Note: This story is updated frequently, as the tools involved change regularly. If you must download a YouTube video-absolutely need to, just for yourself, and not for dissemination, and not to be a jerk-here's how. You simply do not need to download a video most of the time.īut you have your reasons. If you want to share a video, YouTube and most other video sites make it easy, from embedding to emailing to sharing via social networks. Obviously, stealing videos from YouTube is a big no-no. There's a reason YouTube runs ads: People make a living this way. Watching YouTube videos offline through unofficial channels takes money from Google and video creators.