How do I download YouTube videos to my Mac for Free 2022?

It's been a consistently difficult challenge to watch your favorite YouTube videos without having a Premium subscription that enables this for a fee. This is where a free downloader on a smartphone, Mac, or Windows PC comes in.

Perhaps you want to watch a video offline for a meeting, or for a place where you won't have fast or any internet access, such as a train commute.

The process of having a video from YouTube is surprisingly easy - it mostly involves taking the video's URL, and then using one of the websites below to download it. But if you only want the audio, we do have a free YouTube to MP3 converter guide instead.

Currently, our top choice for downloading videos from YouTube is the 4K Video Downloader, which can do the job without leaving a watermark, compared to other apps. However, there are other apps that you can look into that do the same job, which we've highlighted below.

Best free YouTube downloader apps to use of 2022 in full:

1. 4K Video Downloader

Fast, free and flexible – the most versatile YouTube downloader

Specifications

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux

Reasons to buy

+

Great choice of formats

Reasons to avoid

-

Limits on playlist downloads

4K Video Downloader is the best free YouTube downloader around for quick, fuss-free YouTube downloads. It's simple to use, highly customizable, ad-free and doesn't include any bundled extra software.

To grab a video (or a whole playlist, provided it's not longer than 24 videos), simply copy its URL from your web browser, click 'Paste URL' and select an output format, quality and location. 

There's a great choice of formats – both video and audio – including MP4 and MP3. You can download captions for individual videos, and there's support for 3D and 360-degree videos too.

Delving into the properties lets you tweak options like multi-stream downloads (increasing the number of streams will speed up downloads, but increases the risk of YouTube blocking your IP address) and set up a proxy connection.

Buying a key (opens in new tab) will let you download longer playlists and playlists with captions, and at £7.95 (about US$10, AU$15) for a lifetime license for three PCs, it's a bargain, but the free edition has everything else you could wish for.

Read our full review: 4K Video Downloader

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2. WinX YouTube Downloader

Clear, powerful and well designed – a very close runner-up

Specifications

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Reasons to buy

+

Supports over 30 video sites

Reasons to avoid

-

No 360-degree video support

Running a very close second, WinX YouTube Downloader can download videos from all the most popular sites, including Facebook, Vimeo and DailyMotion. It's very easy to use. Just paste in a URL, select an output format and quality setting, and it will be added to the current batch.

Once you've added all the videos you want to download, simply click the 'Download' button and they'll all be processed at once, and saved to the destination folder of your choice.

WinX YouTube Downloader can download 4K video when available, and only loses out to 4K Video Downloader because it's unable to download 3D and 360-degree videos. If this isn't a problem for you, this free YouTube downloader comes highly recommended.

Read our full review: WinX YouTube Downloader

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3. Any Video Converter Free

Download and convert videos, and add special effects

Specifications

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Reasons to buy

+

Excellent format support

Reasons to avoid

-

No batch downloads

At first glance, Any Video Converter Free is one of the best free YouTube downloaders out there. The only drawback is that this free version limits you to download a single video at a time, but if you're looking for a free solution, this is something you may decide you're happy to put up with.

There are lots of video formats to choose from, and there's even a basic video editor built into this YouTube downloader. This can be used to crop a video you download, add simple effects such as color adjustment, and add overlay text.

The whole process is quick and easy. Any Video Converter's interface may not be to everyone's liking, but that's really nitpicking; this is a fantastic free YouTube downloader in all other respects. Watch out for the bundled ByteFence and Yahoo software during installation, and you're good to go.

Read our full review: Any Video Converter Free

4. Free YouTube Download

Grab videos without clicking a single button

Specifications

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Reasons to buy

+

Auto download option

Reasons to avoid

-

Three-minute time limit

There are no prizes for guessing what Free YouTube Download does. This is a very simple, tightly focused free YouTube downloader that does away with distractions to get the job done well. Paste in a URL from YouTube and you can download the video in just a couple of clicks – or no clicks at all if you enable the Auto Download option.

You can download several videos at once if you need to, and you can convert them to several different formats on the fly. Just which formats are available to you will depend on the quality of the original video, but AVI, MP4, iPhone/iPod and MKV should be available in most cases. It's also possible to convert to audio-only MP3 if you don’t need the footage as well.

There's only one real drawback, but it's a biggie – you can only use Free YouTube Download to grab clips that are less than three minutes long. That rules out most music videos for a start, and is a real shame.

Read our full review: Free YouTube Download

5. aTube Catcher

Download, convert and merge videos as they're playing

Specifications

Operating system: Windows

Reasons to buy

+

Batch downloading

Reasons to avoid

-

Adware in installer

Although the name suggests that this is just a YouTube downloader, aTube Catcher (opens in new tab) can actually save videos from most of the big video hosting sites.

First, however, a word of warning: sneaky adware abounds during the installation. When you're offered the first app, make sure to hit Cancel, and for the second one click Decline – then you'll be free to enjoy aTube Catcher without any unwanted surprises.

Downloaded videos can be converted automatically to a number of popular formats, so you can tailor them for their intended use, or whatever device you intend to watch them on. If you're looking to download a large number of videos, you can download them all at once, maxing out your bandwidth – something not available in all of the best free YouTube downloaders on this list.

This free YouTube downloader offers plenty of added extras too, such as the ability to record any on-screen video, video merging, and disc burning.

Read our full review: aTube Catcher

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Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time he's written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', alongside podcasting and usually found playing games old and new on his PC and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that's about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.