Summary
There is no a direct way to save YouTube videos to Mac or Windows computer. This article will show you 6 easy ways to download YouTube videos on Mac for free, so that you can offline watch YouTube videos on your Mac anytime, or transfer them to your portable devices!

“How can I download YouTube videos on my Macbook, I want to use the video to make my videos on iMovie for my girlfriend. Please help!!!”

“I joined the YouTube Premium plan, but I can’t download videos from YouTube to my Mac computer. How do I download and save a YouTube video to my Mac?”

If you wish to watch YouTube videos offline on your MacBook in a long flight, you need to download YouTube videos on your Mac computer. However, YouTube only allows Mac users to online watch videos on its website. There is no an option for users to download YouTube videos on Mac or Windows. We guided you how to download YouTube videos to PC before. Today, we will focus on how to download YouTube videos on Mac for free by using third-party tools. After that, you can save YouTube videos to your Mac and view them in QuickTime Player at any time, or copy them to any device!

Official Ways to Download YouTube Video Within YouTube App

If you have a Premium subscription, you are allowed to download YouTube video to iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet. Then you could watch YouTube video offline without Internet connection.

Step 1 Open YouTube app on your mobile device. log in to your Premium account.

Step 2. Find the video you want to download.

Step 3. Tap “Download” icon to save the YouTube video to your phone.

download youtube video

While the official method provided by YouTube is convenient, but all downloaded videos can oly be played on the mobile app. It is not possible to download YouTube video on Mac using its official App.

Benefits of Downloading YouTube videos on Mac:

  • Save high-quality YouTube videos on Mac forever.
  • Play YouTube videos via QuickTime Player on Mac.
  • Add YouTube videos to iMovie without restrictions.
  • Edit YouTube videos to make your own story.
  • Extract background music from YouTube videos.
  • Save YouTube videos to USB drive or SD card.
  • Transfer YouTube videos from Mac to any device.
  • Watch YouTube videos offline on portable device.

In short, there are many benefits of saving YouTube videos to a Mac computer. But how to download YouTube videos on Mac for free? Please keep reading this tutorial to get 6 easy ways to free download YouTube videos on MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, or iMac Pro, etc. (including Mac Big Sur) Let’s go on!

Please note that all downloaded YouTube videos are for personal viewing only. Do not upload to social platforms or use them for commercial purposes, otherwise you will face penalties.

Way 1. Download YouTube Video on Mac with YouTube Movie Downloader

When you know about the limitations of YouTube video, it is necessary to use a third-party YouTube downloader for Mac. Right in this part, iMovieTool YouTube Movie Downloader is a professional desktop software for Mac and Windows users.

With its built-in YouTube web browser, you can effortlessly search for any movie, TV show and music using keywords, titles, or URLs. It helps you overcome the official restrictions and download any video from YouTube to Mac for free, no Premium account required! Using it, you can easily download and save YouTube videos on Mac as MP4, MOV files with HD quality. Additionally, it will remain original audio tracks (5.1 surround sound) and subtitles for better viewing experience.

Explore More Features:

Mainstream formats. Provides common formats like MP4, MKV to download YouTube video, so you can play YouTube videos on your Mac using other players, or move them to different devices.

Built-in web browser. Access the whole YouTube library with the built-in web browser and search for any content by name or URLs.

High efficiency. Supports 50X faster speed to save YouTube videos in batch quickly.

Save video metadata. Helps you save the video metadata for checking YouTube video info easily after downloading.

Customizable settings. Lets you modify the output parameters such as video codec, video quality, audio and subtitle language before downloading YouTube video.

High quality. Download YouTube movies, TV shows and music videos to Mac in full HD 1080p resolution to improve your viewing experience.

How to Download YouTube Movies on Mac?

