After reading this article, you will know five easy and fast ways to download YouTube videos on Mac.Apply one of them to save YouTube videos to your Mac and then you can watch offline without an Internet connection. VLC lets you play and download YouTube videos right from its desktop interface. Here’s how: Find a video on YouTube — like this one — and copy the URL from the address bar.
It is likely that you have heard and used VLC media player(opens new window) for playing streaming videos. But it is more likely that you are fooled by its name — VLC media player is by no means a one-trick pony. Instead, it is a feature-packed powerful tool which is not only capable of playing streaming videos but also able to download videos from all the popular websites, like YouTube.
Today, you are going to learn about how to download video with VLC on Mac/Windows and solve a series of problems involved when using it all in one passage.
# VLC's Hidden Feature — Download Video from Internet
In fact, there are two methods to download videos with VLC. Here I will introduce the easier one. Please follow the steps below with VLC downloading a YouTube video as an example.
# Step 1. Fire up VLC
After installing VLC media player to your Windows or Mac, fire it up.
# Step 2. Copy the Video URL from YouTube
Go for the video on YouTube and copy the link from the browser’s address bar above the page.
# Step 3. Paste the Video URL into VLC and Start Playing
On Windows:
The man from earth download. Click on 'Media' > 'Open Network Stream' in VLC main interface.
Then under the Network tab on the pop-up window, you should then enter the YouTube video URL that you have copied from YouTube. Press the 'Play' button to start playing the video.
On Mac:
Click on 'File' > 'Open Network', enter the YouTube video URL and click 'Open'. Stealing the diamondspiter games.
# Step 4. Get and Copy Codec Information of the YouTube Video
On Windows:
Hit 'Tools' > 'Codec Information' to copy the full URL besides the 'Location' title. This is the direct URL of the YouTube video.
On Mac:
Select the YouTube video in VLC, hit 'Window' > 'Media Information'. You are looking for the 'Location' input box.
# Step 5. Enter the URL into Address Bar and Download the YouTube Video
Open a web browser page and paste the copied Location URL into the address bar before hitting 'Enter' on your keyboard. More clicks of 'Save' button might be needed after that, which depends on the video link and the setting of your browser.
# Problems Tackled in YouTube Downloading Using VLC
Now, have you learned about how to download YouTube videos using VLC yet? Don't worry if you encounter some problems when in practice. The first thing you need to do is to repeat the above steps more carefully in order to rule out the possibility of not following the right procedures. If that problem does continue to exist, you might need to read the second part of the passage. We have listed some common problems involved in saving video from websites with VLC and given out our solutions.
# Problem 1:
'Sadly this didn't work for me. It downloaded the video but instead of getting a playable video I get a file called 'file' in my download folder.'
Solution A: Put an extension to the file name when it gives you 'Enter file name', like '.mp4' or '.avi'.
Solution B: Use a video converter to convert the file into '.mp4'.
# Problem 2:
'I could download some YouTube videos with VLC while others didn't work.'
Solution: Check if the video is tagged 'Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines)'. If that is the case, the video will NOT download using the established method due to YouTube policies. There is no way of getting rid of it. So try VLC alternatives.
# An Alternative to VLC for Downloading Web Video Including YouTube
The built-in download feature of VLC cannot go without drawbacks since it is not an expert in video download. Indeed, some videos are highly protected by their website program and prevented from grabbing by VLC. To solve such a problem, I suggest you to try some professional video downloader to download videos from popular websites for offline viewing.
VideoSolo Inovideo(opens new window) is one of the best video downloaders on the internet for grabbing YouTube videos. Aside from YouTube, it claims to support Facebook, Instagram, Dailymotion, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. With a clean and intuitive interface, VideoSolo Inovideo is very easy to use within just several clicks. Now it supports both Windows and Mac system. You can take a try with it from the button below.
Follow the steps below to grab videos from the Internet easily with VideoSolo Inovideo
# Step 1. Install and Open Inovideo
Get the installation package and follow the instruction to install the Inovideo on computer. Then open it.
# Step 2. Copy and Paste Video Link
Go to the page containing your loved video and copy the video link from the address bar above. Then head to the main interface of VideoSolo Inovideo to paste the video link into the search box. Press the “Analyze” button to the right of the box to interpret the video.
# Step 3. Choose Format and Download Video
From the pop-up window, deciding the output format and quality, then click the “Download” button. The program will immediately start to download the video. When the downloading process finished, you can switch to the “Finished” tab to find the downloaded video.
Hope the above information can settle your problems when downloading videos with VLC on your Mac or Windows. If you are not so satisfied with VLC’s inherent download function, your best bet is to try VideoSolo Inovideo(opens new window), which is quite easy and efficient to use.
Inovideo
Can I download YouTube videos with VLC?
Of course, you can.
Name is often misleading, so judge not by name.
So is VLC Media Player.
VLC Media Player is not only a media player, but it can be also a YouTube video downloader through its hidden features.
You might be wondering: How do I download YouTube videos with VLC?
That is pretty easy.
