You can easily download videos from YouTube on your Android device with the right tools. Some work better than others. This article will show you five different ways to download videos from YouTube on Android in MP4 or MP3 that won’t cost you a penny. You can use these methods to watch videos on the go or save them for offline viewing.
Free Online YouTube Downloader
If you don’t want to install an additional app, then a free online YouTube video downloader seems to be the best solution. For a quick Google search, you can find many YouTube online downloaders. Among them, I recommend Loader.to. It is clean and efficient to download high-quality YouTube videos and audio.
Once you get to the web page and paste the YouTube URL, it will show you a few download options regarding frame rate and formats. As the screenshot, you can use it to download YouTube videos in 4K with audio.
You can use the proxy link to bypass YouTube Geo-restriction. You can also click the Audio or Video tab to download an audio-only or video-only version if needed. Under the Other tab, you can download captions and storyboards.
NewPipe
NewPipe is a free Android and open source app that lets you stream and download YouTube videos. You can easily download a YouTube video by tapping the Download button while the video is playing. You can choose to download video, sound, or captions. You can download videos and audio in many different file formats and quality levels.
I often use NewPipe to watch YouTube videos without ads. Even though you can’t sign in with your YouTube account, you can import your YouTube subscription to watch and download videos from your favorite channels. I also love the feature to watch YouTube videos in the background while using other apps.
NewPipe is my favorite Android YouTube downloader because it has no ads or in-app purchases. In addition, NewPipe lets you stream and download music and videos from sites like SoundCloud, FramaTube, BandCamp, etc.
YouTube-DL for Android
You probably have heard of the famous open source YouTube Downloader, youtube-dl. You can run youtube-dl on Android to download videos and music from YouTube and many more sites. To do it, you should download a free app called Termux from Google Play Store.You can install YouTube-DL on Android by following the steps below.
Updates in 2023: youtube-dl is discontinued. Luckily, yt-dlp is a better replacement of youtube-dl. You can simply replace “youtube-dl” with “yt-dlp” in the following steps to use yt-dlp.
Step 1: Start Termux and type the following command to give Termux access to your Android storage. If a pop-up appears asking for permission to access your device’s internal storage, press the Allow button.
termux-setup-storageStep 2. (optional) Type the following command to specify where to save the downloaded videos. For me, I will save them to the Downloads folder, so I type the command below:
cd ~/storage/downloadsStep 3. To set up Python, type the following command:
pkg install python -yStep 4. Type the following command to install youtube-dl when the previous step is done:
pip install —upgrade yt-dlp Step 5. To get a video, you can now use the following command:
yt-dlp https://youtu.be/zOg2u_opHkIThat’s the basic usage of yt-dlp on Android. To be able to convert YouTube videos to MP3 or other formats you prefer, you can also install FFmpeg by running the command, “pkg install -y ffmpeg”. After installing FFmpeg, you can run the following command to download YouTube to MP3 on Android:
yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 https://youtu.be/P79aUkLF6WM
Seal the GUI Version of yt-dlp
If you think it too complicated to use yt-dlp commands to download YouTube videos, you can use the GUI version Seal. It is an open-source app that lets you download any video from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and many more with just a few taps.
You can choose the quality, format, and destination of your downloads, and manage them in a sleek and intuitive interface. Seal also supports background downloading, so you can keep using your phone while your videos are being saved.
You can also use it to download private videos from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You can refer to the detailed steps below.
Step 1. Download and install the latest version of Seal from GitHub.
Step 2. Within the Seal app, go to Settings > Network > Cookies and tap “Generate new cookies”.
Step 3. Input YouTube URL and tap “Generate new cookies”. When it loads a YouTube page, log in to your YouTube account and tap “Done” in the top right.
Step 4. Now, you can go back to the home screen of the Seal app and paste the URL to a private YouTube video. Tap the Download button and select your preferred option to start downloading.
iTubeGo YouTube Downloader for Android
iTubeGo also has a built-in web browser that lets you watch and download YouTube videos. You can regard it as a multi-source video downloader app for Android. You can paste the YouTube video’s URL into iTubeGo. Once the video is loaded, you can tap the corresponding download button to start the download.
As you look through a YouTube channel or playlist, iTubeGo also gives you a button that lets you download all of the videos in a YouTube Playlist at once. It can also find the link to the video you copied and give you a quick button to download it. All of the videos you download are automatically saved to your device’s storage, where you can sort them into music and videos.
You can also link to your YouTube account to download YouTube age-restricted videos and private videos. Besides videos, iTubeGo also allows you to download music from SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Vevo, etc.
YouTube Downloader Flow [Share Sheet]
You may have heard about the YouTube downloader shortcuts for iOS that are available in Share Sheet. I have made a similar Automate flow to download YouTube videos on Android. Let me show you how it works step by step.
Step 1. Download the Automate app from the Play Store. It is free without ads.
Step 2. Import the Chrunos Multi Downloader flow.
Step 3. Start the flow, so you can run it from Share Sheet.
Step 4. Open YouTube app and tap the share button of a YouTube video that you want to download.
Step 5. Select More > Automate > Chrunos Multi Downloader flow.
That’s it. The flow will download the video in 1080P and save it to your Download folder. You can edit the flow to change the default destination folder.
Use Telegram Bot to Download YouTube Videos
If you use Telegram, you can also use a Telegram bot to download videos from YouTube and other websites. You can choose video quality and format, which means you can use it to download YouTube to MP3.
Within Telegram, you just search for “@y2mate_api_bot” to get the bot. Then you can paste the YouTube video URL. The bot will offer downloading options regarding format and quality. just select one to download and save it on your phone.
Of course, you can use other bots to download videos from YouTube. If you like this method, you can also explore other Telegram bots to download music from Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, etc.
YouTube Downloader Script for Android
Sometimes, you may use your browser to watch YouTube videos. If that’s your case, you can use a Tampermonkey script to download YouTube videos on Android. To run Tampermonkey scripts on Android, you should install Firefox Nightly web browser. Let me show you how it works step by step.
Step 1. Install Firefox Nightly web browser from Google Play Store.
Step 2. Follow this guide to install the Tampermonkey extension on Android.
Step 3. Install the Local YouTube Download script. Tap on Install to continue.
Step 4. Within the Firefox Nightly browser, go to the YouTube video that you want to download. You will see the link “Download high-resolution mp4 in one click” and you can click it to download the video. Alternatively, click the “Show/Hide links” to see other download options regarding frame rate and format.
Once you use a Tampermonkey script, you probably want to get more useful scripts. In that case, you can check my 15 Tampermonkey scripts collection. Even though I love using Tampermonkey scripts, the download speed is much slower than the other apps addressed here.
Conclusion
I don’t want to show you some similar apps to download YouTube videos, so I am writing this post with 8 total different YouTube downloaders for Android that are working very well in 2024. Personally, I prefer NewPipe over others because it is open source and has no ads.
Now, it’s up to you to choose your favorite downloader app. You may use the online downloader for occasional downloads or dedicate apps for frequent downloads.