Step 1. Log in to the YouTube Account
Download and install the iMovieTool YouTube Movie Downloader on your Mac, launch the downloader and choose YouTube platform.

open youtube movie downloader

Then log in to your YouTube account to access the video library.

login youtube account

Step 2. Search for YouTube Videos
iMovieTool is an expert in downloading YouTube movies and TV shows. You can type any title or keyword in the search box to locate it.

search for youtube movie

Also, you can go to YouTube website, copy the video URL and paste to iMovieTool.

paste youtube movie link

Step 3. Customize Output Parameters
Before start downloading YouTube videos, you need to set the output parameters. Go to the settings window by clicking “Gear” icon.

output settings

Now, choose MP4 format and high quality, and select your preferred language.

Step 4. Download YouTube Video to Mac
After the above settings, hit on “Download” button to export YouTube video to your Mac folder.

download youtube movie to mac

Once done, click “Clock” icon to find the well downloaded YouTube videos on your Mac and enjoy them offline!

find downloaded youtube movies

Pros:

  • Supports 8 popular OTT sites.
  • Download YouTube movies and shows to Mac.
  • Works for both YouTube Free and Premium users.
  • Built-in web browser and smart search function.
  • Up to 50X super-fast speed and batch download.
  • Keep multilingual audio tracks and subtitle.

Cons:

  • Requires to log in to your YouTube account on the downloader.
  • The free trial only allows to download the first six minute of each video.

Way 2. Download YouTube Videos on Mac via 4kFinder Video Downloader

When you want to download YouTube videos on a Mac for free, the 4kFinder Video Downloader is a good solution. 4kFinder Video Downloader is a powerful YouTube downloader for Mac and PC. This excellent tool helps you download videos and audios from YouTube and 1000+ websites on Mac and PC for free. With its support, you can easily download YouTube videos to MP4 in HD 1080P, 4K or even 8K quality. That is to say, you can use 4kFinder to download 8k video from YouTube on Mac without quality loss!

Also, it lets you download YouTube music playlist and extract audio from YouTube videos to MP3 format in 320kbps for your music devices and players. In this way, you can enjoy high-quality YouTube videos on your Mac without internet connection, or edit the video, or even move them from Mac computer to your iPhone, Android, iPods, Apple TV, HD TV, PSP, USD drive and more device for enjoying!

Core Features of 4kFinder YouTube Downloader:

  • Download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and 1000+ websites.
  • Easily download YouTube videos, movies, tutorials, podcasts to Mac/ PC.
  • Download YouTube entire playlist, channels, subtitles to Mac with ease.
  • Download HD/ 4K/ 8K YouTube videos to MP4 format in high quality.
  • Extract audio from YouTube videos as MP3 without sound quality loss.
  • Supports batch download; lossless download; 6X faster download speed.
  • Watch YouTube videos on Mac or other devices without internet connection.
  • Transfer YouTube videos and audios from Mac to MP3 player, iPods, iPhone, etc.

Tutorial: How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac for free with 4kFinder

4kFinder Video Downloader lets you save YouTube videos to Mac or Windows computer with ease. Here we will take Mac version as example to guide you how to download videos from YouTube on Mac computer. Follow the detailed steps below.

Step 1. Get the 4kFinder Video Downloader on Mac
Download the 4kFinder Video Downloader here and launch it after installation. 4kFinder allows you to free download 5 HD or UHD full videos to Mac in 15 days. To enable the full features, you can purchase the software full version.

launch 4kfinder program

Step 2. Copy & Paste the YouTube Video URL to 4kFinder
Head to YouTube’s official page and find the video you want to download. Copy the link of YouTube video, then paste the URL to 4kFinder’s main page, and click “Analyze” to get the video source.

paste youtube video link to the program

Step 3. Choose MP4 Format and Resolution
Then it will pop a window, and the interface will contain 2 different format: MP4 video format and MP3 audio format. To record videos from YouTube, please select MP4 format, and you can select the resolution as 3240p, 1620p, 1080p HD, 810p, 720p, 480p, etc.

select output format

Note: The resolution depends on the video source. Some videos are displayed as 1080p, but they are not in HD quality. Therefore, it is best to set the resolution on the original video playback page before recording.

