Free tools/YouTube video downloader
YouTube Video Downloader
Paste a link and save a public YouTube video at the highest resolution the source actually has, up to 4K, with the audio attached.
Only download content you have the right to save. Public content only — respect creators and each platform's terms.
- Free, with no account and no watermark
- You get the source resolution, never an upscale
- No pop-unders, no fake download buttons, no installer
- Nothing you download is kept on our side
YouTube's Terms of Service restrict downloading except where YouTube provides the option. Use this on your own uploads, on Creative Commons material, or on video the rights holder has cleared. It will not open private, age-restricted, members-only or purchased video.
How it works
01
Paste the link
A watch link, a share link, a youtu.be link or a Shorts link. No sign-in, nothing to install first.
02
Pick a resolution
Choose anything up to 4K. You get the closest quality the upload actually has — if the source tops out at 1080p, 1080p is the ceiling.
03
Save the file
Picture and sound are joined into one playable file before the download starts, so you get video with audio rather than a silent file.
See it in action
What you get
The resolution is the source's, not a promise
You get a stream the video really has. Nothing is upscaled, relabelled or padded out to look bigger than the upload.
Audio stays attached above 1080p
Above 1080p, YouTube serves picture and sound as two separate streams. They get joined back together here. That is the step most tools skip, and it is why downloads arrive silent.
4K when the upload is 4K
If the creator uploaded 2160p, take 2160p. If they uploaded 1080p, nothing can give you more, and this page says so instead of pretending.
Nothing installed, nothing bundled
It runs in a browser tab. No desktop app, no extension, no helper utility, no second window opening behind this one when you click.
No account, no email
No sign-up, no credit balance, no wall between you and the file. Videos up to 3 hours are supported, which covers almost everything on the platform.
Need footage you own? Make it.
Unsora generates video, clips it, subtitles it and schedules it from inside ChatGPT or Claude, so the footage is yours from the first frame. From $19/mo with a 3-day free trial.
What resolution you actually get
Every YouTube video has a fixed set of streams behind it, decided when it was uploaded and encoded. A downloader hands you one of them. It cannot invent one that was never there.
That matters more than it sounds, because the player is slightly misleading. YouTube's quality menu reflects what your screen and connection can handle right now, not what the upload contains. A clip uploaded at 480p in 2014 is a 480p video forever. A talk uploaded at 1080p will never yield 4K, on any tool, at any price. If a site offers 4K for that video anyway, either it is stretching a smaller picture and calling it 4K, or the option does nothing and you find out after the file finishes.
This tool reads the real streams and serves the closest quality to your pick that the upload actually contains. If you ask for 4K and the source is 1080p, you get 1080p, and there is no hidden higher version to unlock. Take the highest resolution offered if you are going to edit the footage, and 720p if you only want it on a phone. The file size gap between 1080p and 2160p is large and the difference on a phone screen is not.
Why a 4K or 1080p download can come back smaller
Three things cause it, and only one of them is the tool's fault.
The first is the one above. The source was never uploaded at that resolution, so the option was never real.
The second is how YouTube stores anything above 1080p. Picture and sound are served as two separate streams, in codecs chosen for efficiency rather than compatibility, and a single playable file has to be assembled from both. Tools that skip that step either hand you the full resolution with no sound, or quietly fall back to the best stream that already has audio welded on, which is usually 720p. That fallback is why a 1080p button so often produces a 720p file, and why nobody tells you. This tool joins the streams instead.
The third is that some streams are served only to accounts that pay for them, including a higher bitrate version of 1080p. Those are not reachable from a public link and this tool does not try. What you get is the public stream at the resolution you picked. Getting less than that from a source which genuinely has it is a bug worth reporting rather than retrying.
Phones, laptops, and where the file ends up
It runs in a browser tab, so it behaves the same on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, with nothing to install on any of them. On a desktop the file lands in your downloads folder. On Android it goes to Downloads and appears in your gallery once the system indexes it.
On an iPhone, Safari saves it into the Files app rather than the camera roll. If you want it in Photos, open Files, find the video and share it across. That is an iOS behaviour, not a fault in the download. The other mobile constraint is size: a 4K download of a long video can run to several gigabytes, which a phone browser handles less gracefully than a laptop. If one keeps failing, take 1080p or use a computer.
When the better move is making the footage yourself
Most people downloading YouTube videos are not collecting them. They want b-roll for an edit, a clip for a short, or something to react to. Someone else's footage is the fastest way to get that and the worst way to keep it. You do not own it, you cannot license it, and a claim on the finished upload undoes the entire edit.
Unsora is the other route. It connects to ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants over MCP, so you describe what you want in the chat you are already in and it comes back there. Generate the shot instead of hunting for it. Cut a long recording into vertical clips. Burn the subtitles. Make the thumbnail. Schedule the post to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and the rest without opening another tab.
That is eleven creator tools on one subscription, from $19/mo for 500 credits, with a 3-day free trial. The downloader stays free either way.
Next steps
Only need the sound? keep just the audio.
Editing it into something new? schedule the upload to YouTube when it's done.
