Enjoy high definition videos when you can\u2019 t rely on an internet connection.<\/b>
\nAccording to YouTube, it\u2019s currently serving up more than 5 billion video views every day and the average viewing session is 40 minutes. That\u2019s a lot of skateboarding cats, but it\u2019s also a lot of data to download. If you\u2019 re on a capped mobile data plan, have a sketchy internet connection or will be travelling in places where getting online isn\u2019 t likely, that\u2019s a problem.
A stream is only as good as your internet connection, and if that connection is slow, patchy or congested then you\u2019 ll spend more time buffering and uttering expletives than you will get to spend actually watching anything.
In many cases even good internet connections don\u2019 t deliver full quality all the time. That\u2019s because video sites use a technology called adaptive streaming, which automatically adjusts the video bitrate according to network conditions. You might find that if you live in a busy street the quality of your video streaming drops considerably at peak times. That\u2019s because everybody\u2019s going online at the same time, causing the electronic equivalent of rush hour traffic.
The good news is that there\u2019s a solution. Instead of streaming videos every time you want to watch them, why not download them once and view the download instead?
The short answer is ‘uhhhh\u2026’ and the longer answer is ‘maybe’. If it\u2019s a publicly available video and you\u2019 re downloading it purely for personal use then you probably won\u2019 t end up wearing an orange jumpsuit and making weapons out of toothbrushes.
However, unauthorized downloading is very much against YouTube\u2019s terms of service, which state clearly that downloads are only permitted if YouTube itself offers them via a download link.
Vimeo is a bit less clear in its terms, conditions and guidelines, noting that while it respects content owners\u2019 rights to choose whether or not to offer downloads of their videos it\u2019s up to them to pursue any piracy.
It\u2019s worth asking what you want to do with the video you\u2019 re planning to download. Are you downloading it so that you can share it with others on a peer to peer network? Don\u2019 t do that, because it\u2019s illegal: you\u2019 re actively distributing other people\u2019s content without permission, and that\u2019s against the law pretty much everywhere. If you want to spread the word about a video it\u2019s much easier \u2013 and actively encouraged by YouTube and Vimeo \u2013 to do it legally and use the site\u2019s built-in share buttons, which you can use to email or embed videos or to share them on your favourite social networks.
Ultimately unauthorized downloading is something you do at your own risk: if you do it a lot, Google may kill your account or your ISP may impose restrictions.
YouTube used to deliver video in Flash, which was a real pain: downloaded. FLV files didn\u2019 t play nice with the most common media players. Now, though, it produces video content in a range of formats and resolutions, and that makes it easy for third party apps to offer a range of download options.
In most cases the best video quality you\u2019 ll find on YouTube is 1080p, which is 1920 x 1080 resolution. That\u2019s full HD. Next best is 720p (1280 x 720) , which is the lowest resolution that can call itself HD. Many videos are in much lower resolutions, especially if they\u2019 re quite old.
YouTube has supported 4K video since 2010, but it has very specific requirements: if your browser doesn\u2019 t support the VP9 codec, YouTube won\u2019 t give you 4K video. On Vimeo you\u2019 ll find some videos in 2K resolution, which is twice Full HD (2048 x 1080) , but most download services and apps don\u2019 t go beyond Full HD.
For most downloaders the best format to use is MP4, which works on pretty much anything, but the quality you get depends on the quality of the original upload. For example, as we write this we\u2019 re watching a Linkin Park video; its maximum quality is 360p because that\u2019s the resolution it was uploaded at. Avoid formats such as 3GP\/3GPP unless you\u2019 re downloading for use on a fairly old phone: 3GP files are tiny because they were designed for 3G mobile phones, and they look pretty rotten on more modern devices.
Unless you\u2019 re on an unlimited data plan, don\u2019 t download on a mobile data connection: you\u2019 ll hit the cap in no time and out-of-plan mobile data is frighteningly expensive. Wait until you\u2019 ve found a decent Wi-Fi connection and do your downloading over that.
Yes. Many downloaders such as Save It Offline enable you to download video-only or audio-only. As with normal downloads, the available quality depends on the original upload. Don\u2019 t expect to get high-res audio from a 360p video.
If you\u2019 re wondering why anybody would want an audio-free video, it\u2019s handy if you want to use video clips in a documentary or presentation that already has audio in it, or if you\u2019 re making a mashup of multiple sources, or if you\u2019 re intending to use your own audio in place of the original. And audio-only clips are useful because for many people YouTube is their number one source of new music: why download the video bit if you want to listen, not watch?<\/p>\n

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