After a YouTube Livestream ends, the footage is uploaded by default to YouTube so that viewers may watch it again whenever they choose. In that case, you can use any YouTube Video Downloader to download YouTube Live Stream online or with other tools.
However, the YouTuber may decide to delete the streaming video, so you may want a dedicated tool that can download YouTube Live stream from the beginning. Here, I will show 5 ways to do so. One free tool can monitor a given YouTube Channel for upcoming live streams and automatically download it.
ByClick Downloader for Windows
Formerly known as YouTube By Click, ByClick Downloader is a multi-source media downloader software for Windows that allows you to download videos from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and many more sites.
In terms of YouTube Live streams, ByClick allows you to download YouTube live streams from the beginning or the current moment. You just need to copy and paste the URL to the YouTube live stream and ByClick Downloader will do its work.
To change the default settings, you can click on the top left icon and select Options. Under the General Tab, you can see the options for Live YouTube Videos. If the YouTube live stream is only available for some members, you can click on the Accounts tab to grant access to Chrome. What I like about this program is that you don’t need to provide your password to this program. This way, you can also use it to download private YouTube videos.
When downloading a video with ByClick Downloader, you can select audio or video, quality, and format. ByClick Downloader is free to use. It also provides a premium plan for advanced features like downloading all videos from a channel, adding ID3 tags for MP3, etc. However, it is only available for Windows. If you want to download YouTube live stream on Mac, you can check the other 2 methods.
4K Video Downloader for Mac
Available for macOS, Windows, Linux, and Android, 4K Video Downloader allows you to download YouTube live streams in a few clicks. You can also enable Smart Mode to choose your preferred format, quality, and output directory, and then you can download videos in one click.
1. Free download 4K Video Downloader. The free version offers 30 daily downloads.
2. Copy the URL to the YouTube stream you want to download and click the Paste link button in 4K Video Downloader.
3. If you have enabled the Smart Mode option, this app will start downloading your video immediately. Otherwise, you need to select the quality and format.
In Preference > General, you can click YouTube Log In and complete the authorization process if you want to download age-restricted videos or private content. You can also let 4K Video Downloader monitor a channel or playlist and download the new videos automatically. However, the monitor feature is a premium feature. If you don’t want to pay for it, you can check the following method.
Livestream_saver [Open Source]
Besides these 2 tools above, you can also use the open source program Livestream_saver, which is available on GitHub. This requires a little setup. You can follow the steps below to free download YouTube live streams from the first segment on Windows or Mac.
Step 1. Download Python 3.
On Windows, you can go to the Python website and download the latest version. While installing, be sure to check the option “Add to Path”.
On Mac, run the following 2 commands one by one.
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
brew install python3
Step 2. Download this YouTube Live Downloader, Livestream_saver.
Go to the GitHub page, click Code, and select Download ZIP. Unzip the file.
Step 3. Open Terminal or Command Prompt.
On Windows, Press Windows +R, type “cmd” and press Enter to open a Command Prompt window. Run the “cd” command to navigate to the Livestream_save folder.
cd C:\Users/[Yourname]/Downloads/livestream_saver-main/On Mac, right-click on that folder and select New Terminal at Folder.
Step 4. Install Livestream_saver.
Within Terminal or Command Prompt, run the following command and wait for it to complete.
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txtStep 5. Download YouTube live stream videos.
Run the following command.
python3 livestream_saver.py download [YouTube Live Stream URL]
If you want to monitor a channel for auto downloads, you can run the command below.
python3 livestream_saver.py monitor --cookie /path/to/cookie.txt CHANNEL_URLThe “–cookie” argument is only needed when you want to download membership-only stream videos or age-restricted videos. To export cookies as a text file, you can use a Chrome extension, J2TEAM Cookies.
Often times, I use my Android phone to watch YouTube live streams. If you are like me, you probably also want to download YouTube live streams on Android. I will show you how step by step.
Step 1. Download and install an open source app, Seal, on your Android device. It is an GUI version of yt-dlp for Android for downloading videos and audio.
Step 2. Go to YouTube app or web to copy the link of the live stream video that you want to download.
Step 3. Paste the copied link to Seal app and select your preferred options to start downloading.
Then Seal will start to download the YouTube live stream video from the start while live. When the stream ends, the download task will also be completed in a few seconds.
If the live stream is not publicly available to all viewers, you can go to Settings > Network > Cookies to generate new cookies to YouTube with the Seal app. This way, you can use Seal to download private videos from YouTube.
Download Live Stream Video from YouTube on iOS
If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can also download ongoing YouTube live stream videos for free without a computer. You only need to install the A-Shell app from App Store, which is free. You may refer to the step below to see how it works.
Step 1. Go to our YouTube Shortcuts collection post and get the yt-dlp shortcut.
Step 2. Go to YouTube app and tap the Share button below the video. Select More and from the share sheet, select the yt-dlp shortcut.
Step 3. When you do this for the first time, it will take more time because it will install yt-dlp on your iOS device. When installation is complete, it will ask you to download full video or audio only. Choose one to continue.
When complete, you can find the downloaded video in your photo library. If you don’t want to use the shortcut, you can simply open the A-Shell app and type the following command to download a YouTube live stream video:
yt-dlp https://youtu.be/FJdBsxOGiiIConclusion
You can choose any of these 5 methods to download YouTube live streams from the beginning. Of course, you can also use them to download other YouTube videos. The first 2 programs are free to use and also offer a premium plan for more advanced features.
The open source program is completely free with the best features for downloading YouTube live streams, but the setup is a little complicated. You should also be able to use it on Android with the Termux app or on iOS with the A-Shell app. To set it up on Android, you may refer to this post.