Step 4. Start to Download YouTube Videos on Mac
If everything is correct, hit on the “Download” button, the program will immediately download YouTube video as MP4 files to your Mac. During the process, this program allows you to press on “Pause” or “Pause All” at will.

start to convert youtube video to mp4

Step 5. Successfully Save YouTube Videos on Mac
When the process completes, the downloaded YouTube video files will be saved on your Mac computer forever. Go to “Finished” option, tap on “Open Folder” to check the well downloaded videos.

convert youtube video to mp4 completed

Pros:

  • Supports over 100 streaming sites.
  • High quality output: HD, 4K, 8K, 320Kbps, etc.
  • Download YouTube videos on Mac in batches.
  • Save YouTube videos in multiple formats.
  • Convert YouTube video to MP3 audio file.
  • Customize output settings and keep subtitles.

Cons:

  • Can’t download entire channel from YouTube.
  • The free trial only lets you download 5 videos.

Way 3. Save YouTube Videos to Mac via Screen Recorder

In addition using YouTube Video Downloader, you can also capture YouTube videos using the Screen Recorder. UkeySoft Screen Recorder is a multifunctional tool that can help you record anything you want from your computer screen and edit the recorded video as you like. It works on both PC and Mac and supports popular MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, MP3, M4A, etc. formats. With it, you can easily record any YouTube video, movies, game videos with high quality on your Mac or PC. What’s more, you can also use it to record Zoom meeting, record streaming music like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, etc.

How to Record YouTube Videos on Mac?

Step 1. Download, install and launch the UkeySoft Screen Recorder on Mac. Select “Full Screen” or “Custom Area” mode.

open recorder on mac

Step 2. To get videos from YouTube to Mac, please select “System Audio” under the “Audio” icon, and select “HD Quality” in “Resolution” icon.

Step 3. Click “Menu” bar, and go to settings window. Tap “General” panel, set the Video Format, Video Quality, Resolution, Output Folder as required.

select output format

Step 4. If ready, start playing any video on YouTube, and hit on “Record” to capture a YouTube video to Mac.

record youtube video on mac

Pros:

  • Screen record everything on your computer.
  • Lets you record YouTube video with your voice.
  • Get a screenshot from a YouTube video on Mac.
  • Record any part of the YouTube video freely.

Cons:

  • It takes a long time to finish recording.
  • Can’t use your computer during recording.
  • Can only capture YouTube video on Mac one by one.

Way 4. Free Download YouTube Video on Mac with Safari

💡Verdict: This method only lets you save YouTube videos to your Mac as FLV files, or not MP4 format. And you can’t set the output video quality to HD or higher resolution. Therefore, we suggest that you utilize a third-party YouTube downloader for Mac, either 4kFinder Video Downloader or iMovieTool YouTube Movie Downloader.

To save YouTube videos on your Mac, you can also use the Safari browser. Its built-in tool can help you capture YouTube videos and save them as Flash files. In this way, you can play Flash files through a third-party program. This method is a bit complicated. You can refer to the following guidelines:

Step 1. Navigate to YouTube.com, and play the video you want to save.

Step 2. Press Command-Option-A to open Safari Activity window. You need to enable the develop menu first, please choose “Preference” > “Advanced”, and tick the “Show Develop menu in menu bar”.

download youtube video to mac via Safari

Step 3. Next, check the video resources in the window, which will display the name of the video followed by the word YouTube. If it does not appear, please reload the page.

download youtube video on mac via Safari

Step 4. Find the resource link that is loading in the list of links below.

Step 5. then Option-double-click on it, and ti will start to download the YouTube video to your Mac as an flv file. When finished, you can open the flv file via a third-party tool.

Pros:

  • Free to use.
  • No need to install any software.

Cons:

  • A little complex to operate.
  • Only save YouTube video to Mac in SD.
  • Batch download is not supported.

Way 5. Download YouTube Videos on Mac with VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is not only an excellent video & audio player, but also a helpful video downloader which enables you to download YouTube videos on your Mac for free! Follow the steps below to save YouTube videos to Mac with VLC Media Player. By the way, you can also use it to download YouTube video on your PC, or laptop.

Step 1. Download and install the latest version of VLC Media Player on your Mac computer, then launch the program.

Step 2. Go to YouTube website on browser, and copy the URL of YouTube video.

