Suggest Youtube Downloaders?

[Jedi5]

Hi everyone.

I had been using fastest tube/kwizzu to download videos and audio of youtube for years without
any issues. Worked great and was suggested on this site.
Doesn't seem to be working anymore, at least not with Sierra.

Wondering what the latest and greatest is to download videos and audio?

I've read up on MacX, 4K, and Clipbrag.

Are there any others I should look into or are these the go to apps you guys use?
Not looking for anything fancy, just download videos or audio from youtube.

Thanks everyone!

 

[MSastre]

I've used 4K Video Downloader (free) with good success, but lately I've been using Mac Video Ripper Pro (free trial). Very fast and does an excellent job.

 

[Jedi5]

Thanks for the quick response.

Have you tried out Replay Media Catcher to compare?

I had RMC for Windows many years ago before I turned over to Mac.
Worked great and I liked it a lot.
I don't mind paying if I have to, RMC is the same price (have discount) MVR you suggested.

I'll give your suggestion a try.

Thanks.

 

[Boyd01]

I've read up on MacX, 4K, and Clipbrag.

"Clipbrag"? I have been using Clipgrab for a couple years and it seems to work very well on a variety of sites. Recently upgraded to Sierra and have not checked to see if it still works properly though.

For audio only I generally use a little app called Piezo. It can record anything you hear on your Mac, so no need to download or worry about compatibility with different sites. https://rogueamoeba.com/piezo/

 

[Fishrrman]

My guess is that Apple has deliberately made it harder to download directly from YouTube, probably at the request of the latter (by blocking and/or removing extensions).

However...
I've found that for YouTube downloading, things go much better by using the Opera browser with the "YouTube Downloader Lite" extension.
Very nice to use.

Granted, it's "a different browser".
But... it works.

 

[kohlson]

At one time I loaded up a couple of these as extensions for Firefox, and found that over time performance was suffering (always updating or caching, perhaps). Consider using a dedicated browser for this. For example, I use Safari as my daily driver, and Firefox when I need to download something from YouTube. Sometimes I need to find a new extension/plug-in, as the installed ones don't work. Not a big deal to get the current "most popular."

 

[organicCPU]

Not to forget the command line tool youtube-dl. https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/
Has many advanced features and can benefit from ffmpeg.
There are several GUI wrappers around, that I didn't test.

 

[Unami]

+1 for youtube-dl

great tool

 

[OldCorpse]

I don't know, but the only one I've ever used is MacX. But if I want just the audio, then I use Youtube to mp3 from MediaHuman. I've had good expiences with both, but I have nothing to compare to, so...

 

[Booch21]

I have used Wondershare's YouTube downloader for a number of years. It has worked very well for me.

 

[IHelpId10t5]

Not being a troll here but am honestly interested in why people download YouTube videos? I admit that I too have had the rare but occasional need to do so over the years but have generally found that trustworthy software or plugins simply didn't seem to exist. What's the common need for downloading streaming content locally the keeps so many shady plugins and software applications in the market?

 

[organicCPU]

What's the common need for downloading streaming content

1. Offline and no available internet-connection while time for watching content.
2. Not so much Youtube, but other sites do delete old tutorials and replace them with more recent versions. Owning just an older version of a specific software package makes it interesting to keep older knowledge base, like videos, manuals and examples.
3. Like from the old school time with a VHS recorder, there is some content, that you want to collect for private purpose to watch it from time to time.
4. Watch it on my iPod classic

 

[Fishrrman]

"Not being a troll here but am honestly interested in why people download YouTube videos?"

I use YouTube to add files to my mp3 library.
I grab the files (in mp4 format) from YouTube, then convert them to mp3.
Works pretty well...

 

[Booch21]

Not being a troll here but am honestly interested in why people download YouTube videos?

For video production, there are a number of free backgrounds, animations and images that are available for use in adding to your own personal videos.

