How to Download YouTube Videos in 2021 (Ultimate Guide)

YouTube is the largest on-demand video platform in the world.

In fact, over 30 million visitors watch 5 billion videos every single day on YouTube.

If you want to save videos to watch later, you need to learn how to download YouTube videos effectively. You can download YouTube videos into formats like MP4, AVI, MPEG, and more. Or if you just need audio, you can convert YouTube videos into MP3 files.

With so many ways to download and access videos on demand, I created this resource with the latest ways to download YouTube videos this year.

Let’s get started.

Disclaimer: Please note, I may receive affiliate compensation for some of the links below at no cost to you. However, these are the best tools I have tested for downloading and converting YouTube videos into MP3 files. You can read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.

Is Downloading YouTube Videos Legal?

YouTube has a pretty straightforward Terms of Service that delineates what a viewer can or can’t do on the platform.

Downloading videos without prior permission, selling them, and committing copyright infringement are violations of their terms of service. 

While downloading YouTube videos is technically a criminal act, YouTube has made no desire to penalize users for downloading videos. Certain royalty-free videos on YouTube with the correct licenses are legal to download. Plus, if you’re just using the video for personal use, it can be considered legal. 

YouTube states, “You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content.”

In other words, you can watch Youtube videos, but only from Google applications. 

However, third-party apps will continue to sprout up online and let people download YouTube Videos. It’s tough to enforce or ban users for exploiting them – you can still watch YouTube videos when you’re not signed in.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if downloading videos from YouTube for personal use is something you should be doing.