Thursday 21 May 2015

How to Download YouTube Videos to Your Mac in 5 Different Ways


Who doesn’t know about YouTube? It is the largest video sharing website in the world and has a vast collection of videos that people love to upload and share. This single platform has been responsible for the popularity of various artists who uploaded their videos and shared them across various social networks. When we come across a video that we like, we (obviously) would want to download it so that we may view the video whenever we want and as many times as we like.

Here are 5 methods by which you can download YouTube videos to your Mac and enjoy high quality media at your disposal. 

With Real Player


When you download RealPlayer, you get the RealPlayer downloader along with it. After installing the player on your Mac, the download option will show up automatically whenever a video is played. If you want to download the video, then you may do so from the window itself, or you may clear the list. 

With Safari

It is possible to download your favourite YouTube video with Safari. Just follow these steps for downloading the video.
  • Open the URL of the video
  • Let the video play for a few seconds and then pause it
  • Wait for the video to buffer completely. You will be able to detect this as a grey progress bar that gets filled up gradually. 
  • When the bar has filled up completely, click “Windows”.
  • In this option, select “Activity” and find the line that represents the video (that you selected for download). 
  • Double click on the line and your download should begin. 
The benefit of this method is that you do not require any third party software or online tool to download the video. However, you have to wait for the entire video to buffer before it can be downloaded. There is also the lack of control over the resolution, aspect ratio and quality of the video. So, the default settings would be applied to the downloaded video. 

With Chrome

Chrome is a popular web browser which has garnered a lot of attention due to the integration of Google’s features in the browser. While there is no direct download option in this browser, you can manage downloads with the appropriate plugin. Visit the Chrome Web Store and search for the plugin called “Ultimate YouTube Downloader”. When this plugin is installed, you would be able to download any video by simply clicking the “download” button in the widget that appears near the player. With this plugin, you would be able to choose the video format (MP4 / FLV) as well as the video quality. This makes it a really handy plugin. 

With Firefox

Firefox users are more than familiar with the role of plugins / add-ons and the convenience that they provide. Click on the “Tools” option in the menu bar and select the “Add-Ons” option. From here you would be able to search the required add-on and install it. While there is no need to wait for the entire video to be processed (when using the add-on in Firefox), there is a time limit so you need to click the add-on as soon as the limit expires. For example, if the limit is 8 mins, then you would have to click it again after 8 mins (and in further intervals of 8) for any video that exceeds this length. 

With Online Video Converter Tools

Online video converters are becoming quite popular mainly due to their platform agnostic nature. You can use them on a desktop, laptop or even a smartphone. Moreover, they use online processing to covert and download the video instead of relying on any software or downloaded elements. They can work with any OS as the online tool is accessed via a browser. So OS and other specifications should not make any difference. Just follow these steps for downloading the video.
  • Open the online tool in the browser. 
  • Find the video that you wish to download and copy its URL.
  • Paste the URL in the respective field and select the format in which you would like to get the video.
  • Modify the details related to resolution, aspect ratio, etc. 
  • Click on the “convert” button and wait for the download link to be provided. 
  • When the download link appears, click on it and the download will begin. 
This is one of the best way to download YouTube videos and ensure that you get them in the highest possible quality. Moreover, you can get the videos in your preferred formats. Personally, I would recommend this method over others. 

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