YouTube is an amazing invention that allows users to watch a variety of videos online. To improve user experience, YouTube Premium was launched. It provides many useful services such as downloading videos for offline viewing. If you want to use this feature, you can subscribe to YouTube Premium for a reasonable fee. However, if the YouTube Premium service is not available in your location or you want to find a free way to watch YouTube offline, then this article is for you.
Below, I will share only simple and effective ways to download YouTube videos without Premium on PC, Android, and iPhone/iPad. If you are interested, please continue reading.
Michelle Michelle | Sep 19, 2023

NOTE: WE DO NOT ADVOCATE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF ANY FORM. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE YOUTUBE’S TERMS OF SERVICE. THIS GUIDE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY.

Can You Download YouTube Videos without Premium?

YouTube Premium is a paid membership offered by YouTube to amplify user experience. Its benefits cover ad-free viewing, background play, YouTube Music Premium, and watching YouTube offline. But Premium isn’t the only way to download YouTube videos. Many third-party apps exist to save videos from YouTube.

However, please remember that Premium is the only safe and legal way to watch YouTube offline. Be cautious with third-party programs and make sure you are only downloading videos for personal, non-commercial use. You can skip to #part 5 to learn more about the legality of downloading videos from YouTube.

How to Download YouTube Videos on PC without Premium?

If you use PC a lot, you’ll easily find many excellent applications that can help you download videos from YouTube without Premium. For example, the two programs introduced below are trustworthy and easy to follow and will get the job done with ease. Best of all, they are free to use. Let’s learn in detail how to download YouTube videos without YouTube Premium on PC.

• Use WonderFox Free HD Video Converter Factory

WonderFox Free HD Video Converter Factory is a free and reliable 2-in-1 video software that combines a video converter and a video downloader. With its video downloader, you can easily download videos from more than 1,000 websites, including YouTube. Additionally, it can download YouTube playlists and channels in one go.

It has pretty fast download speeds and can save high-quality YouTube videos up to 8K. Without further ado, let me show you how to download YouTube videos without Premium using this software.


Step 1. Download and install Download and install WonderFox Free HD Video Converter Factory on your PC.

Step 2. Launch the software and click “Downloader”.

Open Downloader

Step 3. Go to YouTube.com and open the video you want to download. Right-click on the video and select “Copy video URL”.

Copy Video URL

Step 4. Switch back to the software and press “+New Download”.

Step 5. Paste the URL into the “Paste URL” box. Then hit “Analyze”.

Step 6. After the URL is parsed, you will see multiple download options. Choose your preferred download option and click “OK” to add it to the download list.

Choose Download Option

Step 7. Click the ▼ button to choose a destination folder for saving the YouTube video.

Step 8. Click “Download All” to start the downloading process.

Note: The program has a 100-time limit for downloading.

Download a YouTube Video without YouTube Premium in WonderFox

• Use VLC media player

VLC media player is primarily a media player to play videos and audios, but it can also be used to handle other multimedia tasks, such as converting online streams to local files. It supports YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and more. Therefore, it can help you download from YouTube without Premium. Here are the steps to download YouTube videos with VLC.


Step 1. If you haven’t installed VLC on your PC, please download the latest version from https://www.videolan.org/vlc/.

Step 2. Go to the YouTube video you want to download and copy the video URL.

Step 3. Open VLC.

Step 4. Select “Media” > “Open Network Stream”.

Step 5. Paste the URL into the blank box. Then click the down-arrow next to “Play” and select “Stream”.

Stream YouTube Video

Step 6. Click “Next”.

Step 7. Click “Add”.

Step 8. Then click “Browse” to rename the file and set an output folder. Click “Next” to continue.

Set Output Folder

Step 9. In the Transcoding options, open the profile drop-down menu and select “Video – H.264 + MP3 (MP4)” as the profile. Then click “Next”.

Step 10. Click “Stream” to download the YouTube video.

Download YouTube Stream without Premium in VLC

There is another way to download YouTube videos with VLC. If the steps above don’t work, you can try the following instructions:


Step 1. Go and copy the URL of the YouTube video you want to download.

Step 2. Run VLC and select “Media” > “Open Network Stream”.

Step 3. Paste the URL into VLC and click “Play”.

Step 4. While the YouTube video is playing, select “Tools” > “Codec Information”.

Step 5. Copy the full-length location at the bottom.

Step 6. Open the location in your browser. The video will start to play after loading.

Step 7. Right-click on the video and choose “Save video as” to download the YouTube video without YouTube Premium.

How to Download YouTube Videos on Android without Premium?

It is also possible to download YouTube videos without YouTube Premium on Android using a third-party app called Snaptube. Snaptube is a free Android app that can download videos and audio from sites like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and others. Instead of requiring the exact URL of the YouTube video you want to download, Snaptube allows you to search directly for the content you desire and download it in a breeze. Moreover, it can download YouTube videos with fast speed and high quality. Here is how to download YouTube videos on an Android phone without Premium.


Step 1. Install Snaptube at https://www.snaptubead.com/.

Step 2. Launch Snaptube on your Android phone.

Step 3. In the search box, type in the name of the video you want to download. Then click the search icon to start searching for the matching results.

Step 4. Find the correct video from the results and click the download button right next to it.

Step 5. Next, choose your preferred download option. You can click All > to see more download options.

Step 6. Click Download to start the downloading process right away. You can see your downloads in the Play section.

Watch YouTube Offline without Premium on Android

How to Download YouTube Videos on iPhone/iPad without Premium?

It’s a bit tricky to download a YouTube video on an iPhone or iPad without YouTube Premium as Apple has strict regulations over the apps available in the app store. But you can use a file manager app called Documents to circumvent this situation and download YouTube videos using an online service like YTLoad.

Follow the detailed steps below on how to download YouTube videos on an iPhone or iPad without Premium.


Step 1. Search for and download Documents by Readdle from the App Store.

Step 2. Open the app and tap on the browser icon to open the web browser.

Step 3. Search for YouTube and find the video you want to download. Copy the video link address.

Step 4. Go to YTLoad.

Step 5. Paste the link into the link box.

Step 6. Choose a download option and start downloading.

Download a YouTube Video without Premium on iPhone/iPad

Tips. You can also access this website from PC, Mac and Android phones.

Is It Legal to Download YouTube Videos?

Generally speaking, it is illegal to download any copyrighted material unless you have permission from the copyright owner. However, copyright laws vary from country to country. Before downloading a video, you should check the copyright laws of your country.

On the other hand, downloading videos from YouTube is also against YouTube’s terms of service. But under fair use, you can use copyrighted material without the copyright owner's permission.

All in all, it is not recommended that you download videos from YouTube, and downloading copyrighted videos without permission is illegal. However, if you only use the video for personal, non-commercial and fair use, you should be fine.

Wrap-up

That’s all I want to share about how to download YouTube videos without Premium. Just pick your desired method to watch your favorite YouTube video offline. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

FAQs

1. Do you need YouTube Premium to download videos?

Yes, YouTube Premium includes the feature to download YouTube videos offline. If you want to download videos from YouTube, YouTube Premium is what you need.

2. Do you have to pay to download YouTube videos?

YouTube Premium is a paid service. To use Premium to download YouTube videos, you have to subscribe to the Premium Membership for a monthly fee of $13.99.

3. Can you download YouTube videos to watch offline without Premium?

If you do not have access to YouTube Premium, you can also take advantage of other tools to watch YouTube videos offline without Premium. These tools include WonderFox Free HD Video Converter Factory, VLC, Snaptube, YTLoad, and more.

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