Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
ClipGrab and WinX/MacX are the best free tools for YouTube downloads.
YouTube Premium offers legal, ad-free downloads tied to your account.
Be mindful of copyright laws and only download videos that are allowed.
If you've ever wanted to download a YouTube video to watch later -- say, for a flight or somewhere with terrible Wi-Fi -- you've probably noticed that Google doesn't make it easy. YouTube's own app limits offline viewing to select videos and paying Premium subscribers. Still, there are ways to download videos for free. The challenge is figuring out which option is actually worth using.
Also: Your YouTube Premium subscription just got 3 major upgrades - plus AI experiments you can try
After years of working in multimedia, I've had to locally save countless YouTube videos. I now have one go-to tool, and my colleague David Gewirtz has suggested another, but there are plenty of options out there that come highly recommended. Either way, here are two methods that are free and trusted, so you won't have to wade through sketchy pop-ups and questionable links, or pay a cent.
I'll also cover YouTube Premium, the official paid method for downloading videos, so you should find at least one option that works.
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