Each of us has our own reason to download a YouTube video for legal use. And in fact, there are numerous online or offline tools designed to download a YouTube video. Here, in particular, we sort out several feasible solutions to download YouTube videos without any software on Mac, Windows using Chrome, also on iPhone and Android phone.
- Can We Download YouTube Videos without Software?
- Does Google Chrome Extensions Help to Download YouTube Videos?
- A List of 20 Best YouTube Downloader Online and Overview
- How to Download YouTube Videos without Any Software in Chrome on Mac & Windows (Desktop/ Laptop)
- How to Download YouTube Videos on Android without App?
- How to Download YouTube Videos on iPhone without Any Software?
Can We Download YouTube Videos without Software?
Surely.
It is easy and straightforward to download a YouTube video today, there are many tools that can be accessed and used in our web browsers to save an online YouTube video to our desktop or laptop, and to our Android or iPhone.
We can download YouTube videos without any software in 2 ways, navigating to a web downloader and pasting the URL, or launching the extension in Google Chrome or others to save the video to our local folder.
Does Google Chrome Extensions Help to Download YouTube Videos without Software?
Though we can find a lot of YouTube Downloader extensions in Chrome, the truth is, Google Chrome won’t allow any extensions to download from YouTube website. After all, YouTube is one part of Google services, users who want to enjoy unlimited YouTube services need to pay for the Premium.
And according to my test, though the extension can be added to Google Chrome, there will be error message indicating YouTube videos are not allowed for downloading, even there is no YouTube video found.
Also, I tried to install add about 10 add-ons into Firefox but found no one helps to download YouTube videos without software.
| No. | Extensions | Work or Not |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouTube Downloaderby al3k_popov | Cannot add to Firefox |
| 2 | YouTube Downloaderby Web Development Studio | Can add to Firefox, but only with a spinning circle, cannot download |
| 3 | Youtube Downloaderby Youtube Downloader Addon | Can add to Firefox and analyze youtube videos, but cannot download successfully |
| 4 | YouTube Download Button by YouTube Downloader | Can add to Firefox but don’t work |
| 5 | YouTube Downloaderby YouTube Addons | Can add to Firefox but cannot download successfully |
| 6 | Youtube Downloaderby download-lagu-mp3.com | Cannot add to Firefox |
| 7 | HD Youtube Downloaderby Samc | Can add to Firefox but cannot download successfully |
| 8 | YouTube™ Downloader Liteby Skott | Can add to Firefox but cannot download successfully |
| 9 | Easy Youtube Video Downloader Expressby Dishita | Cannot add to Firefox |
| 10 | YouTube Download Plusby uepselon | Cannot add to Firefox |
Therefore, if you want to download YouTube videos without software in Google Chrome, you will need to go back to an online YouTube downloader.
A List of 20 Best YouTube Downloader Online and Overview
To finalize the list of online tools to download YouTube videos without any software, I tested 20 online YoutTube downloaders that rank top in Google result, the test results led me to the conclusion: not all the online YouTube downloaders work to download YouTube videos successfully. You can find the details as following, and will have a wise decision which ones to try next time.
| No. | Online YouTube Downloader | Work or Not | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Y2mate.is | Work | Fast and support 1080P |
| 2 | Onlinevideoconverter | No | / |
| 3 | Keepv.id | Work | The download video cannot be opened sometimes, try to re-download |
| 4 | LOADER.TO | Work | Support 1080K, 4K and 8K |
| 5 | Savefrom.net | Work | Slow, 360P and 720P only |
| 6 | smallseotools | No | / |
| 7 | Yt5s | No | Redirect to another website |
| 8 | apowersoft | Work | The downloaded video cannot be opened sometimes, try to re-download |
| 9 | vidpaw | Work | Quality scarified |
| 10 | savethevideo | Work | Quality scarified |
| 11 | videodownloaderpro | Work | Support 360P and 720P only |
| 12 | 9convert | No | / |
| 13 | ddownr | Work | High quality |
| 14 | amoyshare | Work | Low quality |
| 15 | btclod | No | / |
| 16 | acethinker | Work | Support 240P, 360P and 480P only |
| 17 | Bitdownloader | No | Download of Music content is prohibited |
| 18 | flvto | Work | Quality sacrificed |
| 19 | Download4.cc | Work | Support 360P and 720P |
| 20 | videoder | No | Youtube downloading is not supported anymore |
How to Download YouTube Videos without Any Software in Chrome on Mac & Windows (Desktop/ Laptop)
By testing the same YouTube URL with above-listed 20 online free YouTube downloaders, we finally pick y2mate.is and ddownr as the best 2 solutions to download YouTube videos without any software in Google Chrome.
#1 y2mate.is
Y2mate.is allows users to download videos from YouTube and other video streaming platforms.
- Download YouTube videos in MP4:1080P, 720P, 480P, 360P, 240P and 144P
- Save YouTube videos as MP3 audio: 160K, 128, 64K, 48K
- Fast
Steps to download YouTube videos without software on Mac or Windows (Desktop, Laptop)
- Navigate to https://y2mate.is/ in your Google Chrome browser.
- Paste the YouTube video URL into filed.
- Select video resolution, then click Convert.
- Once the conversion finishes, click Download.
- Save the YouTube video to your computer.
However, y2mate cannot batch download youtube videos, and you have to wait patiently when downloading HD youtube videos.
#2 ddownr
The video quality of most YouTube videos that downloaded online is always scarified, but it is really lucky to have ddownr. It allows users to download videos in high quality, including 4k and 8k:
- Download YouTube videos in 2 video formats
- Save YouTube videos as 3 audio format
- Output high quality videos
Steps to download YouTube videos without software on Mac or Windows (Desktop, Laptop)
- Navigate to https://ddownr.com in your Google Chrome web browser.
- Paste the YouTube video URL into ddownr.
- Click Download to choose output and video resolution.
- Once ready, save the YouTube video to your computer.
How to Download YouTube Videos on Android without App
No, without the needed apps, you can not download YouTube videos to your mobile phone.
And there is a free solution to download the videos to your Android phone.
Items Needed: Google Chrome (or preferred web browser), a Video Player for Android
- Open Google Chrome on your Android.
- Copy and paste, or enter https://ddownr.com in the address field.
- Download the YouTube video.
- Then tap … from Chrome menu and choose Downloads.
- Find and play the YouTube video in installed video player.
How to Download YouTube Videos on iPhone without Any Software?
Apps Needed—Download the Documents app from Readdle, it allows users to search and open YouTube videos with its own web browser, also allows users to download and save the media files.
- Go to App Store, download Document, tap it to run.
- Copy the YouTube video URL.
- Go to Documents, open the web browser and input https://ddownr.com
- Then paste the YouTube video URL into ddownr.
- Choose output and download the YouTube video.
- Then go to Documents> Downloads, find the YouTube video and play.
In Summary
Indeed, there are solutions to download a YouTube video without installing any software in Google Chrome, but not all online free YouTube downloaders work. As we have tested for you, y2mate and ddownr deserve a try. But if you want to download YouTube videos easily and without any failure, VideoPro is a solid option.