Follow the step-by-step guide below and use VLC to download YouTube streaming videos effortlessly.
Part 1. How to Download YouTube Videos in VLC
Though VLC is not a professional video downloader to save YouTube videos, it can help you rip YouTube videos and export them on the computer via its streaming and playing functions. Here are 2 methods of how to make it.
Rip YouTube Videos in VIC by Streaming
1. Open VLC on your computer, go to Media at the top toolbar and select Open Network Stream.
2. Copy and paste the YouTube video URL into the bar under Network Protocol.
3. Click on the down-arrow associated with the Play button and select Stream.
4. Then the Source information will be shown, just click Next.
5. In the Destination Setup window, make sure that the New destination is selected as File. Then click Add.
6. In the pop-up window, you should click Browse next to Filename to locate where you save the downloaded YouTube video and give the file name. After that, click Next to continue.
7. In the Transcoding Options window, select the exported YouTube video format by clicking the drop-down option of Profile. As usual, click Next.
8. Here, you just need to click Stream and the downloading process will start.
You can check the downloading progress and seconds timer to know if the video has been downloaded successfully. After that, you can check the location you set for storing the YouTube downloads to open and play it.
Export YouTube Movies in VLC by Playing
All the YouTube streaming videos that can be played in VLC will be available to download.
Let’s dive right in.
1. Launch VLC on your computer and click Media at the top to select Open Network Stream.
2. Copy and paste the YouTube video URL into the bar under Network Protocol.
3. Click on the down-arrow associated with the Play button to make sure Play selected.
4. Once the YouTube video starts playing, go to Tools at the toolbar, and select Codec Information.
5. Copy the full URL (It is usually long) next to Location, and paste it in the address bar via your browser.
6. Press Ctrl + S (Or right-click the mouse to select Save video as) to give the video name and choose a location to save it.
That’s done.
Part 2. VLC Not Downloading YouTube Videos? Here Are Solutions
The above ways are the common ways that can help you get YouTube streaming videos downloaded on your computer.
There’s only one caveat: Most videos on YouTube are copyrighted, but VLC can only download those videos with a free license.
Download Youtube Video Vlc Mac Torrent
As a result, many of you may find VLC is not working to download YouTube videos and pops up the error message:
Download Youtube Video Vlc Mac File
VLC is unable to open the MRL (xxxxxxxx). Check the log for details.There are no official solutions to this problem from VLC official help guide.
You can save yourself the frustration by using other YouTube video downloader tools.
Vidmore Screen Recorder is the best YouTube grabber software, which can save any YouTube videos for offline viewing later. Compared with those YouTube downloaders, the recording way can keep any YouTube video you are playing in your browser, while those YouTube video downloaders may fail to access all the videos.
- Rip video from YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, etc.
- Grab audio from YouTube separately.
- Export YouTube video as MP4, MP3, MOV, etc.
- Save live YouTube video for offline playback.
Let’s streamline the process.
Step 1: Install YouTube recorder on a computer
Download the YouTube video grabber from the above download buttons. It supports Windows and Mac computer so that you can download YouTube videos on Mac with ease.
Run this software and select Video Recorder.
Step 2: Capture a YouTube video
Firstly, you should select the recording area. Just play the YouTube video that you want to save and click Full or Custom to confirm the video region that you want to save.
Then turn on System Sound and disable Microphone to keep the YouTube audio only and avoid any noise around you.
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To output YouTube video as a format you need, just click the gear icon to open Preferences, where you can make the settings of output format, quality, mouse clicks, hotkeys, etc.
Step 3: Record and save YouTube video
When everything is done, just click the red REC button to begin recording the YouTube video you are playing.
The floating bar while recording enables you to edit the recording file.
To stop a video recording, just click the stop button and it will direct you to the preview window, where you can use the clip feature optionally to cut down YouTube video and click Save to export it.
Though VLC is not mighty as Vidmore Screen Recorder, it can record YouTube videos. (VLC not recording?)
Part 3. FAQs of VLC Downloading YouTube Videos
How to download YouTube videos in VLC on Android?
Such hidden features as recording, converting, and downloading are only available for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. As for Android users, VLC can only work as a media player and cannot download videos.
How to Convert YouTube to MP3 in VLC?
Similar to downloading YouTube videos, you just need to select MP3 as the output format from the drop-down option of Profile in Part 1. If you want to convert downloaded YouTube videos to MP3, check it here.
Can VLC download subtitles?
Yes. While you watch a video in VLC without subtitle, you can click the Subtitle option and select the Download subtitles option. Then VLC will start searching for the closed captions file online and add the captions to the currently playing movie.
Conclusion
Download Youtube Video Vlc Mac File
There are many secret features in VLC Media Player and downloading streaming videos is one of them. This page shows the step-by-step guide to save YouTube videos with VLC. However, due to the YouTube copyright protection, many videos may fail to download from YouTube. No worry and this page also recommends a YouTube recorder, Vidmore Screen Recorder, to help you save videos from any websites easily.
Download Youtube Video Vlc Mac Os
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