What is the best tool/software to download Videos from Youtube?

Well, there are many ways to download YouTube Videos on your PC or phone. Most widely used variety happens to be the online tools meant for the purpose.

1. Keepvid

It has been treated as the best tool for the purpose. You will need to add the bookmarks of your favourite videos to the links toolbar in the software and watch the video. If you feel like saving it for future viewing, you just need to click on the Keep It icon. You may also use their website for the purpose of downloading the video. Paste the link of the video and click on Download. The service lets you choose the format and bit rate as per your choice. The site can download videos from many other video sharing sites apart from YouTube.

2. TubeMate

This is one of my favourite YouTube video downloader. The app for Android has an integrated video player. You can search for YouTube videos from within the app and watch them as you would do from your browser or YouTube app. If you like the video, you will only need to tap on the download button and choose the quality in terms of resolution. The video will get downloaded to your device.

3. Firefox Video DownloadHelper

If you are on Firefox, this would be a best option. It is a Firefox plugin and once installed, it will add an icon to your taskbar. You can see the list of compatible sites on clicking on this icon. Whenever you are on one of the sites that is supported by the add on, the icon gets highlighted. If you find a video that you would wish to download, clicking on the icon will provide you the download options. The add on also lets you convert the media into different formats.

One of the easiest method for downloading YouTube videos would be to use the service named Savefrom.net. Visit the site and paste the video link inthe space provided. Click on the Download button and choose your choices for the quality and resolution. However, savefrom offers a great way to download your videos. Use these steps to do the same -

1. Go to YouTube and browse to the video you would wish to download.

2. In the address bar, add ss to the video URL. For instance, if your video URL reads http://youtube.com/watch?v=ABCDEF, change it to http://ssyoutube.com/watch?v=YOcmSsBfafg. Load this link new link and your video will be downloaded.

And finally, a word of caution. YouTube does not allow you to download videos and share them. There could be copyright violations in doing so. Please follow the proper guidelines before proceeding. Use the videos downloaded for your personal use only.

Here are some of the apps and online services that you can use for downloading YouTube videos.

1. Clipgrab : This is one of the best app for windows that you can download for YouTube videos. It also works on other streaming sites too. In case of YouTube even copying the URL from the address bar does help with the detection of song. It also gives you option to download the video file in different file format such as FLV, MP4, MPEG etc. Do note that it requires regular update to bypass the YouTube algorithm for bot. This app is much better because it covers almost every streaming website out there. You can download it from here : https://clipgrab.org

2. youtube-dl : This is a command line app to download the YouTube videos. If you are comfortable with using command line app then this can be a quick way to download videos. There is also GUI version available on github but it's often broken and doesn't pass bot test of YouTube's updated algorithm. You can get the information about the tool here : http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/

3. Unplug : This is firefox extension that allows downloading video and audio from multiple streaming websites. It is free extension that you can download from most of the streaming sites. You have to update the extension regularly to keep up with the YouTube changes.

4. Download Videos! : This is online website that allows the exporting of the videos from the website. It is script that can be run locally on your own desktop too. If you don;t know how to run python script then you can use their online website. It can export in multiple export of videos and audio. You can access that website here : http://video.daniil.it/

5. Video Grabber : This is another website that allows downloading of streaming videos. And apart from youtube, it also accepts other sites for the download of streaming videos. You can access that website here : http://www.videograbber.net/

6. Freemake Video Downloader The service has the desktop and the web version for the download. Apart from YouTube it support vimeo and dailymotion too. It has export options for video files such as MP4, MPEG etc. It can also download the file in audio format too.

Do note that most of the resources require regular update and YouTube's algorithm stops them from scraping the videos. So you have to be in top of all the changes and keep updating these extensions and apps. Try to avoid online websites if you are downloading any file with minutes over 30 Min in video length. In that case stick with the desktop based apps or browser extension for such large files.

Here is a list of software with the help of which you can download videos from Youtube. I have listed them along with their salient features.

1. Free YouTube DownloadThis is one of the most popular YouTube downloader that has earned a goodwill from users across the countries because of its sparkling features. It allows you to download and convert YouTube videos, which you can save in your system and create your own collection of movies and videos for FREE.

Features:
i. You can download Videos in bulk.
ii. This can include YouTube playlists, videos from personal playlists like the Favourites, Liked, History, Watch later list
iii. It can download videos from different categories like YouTube charts, Movies, Music, and user channels,
iv. All these you get in lightening speed.

2. VideoSoft YouTube Downloader This is yet another popular Downloader because of its high speed multi-stream downloading. It can Download numerous videos in their original quality within a few seconds and one can even Pause the downloading process at any point of time.

Features:
i. It can download the original YouTube stream in all the major formats like MP3, MP4, MKV ,WEBM, and many more.
ii. It is able to convert videos from one format to another.
iii. output name formats can be customized as per requirement
iv. It can load any link that you get from external text files.
v. It automatically saves your download history.
vi. It imports videos to the iTunes automatically, and you can then convert these files to iPad / iPhone or iPod.
vii. This software works through proxy server. The software is compatible with Windows XP SP3 7, 8,Vista,10.

3. YTD Video Downloader 5.6
This is the one which I personally use. You only have to Cut and paste the URLs from the Youtube site. It will automatically start downloading. It has a self explanatory interface is. The fun of this tool is that, as soon as you copy the url of a video link from YouTube to your clipboard, it will automatically detect this and would place it in the URL field and start downloading. There are options to download in full 1080 HD quality, or can even choose a lower quality one.

Features:
i. It can Convert the videos into different formats.
ii. There is an Activity window that displays the status of the current downloads in a list, in case you have allotted more than one videos to download at a time.
iii. There is also an option to play back the downloaded videos in the Activity tab or you can play them from the Play tab.
iv. On the menu in the activity tab, you can right click to choose to play the YTD or you can pause, stop, a file, rename or delete them.
v. To convert the videos after downloading you have to upgrade to the Pro version.

4. Xilisoft Download YouTube Video Free
This is a program where you can select the URL of any video you have chosen on YouTube. The link in field will be automatically pasted into the input box tool. To save it you have to choose the target folder and then start the downloading. You can get to see the process of the downloads and can monitor them right there in the task panel at any point of time. They also display out the basic information regarding the video that you are saving, like the file's name,format, size, their resolution and also the estimated time left to be completed. One can even change the resolution and choose the maximum number of downloads to be done.

Features:
i. The program comes with an embedded engine with a small license fee for converting the videos into your desired formats that are compatible with your system.
ii. You can watch the downloads on any portable devices.
iii. The app gives you a series of profiles from where you can select your favourite videos to convert into several multimedia devices.