How to download YouTube videos on Mac with iFunia YouTube Downloader

Want to watch YouTube videos smoothly without any ad breaks? Plan to enjoy the YouTube clips in high quality on a trip without connection? Worried about not finding your favorite YouTube videos anymore?

The only solution is to download YouTube videos to your Mac/Windows. In this post, let’s explore the benefits of downloading YouTube videos and the best methods that I recently discovered to download them.

What are the benefits of downloading YouTube videos on Mac?

Playback offline: It’s convenient to watch anytime YouTube videos or music without using an internet connection to stream.

Watch in high quality: Your video will lose quality while streaming as it takes time to process the image and audio, especially for 1080P or 4K videos. But if you download them, you’ll get a high-resolution video from the beginning to the end.

Ad-free: You don’t need to watch the ads on YouTube every 3 minutes anymore once you download the videos. Personally, this is the most essential reason for me to download because the ad breaks disturb enjoying the videos a lot.

Backup forever: YouTube removes 2.7 million videos every month. Many old but good content would be taken down. Hence for videos that you are really passionate about, download and save them to your Mac as soon as possible.

What output format is recommended?

MP4 is recommended because it’s the most popular video container format that preserves high quality while keeping a relatively small file size. MP4 is compatible with most devices so you can play it on your computer and mobile phones without hassle.

WebM is also a good choice for streaming and uploading videos over the Internet with a higher compression rate and less bandwidth.
As for the codec format, H.264 and VP9 are recommended for video, and M4A for the audio.

How to download YouTube video on Mac with the best YouTube downloader

Recently, I tried a powerful YouTube downloader that saved my life – iFunia YouTube Downloader. It’s specially designed for YouTube video downloads and it can download every YouTube video I want to save.

iFunia YouTube Downloader can download all types of YouTube videos with subtitles in batches. In addition, it’s super safe and fast to convert YouTube videos to MP4/WebM format while keeping the original quality.

What kind of YouTube videos can iFunia YouTube Downloader download?

• High-quality videos including 1080P, 4K, and even 8K.
• An entire YouTube playlist in bulk.
• Long videos of several hours.
• Extract only the audio/music from videos.
• YouTube live streams.
• Age-restricted YouTube videos.
• Blocked YouTube videos.
• Private YouTube videos.
• Unlisted YouTube videos.
• All videos from a YouTube search result.

Steps to download video from YouTube in Mac with iFunia YouTube Downloader

1. Download the iFunia YouTube Downloader on your Mac for free.
   
2. Head to the YouTube video or the playlist you want to download, and copy the link address.
   
3. Open iFunia YouTube Downloader. Paste the video link into the search box, and click the ➕ on the right to load the video into the program.
   
4. For YouTube video download in bulk, click the ➕ on the left to batch-paste all the video URLs in the pop-up window. Notice that one URL each line, so press Ctrl+Enter on the keyboard to start a new line.
   
5. Once all the videos you want to download are loaded into the software, you can start setting up the output format, resolution, and subtitle language among a long list of options.
   
6. Now, choose a destination folder at the bottom and click Start to download YouTube video to Mac.
   
7. Once downloaded, you’ll find all the videos in the destination folder you chose. By the way, the downloaded YouTube videos can be played directly in the program as a video player.
   

How to download YouTube videos on Mac without software

If you don’t want to download and install iFunia YouTube Downloader, there’s a convenient way to download YouTube videos on a Mac without software – subscribe to YouTube Premium.

YouTube Premium can download videos directly from YouTube, however, it should be pointed out that it has many limitations:

• The videos downloaded with Premium can be stored only for 29 days on YouTube. You have to download again after.
• The videos are downloaded on YouTube in Blob format instead of MP4 format. The blob file cannot be used or played out on YouTube.
• Many types of videos cannot be downloaded via YouTube Premium, such as age-restricted ones, blocked ones, and so on.
• The highest resolution with Premium is 720P.
• There’s a geo-restriction on downloading videos using Premium.

How to download a YouTube video on Mac with Premium:

1. Go to the YouTube video you want to download. Find and click the three-dot icon under it.
   
2. Select Download and choose the definition in the pop-up dialogue box.
   

Tip: Try it free before purchasing in case you don’t like it.

FAQs

Can browser extensions download YouTube videos?

Currently, browser extensions are not allowed to download videos from YouTube on Google Chrome. Several of them still work on other browsers like Firefox and Opera, but with lots of limitations like they are not able to download in bulk, in high quality or with subtitles. A professional YouTube Downloader is much more recommended.

How to download YouTube videos on iPhone or Android?

If you just want to save a small YouTube video to your mobile phone, you can record it, but it can be a big file that occupies your storage.
If you have several or long YouTube videos to download, use iFunia YouTube Downloader on your computer to batch download all the videos or the whole playlist within a few minutes, then connect the iPhone or Android to your Mac and send the videos.

Can I record YouTube videos on my Mac?

Yes. You can save the YouTube videos on Mac by recording using a free app on Mac like QuickTime Player. However, this method is inefficient because you have to stay there to skip all the ads, and the videos recorded tend to have huge sizes.

Final words

To download YouTube videos on Mac, there are methods like using browser extensions and subscribing to YouTube Premium, but they have plenty of limitations as I presented above. The best solution is to utilize a professional and efficient video downloader like iFunia YouTube Downloader to solve all download problems in one click. It’s totally worth it!

About the company: Founded in 2009, iFunia is a multimedia expert with extensive experience in video download, video format conversion, and DVD/Blu-ray ripping and burning.