How to Download YouTube Videos in HD? (Free and Paid)

YouTube is certainly a heaven for video lovers. You can easily discover videos and music in different genres on this amazing platform, including the trending music videos, latest movie trailers, funny videos, pet videos, gaming moments, etc. YouTubers can also freely share their created videos for interacting with other users from around the world on YouTube, for making new friends with the same hobbies and interests.

Online video streaming is absolutely a trend, but there are still people want to omit some negative problems that would probably happen on online streaming, including the network interruption and video playback errors. Although YouTube knows people’s demands, it still refuse to provide a download service. Why?

YouTube has set terms of service and stated that downloading YouTube videos through third-party tool without permission from the authors is against their policies. This can rise copyright infringement and brings illegal cases. Nevertheless, if you are granted permission before downloading the YouTube videos, or you make sure that the content is completely copyright-free, this behavior (to download YouTube videos for offline playback) is legal. Basing on this, how can we download YouTube videos in HD easily? That’s what we are going to share today. Two ways (both free and paid) are allowed everyone to easily download the YouTube videos you like without hassle!

VLC – Free Download YouTube Video with A Hidden Feature

VLC, whose full name is VLC Media Player, has been a popular media player which can manage to stream media content in many different formats. Every video/audio you throw into it, VLC will handle the playback function well and present the best streaming experience to you. More than its basic and general media playback feature, there are actually more hidden functions it can bring to all of us, including the one to download YouTube videos. So with VLC, you won’t need any other apps or extensions to download YouTube videos you need. Let’s see how we can do this directly using VLC.

STEP 1. First, go to your web browser and visit YouTube platform for discovering the YouTube video you prefer to download. As you access it, you need to copy the URL of the video from the address bar of its video page.

STEP 2. Then launch VLC and move to its main feed. On the menu toolbar, you should go to Media > Open Network System…. 

STEP 3. Under Network tab, please directly paste the URL of the YouTube video to the downloading box, and then click on the Play button. As you clicking the icon, the video will then be played inside VLC. 

STEP 4. Now please go to Tools and click on the Codec Information option. When the Location window pops up, you need to right-click the text and choose Copy option for copying the whole content. 

STEP 5. Carry the copied content and go to your web browser again. Now directly insert the link into the address bar and press Enter for going to it. When it leads you to the original source file on YouTube’s servers directly, you can right-click the video and select Save Video As for downloading it to your computer. 

VideoHunter – The Best Software for Win/Mac to Download YouTube Videos in HD

Glancing through the steps to download YouTube videos with VLC Media Player, you would probably notice that a drawback of using VLC to download YouTube videos is that you have no option in selecting what format and which quality to save the videos offline. For people who pursue high output quality, this is not an ideal option.

VideoHunter, the best YouTube video downloader since ever, is now recommended to help you download YouTube videos with the best quality for streaming offline. With powerful and sparking features, VideoHunter brings its best services to all users for enjoying. Let’s first have an overview on its general features.

Over 1,000 video sites supported – VideoHunter supports to download online videos from 1,000+ sites, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Dailymotion, etc.;

Download in mainstream formats – MP3, MP4, and WEBM are available to save the downloaded videos for having flexible playback on different systems or players;

Provide built-in converter – To enable more convenient media content playback, a converter is provided for changing the formats of the files freely (only on Mac now);

Strip music and subtitles from videos – VideoHunter can also work to convert music videos into an audio file. Moreover, saving subtitles from videos in SRT format is also available;

6X faster speed to convert and download videos – VideoHunter provides the fastest speed to download online videos simultaneously.

Another highlight of VideoHunter is its operating procedure, which is simple to grasp and can act fluently. Here is the tutorial on how to download YouTube video with VideoHunter.

STEP 1. Like stated in the first method, you need to go to YouTube at first and then copy the URL of the video you are about to download with VideoHunter.

STEP 2. Launch VideoHunter and paste the URL of the YouTube into the downloading bar located in the main feed. If you are using Mac, when you enter the interface of VideoHunter, there are two options to go, Downloader and Converter. You need to select Downloader here.

STEP 3. After pasting the URL, click Analyze button aside and VideoHunter will convert the video for you. When a box of output selections appear, select the format and quality you need, then simply hit the Download button in the lower right corner of the window, then you can download the YouTube video offline.

Conclusion

For users who have no pursuit of the video quality and format selection, VLC is absolutely a good choice, even though its downloading process is a little bit more complicated than VideoHunter performs. For more convenient and high-quality downloads, VideoHunter is more competitive than VLC. Of course, these all base on your own choice.