 

[puckhead193]

Ive used MacX, its simple and quick! I just wish the license was different so I can have it on both my desktop and MBP

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Pulltube is a good app i use. http://mymixapps.com/pulltube

 

[Gwendolini]

I use YouTube to add files to my mp3 library.
I grab the files (in mp4 format) from YouTube, then convert them to mp3.

The already mentioned ClipGrab (OP) can do that for you without the need to download the MP4, as it can save a YT link directly as MP3.

 

[SteveJobzniak]

Not to forget the command line tool youtube-dl. https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/
Has many advanced features and can benefit from ffmpeg.
There are several GUI wrappers around, that I didn't test.

I use homebrew (http://brew.sh). From there, it is just "brew install youtube-dl" to get it.

And I made this alias (in my bashrc file):

alias yt='youtube-dl --format "bestvideo[vcodec!=?vp9]+bestaudio/best" --external-downloader ffmpeg --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --prefer-ffmpeg'

It prevents the terrible VP9 video format.

So to download a video, all I do is open terminal, type my alias: "yt <video URL>" and press enter.

It will make an MKV file with H264 video + Opus audio.

If you want MP4s (H264 + AAC) which are playable anywhere, use this alias instead:

alias yt='youtube-dl --format "bestvideo[vcodec!=?vp9]+bestaudio[acodec!=?opus]/best" --external-downloader ffmpeg --hls-prefer-ffmpeg --prefer-ffmpeg'

 

[Erdbeertorte]

https://softorino.com/youtube-converter-2/

If you are also interested in having everything directly downloaded from Mac to your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch native music, videos, ringtones libraries.

But I hate them since they sent me an early access discount countdown (only xx left, reserve upgrade ASAP).

After I reserved it the countdowns kept starting over and over again. My upgrade is still reserved but I won't buy it after this. Version 1 is running fine on High Sierra anyway.

 

[organicCPU]

I use homebrew (http://brew.sh). From there, it is just "brew install youtube-dl" to get it.

If you don't already have ffmpeg installed, I guess doing 'brew install ffmpeg' is necessary to make the commands you suggested work.

For everyone not using homebrew, just grabbing the latest .tar.gz file from http://youtube-dl.org that includes a binary and the ffmpeg installer from http://www.ffmpegmac.net is another way to get youtube-dl up and running.
If files are not in standard folders, then do something like this to download a video:

/path/to/youtube-dl --ffmpeg-location /path/to/ffmpeg URL

 

[SteveJobzniak]

@organicCPU Hehe. Everybody should use Homebrew. It installs all applications in a compatible way and easily keeps them up to date via "brew update && brew upgrade".

 

[zorinlynx]

Not being a troll here but am honestly interested in why people download YouTube videos? I admit that I too have had the rare but occasional need to do so over the years but have generally found that trustworthy software or plugins simply didn't seem to exist. What's the common need for downloading streaming content locally the keeps so many shady plugins and software applications in the market?

Sometimes you see an amazing video and you want to keep it forever. The nature of the Internet is that things go away with time or taken down; downloading something to your own storage is the only way to guarantee you'll always be able to watch it.

I hate the new trend of not being able to save things from the net. The net is so organic and things disappear all the time. If you've been using YouTube for a while, look down your favorites list. I guarantee at least a few things are now gone. Bet you wish you'd saved them, right?

 

[mstnorris]

I've used JDownloader for years now and it's always been great. You can select different video and audio qualities, (also splitting the audio should you wish), queue up playlists for example. It's free and regularly updated.

 

[organicCPU]

@SteveJobzniak Probably you're right and using brew should be obligatory nowadays.
In the past I've been using Fink and MacPorts. At some point things started to break for several reasons and I began to build nearly everything I needed from source with just the Command Line Tools, built-in stuff and tools I compiled myself.
However, if I needed a package manager by today, brew would be my first choice.
The installation example from above is just a way for people unwilling to install neither XCODE nor Command Line Tools just to enjoy youtube-dl.