Downloading YouTube music videos
Solution 1:
If you use command-line (Terminal.app in macOS) or even if you have a passing familiarity with it, youtube-dl is a highly recommended tool.
youtube-dl is available for macOS, Windows as well as Linux. The usage is very simple, just type the following command-line in Terminal (I have used an example video for demonstration purposes. Replace the URL with the appropriate one as desired):
youtube-dl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgxpBpa9A48
That's it. It will download the video in the best available quality. There are no ads or any questionable content involved. Also there is no risk of downloading any inadvertent software/malware. youtube-dl downloads videos at best available speed for your Internet connection (unlike many other tools). It also supports download resuming (helpful if the connection breaks midway).
youtube-dl is not a built-in command in macOS. The easiest and best way to install it would be via using Homebrew. Follow the instructions on the linked webpage to install Homebrew. Once installed, run the following command to install youtube-dl:
brew install youtube-dl
Using youtube-dl, you can also easily download the video in lower resolution (for e.g. to watch on mobile device or to share over messenger) or just the audio only or video only stream from the video.
To select the download quality or type, simply, execute the command with an additional -F option to list all the available formats as:
youtube-dl -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgxpBpa9A48
The output will show all the available formats as:
[youtube] dgxpBpa9A48: Downloading webpage
[youtube] dgxpBpa9A48: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] dgxpBpa9A48: Extracting video information
[info] Available formats for dgxpBpa9A48:
format code extension resolution note
249 webm audio only DASH audio 50k , opus @ 50k, 3.19MiB
250 webm audio only DASH audio 79k , opus @ 70k, 4.87MiB
171 webm audio only DASH audio 112k , vorbis@128k, 6.98MiB
140 m4a audio only DASH audio 128k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k, 8.70MiB
251 webm audio only DASH audio 143k , opus @160k, 9.06MiB
278 webm 236x144 144p 83k , webm container, vp9, 30fps, video only, 2.79MiB
160 mp4 236x144 144p 129k , avc1.4d400c, 30fps, video only, 5.18MiB
242 webm 394x240 240p 188k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 4.55MiB
133 mp4 394x240 240p 271k , avc1.4d400d, 30fps, video only, 11.95MiB
243 webm 590x360 360p 347k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 8.06MiB
134 mp4 590x360 360p 487k , avc1.4d401e, 30fps, video only, 9.38MiB
244 webm 786x480 480p 508k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 13.20MiB
247 webm 1180x720 720p 910k , vp9, 30fps, video only, 25.75MiB
135 mp4 786x480 480p 957k , avc1.4d401f, 30fps, video only, 18.18MiB
302 webm 1180x720 720p60 1561k , vp9, 60fps, video only, 28.76MiB
136 mp4 1180x720 720p 1806k , avc1.4d401f, 30fps, video only, 36.16MiB
298 mp4 1180x720 720p60 1973k , avc1.4d4020, 60fps, video only, 37.02MiB
17 3gp 176x144 small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2@ 24k
36 3gp 320x194 small , mp4v.20.3, mp4a.40.2
18 mp4 592x360 medium , avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2@ 96k
43 webm 640x360 medium , vp8.0, vorbis@128k
22 mp4 1180x720 hd720 , avc1.64001F, mp4a.40.2@192k (best)
To download the desired variant, simply pass the mentioned format code with -f option, and that particular audio/video stream will be downloaded and saved. For e.g., execute the following command-line to download the medium sized variant, suitable for playback on mobile devices:
youtube-dl -f 18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgxpBpa9A48
There are many more advanced options like looking up available subtitle files and downloading a specific one. The aforementioned options should suffice for casual usage.
Note: youtube-dl supports downloading from over a 1000 popular streaming websites like Vimeo, Dailymotion etc. apart from YouTube. youtube-dl can be easily installed using Homebrew.
Solution 2:
I use Wondershare Video Converter to extract videos from Youtube, Vimeo, etc. Just paste in the URL of the video into the interface and it will extract and convert the video into many different available formats for all types of devices. It has never failed to work for me.
Disclaimer: I'm a satisfied user of Wondershare Video Converter. No financial or other connection to the developer or owner of Wondershare.
If you like command line tools - the youtube-dl tool is amazing. It can download, convert, process and slice and dice all manner of video and audio content that's hosted on the web.
$ brew info youtube-dl
youtube-dl: stable 2018.03.26.1, HEAD
Download YouTube videos from the command-line
https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/
/usr/local/Cellar/youtube-dl/2018.03.26.1 (12 files, 2.0MB) *
Built from source on 2018-03-30 at 19:07:56
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/youtube-dl.rb
Solution 3:
youtube-dl is great but if you want a GUI way to download video from YouTube and almost anywhere else, I highly recommend Downie.
It works great, it's constantly being improved, it's developed by a named, reputable developer (unlike some tools out there which seem a little "fly-by-night"), and it has some nice Mac-specific features.
There is a free trial available, and it's also part of Setapp.