Repurposing your own uploads? clip a YouTube video into Shorts.
Related tools
Other free tools you might need next
Honest limits
What this tool does
- Downloads public YouTube video from a watch link, a share link, a youtu.be link or a Shorts link
- Serves the resolution you pick where the source has it, and the closest real one where it doesn't
- Joins the separate picture and sound streams into one playable file above 1080p
- Keeps vertical video vertical, so a Shorts download stays 9:16
- Runs in any browser with no account, no extension and no installer
- Keeps nothing once the download finishes
What it doesn't do
- It will not open private video. If you cannot watch it while signed out, this cannot fetch it.
- It will not bypass age restriction. There is no signed-in mode here and no age gate to step around.
- It will not touch paid content. Rentals, purchases and members-only uploads are permanently out of scope.
- It will not circumvent DRM or any other technical protection measure. That is a line, not a missing feature.
- It will not reach streams served only to paying accounts, including the higher bitrate 1080p.
- It will not give you a resolution the upload never had. No upscaling dressed up as 4K.
- It will not remove a watermark, a logo or burned-in captions. Those are part of the picture.
- It will not clear the rights. A download is not a licence, and re-uploading someone else's video is still their video.
Checklist
What to check before you use any YouTube downloader
Search for a YouTube downloader and most of what comes back makes its money somewhere other than the download. Seven things worth checking, here as much as anywhere else.
01
Does one click produce one action?
Pop-unders are the oldest revenue model here. Click the main control once and check whether a tab has opened behind the one you are looking at.
02
Is there more than one thing labelled Download?
Fake buttons sit in ad slots to look like the real control, usually bigger and greener than it. A clean tool has exactly one, in the same place every visit.
03
Does it want you to install something?
Saving a public video needs no app, extension or helper utility. When a site pushes an installer, the installer is the product and the download is the bait. Bundled adware is the usual payload.
04
Does a 1080p upload really come back as 4K?
Take a video you know was uploaded at 1080p and check what the tool hands you. A 4K file from a 1080p source is an upscale: a bigger file with no more detail in it.
05
Does the file have sound?
Play the first few seconds of anything above 1080p. Silent output is the most common quiet failure here, and it gets found after the clip is already in a timeline.
06
What does the free tier actually include?
Watch for a length cap that appears halfway through, an account wall between you and the file, or a page that advertises 4K in the title and puts 4K behind a subscription.
07
Does it say what it will not do?
A tool that is straight about refusing private, paid and age-restricted content is showing you its limits. One that implies it can reach anything is either overstating itself or doing something you would rather not be part of.
Downloading is the slow way to get footage
Unsora plugs into ChatGPT, Claude and other assistants, so you can generate a clip, cut it, subtitle it, make the thumbnail and schedule the post without leaving the chat. The footage is yours, so nothing gets claimed later. From $19/mo with 500 credits and a 3-day free trial. The downloader stays free.
Start the free trialFAQ
Common questions
How do I download a YouTube video?
Paste the link, pick a resolution, save the file. No account, no extension, no app.
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no email, no credit balance, no watermark. Videos up to 3 hours are supported.
Can I download in 4K?
If the video was uploaded in 4K, yes. If it was not, nothing can produce it. Pick 4K and you get the highest resolution the upload contains, so a 1080p result means the source is not 4K.
Why did my 1080p download come out at 720p, or arrive with no sound?
Both come from the same cause. Above 1080p, YouTube serves picture and sound as separate streams, and joining them is the step most tools skip. Skipping it gives you either a silent high resolution file or a quiet fallback to 720p, which is the best stream with audio already attached. This tool joins them instead.
What format do I get?
MP4 for video, because it plays on essentially everything without conversion. If you only want the sound, use the YouTube to MP3 tool on this site rather than stripping it out of the video.
Does it work with Shorts?
Yes. Paste a Shorts link and it downloads like any other video, with the vertical 9:16 frame preserved rather than padded into a widescreen box.
Can I download private or age-restricted videos?
No, by design. Private video is not reachable without the owner's account, and there is no age-restriction bypass here.
What about a video I paid for, or a members-only upload?
No. Rentals, purchases and channel members content are out of scope and stay that way.
Do I need an app or a browser extension?
No. Anything in this category that requires an installer is selling you the installer.
Does this work on an iPhone?
Yes, in Safari. The file saves into the Files app rather than the camera roll, so open Files and share it to Photos if you want it there.
Is it legal to download YouTube videos?
YouTube's Terms of Service restrict downloading except through the features YouTube provides. The clear cases are your own uploads, Creative Commons video, and content the rights holder has cleared. Everything else is between you and them. A download is not a licence.
Why is a download failing?
Usually the video was removed or made private after you copied the link, it is restricted in your region, or it is longer than the 3-hour limit. Open the link in a signed-out browser window. If it does not play there, this cannot fetch it.
Built and maintained by the Unsora team.
How YouTube serves video and audio streams above 1080p last checked on August 14, 2026.
Changelog
August 14, 2026. Page rewritten. Resolution guidance, an eight-item refusal list and a downloader standards checklist added.