How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac?

“How to download YouTube videos on Mac without Premium? Does YouTube app offer download feature to let me download video from YouTube on Mac freely?” As one of the most popular and famous online streaming services around the world, YouTube has gained millions of visitors with its billions of content. There are always cases in which you might need to watch YouTube videos offline. If you are a Mac computer owner who wants to download YouTube videos on Mac, do you know how to download YouTube videos on Mac? Can you directly download videos from YouTube on Mac? And what is the best YouTube video downloader tool? Well, you will get practical and effective solutions here.

• How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac Directly?
• Limitations of YouTube’s Official Download Feature
• How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac Without Premium?
• FAQs
• Conclusion

How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac Directly?

Many people think that the download feature within YouTube is exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers. Actually, even if you are a free YouTube user, you can also download YouTube videos on Mac directly. 

YouTube has enabled its Premium users to directly download YouTube videos on Mac by providing a Download button right below the YouTube video. By upgrading to the Premium plan, you will be able to download up to 1080P YouTube videos on Mac directly. However, if you are not a Premium subscriber, you can also create a free trial of Premium to experience its download feature. 

Follow the guide below to learn about how to download YouTube videos on Mac directly:

1. Open the YouTube website or kick off the YouTube app on your device. 
2. Log into your YouTube account. 
3. Search and play back the target video you want to download from YouTube.
4. Right below the target video, you can see a Download button, by clicking you will call out a new window. 
5. On the new window, if you are a Premium user, you can directly choose the download resolution and click the “Download” button to start downloading video from YouTube on Mac. 
6. If you are a free user, you can choose a download resolution and then click the “Try it free” button, which will guide you in filling in the payment info. By completing the payment info, you have successfully created a YouTube Premium free trial. During the free trial, YouTube will not charge you. Once the free trial ends, it will automatically complete the subscription fee. You just need to cancel the free trial before it starts to charge. 

Once the downloads are complete, you can then open the downloaded YouTube videos on your Mac computer for unlimited playback or transfer to mobile devices. 

Limitations of YouTube’s Official Download Feature

Apparently, you can download YouTube videos on Mac directly by making use of the download feature, which is available for Premium subscribers only. There are a few limitations of this YouTube’s official download feature, as listed below:

1. You need to upgrade to YouTube Premium, or at least YouTube Premium free trial version for downloading videos from YouTube on Mac directly. 
2. If you are using the free trial version, you can only download YouTube videos on Mac at up to 480P resolution. To download YouTube videos at 720P or 1080P on Mac, you have to upgrade to the Premium version. 
3. Not all YouTube videos can be directly downloaded through the download feature. Even if you have upgraded to the Premium version, you still can’t download YouTube members-only videos, for instance. 
4. The official download feature doesn’t support batch downloads. You have to download YouTube videos one by one, which would be annoying when you want to download TV shows from YouTube. 
5. The download feature is only available for up to 10 supported devices. If you need to download videos on the 11^th device, the oldest device will be deauthorized. 
6. Downloaded YouTube videos can only be played back within the YouTube app. 

Since these limitations applied, many people have been looking for 3^rd-party YouTube video downloaders. The below introduces you the best Mac YouTube video downloader that can download YouTube videos on Mac without upgrading to Premium. 

How to Download YouTube Videos on Mac Without Premium?

If you want to download YouTube videos on Mac without upgrading to Premium, you can turn to multiple 3^rd-party YouTube video downloader tools. CleverGet Video Downloader for Mac is the one that helps you solve all the YouTube video download issues on Mac. As a professional YouTube video downloader, it can download YouTube videos at up to 8K resolution to MP4 or MKV files, with selected subtitles and audio tracks, if available. It can help you download regular videos, live YouTube videos, and other videos on YouTube easily. 

As one of the best YouTube downloaders for Mac, it is extremely easy to use for downloading YouTube videos. You can first download and install CleverGet on your Mac computer, and then follow the below guide to learn how to download YouTube videos on Mac. It runs on macOS 10.15 and later.

Step 1: Set the download directory

Click the “More” icon at the top-right corner of CleverGet and then choose the “Settings” option to open the Settings window, where you can set the download directory in the “Save Video To” box. 

Step 2: Play and parse the target YouTube video

You can directly open YouTube.com website within CleverGet and then search and play the target YouTube video, or copy and paste the YouTube video URL to CleverGet. CleverGet will automatically start parsing the target YouTube video page. 

Step 3: Choose download options and start downloading

Once the parsing succeeds, there will pop up a window showing you all downloadable options. Choose the right download option, and set the output format, subtitle and audio track (if available). and then you can click the blue “Download” button to start downloading YouTube videos on your Mac computer. 

The downloads will start immediately. You can then view all downloading and downloaded tasks on the right sidebar. When the downloads are done, you can open the download directory to open and play downloaded YouTube videos on Mac freely. 

Note: It should be noted that CleverGet Video Downloader is a module built in CleverGet, which includes more modules including YouTube to MP3 converter and YouTube Movies Downloader, which help you download YouTube videos, movies and TV shows from YouTube’s Movie & TV channel, members-only videos, etc.  

FAQs

1. How much does YouTube Premium cost?

You can get YouTube Premium at $13.99 per month. 

2. How long does YouTube Premium free trial last?

The YouTube Premium free trial version lasts for 2 months. 

3. Can I play YouTube downloads with other players than YouTube?

No, the downloaded YouTube videos through the YouTube Premium plan are saved offline encrypted, which can only be played back within your YouTube app. 

4. Why don’t YouTube downloads appear in the gallery?

YouTube videos saved via the Premium plan are stored encrypted and are not showing in the device’s video gallery. You can only find these YouTube downloads in “My Downloads” tab on your YouTube app. However, with 3^rd-party YouTube video downloader tools, you can download and get independent protection-free videos, which can be seen on your local drive and played by nearly all media players and devices. 

Conclusion

While upgrading to YouTube Premium plan will cost you $13.99 per month, making use of some 3^rd-party YouTube video downloaders will actually help you save more. The more important thing is that 3^rd-party YouTube video downloaders allow you to download YouTube videos in a batch, which is especially friendly for TV series download.