Step 3. Turn back to VLC interface, and click “File” > “Open Network…”. In the “Open Source” window, paste the video URL into the search bar and tap “Open”.

download youtube videos on mac via vlc

Step 4. Right-click the YouTube video and choose “Media Information”.

Step 5. Then copy the content in the “Location” bar, and paste the copied URL into the address bar.

Step 6. Then press “Return” to start playing the videos on your browser.

Step 7. Right-click the video again and choose “Save Video as..”. Then VLC will immediately start downloading videos from YouTube to your Mac.

When you download YouTube videos on a Mac with VLC player, the download speed is rather slow. Worse, the output video quality can only reach 360p. To download HD, 4K or even 8K video from YouTube to your Mac at fast speed, 4kFinder Video Downloader is the best ideal.

Pros:

  • An open-source software.
  • Play and manage local media files.
  • Download YouTube video to Mac free.

Cons:

  • Slow download speed.
  • Only can download a few videos from YouTube.
  • Don’t let you customize the output settings.
  • Unable to download 4k, 8k YouTube videos.

Way 6. Download Video from YouTube to Mac Online

If you don’t want to install any software on your Mac, you can also download a YouTube video on Mac via online service. TubeOffline allows you to download video from YouTube to Mac in MP4, AVI, WMV, and other formats. Besides, it also can help you convert YouTube videos to MP3 at 320kbps for your music players. But the annoying thing is that it has a lot of ads, and when you download a YouTube video, it will also take you to another ad page. Here are the simple steps:

Step 1. Visit TubeOffline website on Google.

Step 2. Copy a video URL from YouTube website. Then paste the video URL into the search box of TubeOffline page.

Step 3. Pick the desired format and quality, and click “Get Video”.

download youtube videos on mac online

Step 4. It will turn to a new page, click “Download MP4”, and it will take a few minutes to load the YouTube Video.

Step 5. When it get the video source, click “Download Now”. Then it will show a new page about ads, close the page, and it will start downloading YouTube video to Mac.

save youtube videos to mac online

Note: Some YouTube videos with copyright protection cannot be downloaded. This online tool only helps you download a few videos from YouTube to your Mac. Like other online YouTube downloader, its pages contain a lot of advertisements and hidden plug-ins. To grab YouTube videos in a safe way, try the 4kFinder.

Pros:

  • No need to install any app or program.
  • Easy to use, simple copy & paste URL.
  • Download YouTube video to Mac for free.

Cons:

  • Its page includes lots of ads.
  • Unstable, it failed to analyze some URLs.
  • Not 100% working, it cannot download copyrighted YouTube videos.

FAQs About Downloading YouTube Video on Mac

How do I Download YouTube Videos to Watch Offline on Mac?
Answer: YouTube doesn’t let you download and save YouTube videos on Mac or PC. Hence, you need to use a third-party YouTube downloader for Mac. Above, we’ve listed six ways to help download YouTube videos onto a Mac using desktop software or online tools.

How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac Without Software?
Answer: You can utilize an online YouTube downloader tool to accomplish the task. But most online tools only save YouTube videos in SD quality. To download YouTube videos Mac with high resolution, please turn to professional desktop software.

What is the Best free YouTube Video Downloader for Mac?
Answer: Above, we’ve introduced six methods for downloading YouTube videos on Mac. Among them, the iMovieTool YouTube Movie Downloader and 4kFinder Video Downloader are great options. They can help you download high-quality videos from YouTube to your Mac with Free account.

Conclusion

After reading this article, you’ve learned 6 workable methods to download YouTube videos onto a Mac. The most recommended one must be using iMovieTool YouTube Movie Downloader. With it, you can download YouTube movies, TV shows and music videos on MacBook or iMac without a Premium plan. And the downloaded speed can reach up to 50X super-fast. Multi-task download are also supplements to this utility software. Moreover, the 4kFinder Video Downloader is an awesome tool for you to free download any YouTube videos on your Mac or PC. It allows you to download videos with up to 8K resolution to get a more interesting viewing experience on your device. Hit the Download button below to get a free trial and download YouTube on Mac right now!

Download YouTube Videos on Mac