may download videos in a variety of qualities as high as 1080p, while at the same time enabling/disabling additions such as annotations, auto-play and ads. This makes the interface solid, and removes all the hassle of opening up a separate software for downloading videos.

Cons

As Google doesn’t really like you to download YouTube videos for free, you’ll have to download the extension from FastestTube’s website and install it from thereon. This might be undesirable for some users who are looking for a quick-fix.


8. Freemake Video Downloader

If you look at it as an entirely free software, it really is one of the best free YouTube downloaders available. Not just for YouTube, the application grabs videos from websites such as Facebook, Dailymotion, Vimeo, etc.

Pros

The video downloader comes with an intuitive interface, sporting a one-click mode which makes downloading videos a cake-walk. You can set-up the application’s setting once, for downloading, extracting & converting, and from thereon, rely on a single click for the whole operation to take place. You can download the video file in any of the available qualities without a glitch.

Cons

The application tends to get bogged down when multiple downloads are initiated at the same time, but for the most part, maintains its fluidity.


9. ClipGrab

ClipGrab has been designed to ease in the process of downloading videos, letting you work your way through sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc. This is one of the best free YouTube downloaders out there, and has almost every bit of functionality you want.

Pros

For starters, ClipGrab lets you search for a video from its search-bar. This means you don’t have to open your browser at all. Once you find the video you were looking for, all you need to do is select the quality & format, and start downloading.

If you want, you can also paste URLs into the software’s clipboard to download videos. The downloader also gives you an option to download audio-only version of files, which is great for a music enthusiast.

Cons

The installer comes with adware such as Yahoo & ByteFence add-ons; be sure to avoid these. In addition, you’ll need to be really specific while carrying out a video search as the results only contain 12 entries.


10. All Video Downloader 

All Video Downloader works on a similar principle as ClipGrab. It lets you search for a video from within the application, and download them without opening a separate web browser. Apart from YouTube, the application’s search engine includes sites such as Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.

Pros

The entire operation is highly simple, which makes this software desirable for beginner users. In addition, to downloading videos, you can also configure the application to extract audio on its own. Moreover, you can covert video files in a variety of formats as well and watch them on a separate device later.

Cons

The batch download feature is a little limited though. You can only download two videos and only convert four at any given time.


11. aTube Catcher

aTube Catcher is a YouTube Downloader that in addition to its normal operation, lets you convert files into different video formats. A brief of the features is as follows:

Pros

aTube Catcher is truly one of the best free YouTube downloaders as it provides top-notch downloading capabilities. Once you acquire the link to the video, you can select a variety of video formats to download in. That’s not all. You can also record on-screen videos, and burn them on a CD/DVD if you like.

Cons

But the story doesn’t end here. The installer does try to sneak up on you through an adware, which is of course not installed if you decline the offer.


12. Airy

Enjoy your YouTube videos and music even when offline! Airy YouTube Downloader can download YouTube videos in MP4, 3GP, FLV formats. It supports HD and Ultra HD videos perfectly well. With Airy you can easily convert YouTube videos to MP3.

Pros

Cons


How To Use a Free YouTube Downloader

When it comes to downloading YouTube videos,  there are literally dozens of ways of going about it. You could use the YouTube premium version, which of course comes at a price, or you could opt for a tool such as a video downloader.

These software and online tools are a great way to copy in a link and simply download the video (providing that you have adhered to YouTubes terms and conditions).

Once you have the link of your choice, you simply paste it into the downloader of your choice. From there you can easily select the video format such as Mp4 (most common), MWV and so on. We do recommend Mp4 as its a lossless compression and is great storage wise.

After following the steps, simply click download and your video will start to import onto your computer. Depending on the size of the video, this can take several minutes.

Conclusion

To learn more about downloaders, you can also check out our great guide on the best YouTube downloaders for Android. If you are a fan of Apple computers, you will then be happy to know that I have written a guide on the best YouTube downloaders for Mac computers. If there are any other lists you would like to see, please let me know!