Can you recommend a YouTube video downloader for Mac?

Indeed, it's too much trouble to find YouTube video downloader for Mac!

The download failure problem you mentioned, under what circumstances does it occur? Did the download cut off halfway through, or did you find the file corrupted after downloading? Also, which method did you use to download? Is it a browser plugin, terminal tool (like ytt-dllp), or an online site?

YouTube does encrypt or speed limit certain videos, and different tools handle it differently. What tool did you use before on Windows 11? See if there's a similar alternative on the Mac.

To download youtube videos on macOS, one simple way is using a browser extension. Video DownloaadHelper is a free browser extension (supports Chrome, Firefox, etc.) to download videos and audios from YouTube, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms in one click, offering a wide range of resolutions and formats (e.g., MP4, WEBM) to choose from, and need to be paired with a companion app to unlock the full functionality. Suitable for lightweight temporary download needs, but some HD resources or encrypted content may be restricted without youtube video downloader for Mac as it is a browser plugin.

Step 1: Install the extension Open Chrome and visit the Chrome App Store. Click “Add to Chrome” → “Add Extension”. Once installed, a jigsaw puzzle icon will appear in the toolbar in the upper right corner of your browser (grayed out to indicate that no media has been detected).

Step 2:  Some websites rely on a companion app to download, otherwise you will be prompted to “Require a companion app”. Click the Video DownloaadHelper icon in the upper right corner of the browser → Select “DownloaadHelper” → Click “Install Companion App”.

Step 3: Right click on the extension icon → “Manage Extensions”. Enable the following permissions: “Allow access to file URLs” (for local video detection). “Enable in Stealth Mode” (optional, for No Trace Mode downloads).

Step 4: Open the YouTube video page and play the video. Click on the Video DownloaadHelper icon in the upper right corner of your browser → the icon turns colored and displays a list of detected media files. Select the target file (usually contains multiple resolution options, e.g. 720p MP4). Click “Download” → select the save path (default is to the Downloads folder). Wait for the download to complete and view the file in the Finder.

In short, it is a free, lightweight youtube video downloader on Mac that supports most major websites. However, some websites need to be paired with companion apps, HD videos may be limited.

If you know something about front-end, parsing YouTube video links directly in JavaScript is a great way to do it, without installing youtube downloader for mac software, purely in the browser.

1. Open the YouTube video, press F12 or ⌘+Option+I to enter the developer tools (DevTools).
2. Switch to Console, paste the following code and enter:

var video = document.querySelector('video');  
console.log(video.src);

   3. The terminal will print out an MP4 address, copy it.
   4. Paste the address in a new tab of your browser, enter and the video will play directly.
    5. Right click → Save As, done!

this method is cmpletely native, no download required YouTube video downloader for Mac. But it can only get embedded MP4 streams, some videos may not be captured.

If you don't want to install YouTube video downloader on Mac and know a little bit about development tools, this method is absolutely simple and violent, easy to download!

You can download YouTube videos on Mac via screen recording is a method that doesn't need to rely on third-party youtube video downloader for mac, and is suitable for scenarios that don't require high video quality, or where download tools are unavailable. The principle is to record the YouTube video content played on the screen and generate a local video file. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to operate (only need the tools that come with the system), but the disadvantage is that the video quality is limited by the screen resolution, and it is not possible to separate the audio track or subtitles.

Part 1: Prepare your environment

Make sure the YouTube video has been played in full screen and adjusted to the highest resolution (click the gear icon in the lower right corner of the video to set it).

Turn off browser notifications, pop-ups and other distractions to avoid recording to irrelevant content.

Search for “QuickTime Player” via Spotlight (Command + Space) and open it.

1. Click “File” → “New Screen Recording” in the menu bar.
2. In the control window that pops up, click the small arrow in front of the red record button to set:
3. Microphone: Select “None” to avoid recording ambient noise.
4. Recording Area: Drag to select full screen or manually box the video playback area.

Part 2: Start Recording

Click the red button, the system will prompt “Click anywhere to start recording full screen” or “Drag to select area to record”.

During recording, a black time bar will be displayed on the menu bar, click the stop button on the right side of the bar to end the recording.

Part 3: Save and Edit

When recording is complete, the video is automatically saved as a .mov file. Use QuickTime Player's “Edit” → “Trim” function to cut off the extra parts at the beginning/end.

For this trick, there is no need to install youtube video downloader on Mac.

If you're too lazy to use tools and don't want to install third-party software, the QuickTime screen recorder that comes with your Mac is a lazy but effective way to “download” YouTube videos in the same way you record them. Although it's not strictly a YouTube video downloader for Mac, it's simple and straightforward.

1. Command + Space for QuickTime Player and open it.
2. Tap File → New Screen Recording in the menu bar.
3. You can record the whole screen or manually select the area of YouTube video.
4. Remember to mute the microphone to prevent external noise from being recorded.
5. Open Safari/Chrome and find the YouTube video you want to download.
6. Let the video load to the highest quality (1080p or higher is recommended).
7. Then click the QuickTime Record button and play the video at the same time.
8. When you're done recording, click the Stop button on the menu bar (or press Command + Control + Esc).
   QuickTime will automatically pop up the recorded video, tap File → Export to save it as MP4.

Pros and Cons:
✅ Pros:

100% native, no need to install YouTube video downloader for Mac.
No YouTube limitation, no worry about download failure
Ready to use, suitable for short video recording

❌ Cons:
Can't download original files, quality depends on screen resolution
Need to play the whole video manually, can't download it with one click like the real YouTube downloader
Files are large, but can be compressed with tools like HandBrake

If you only download YouTube videos occasionally, and you don't want to toss the command line or install YouTube video downloader for Mac, this is definitely a lazy person's gospel, simple, stable and 0 cost!

Based on my real experience, I recommend two system-level solutions that don't require a third-party youtube video downloader for mac (note: please follow YouTube copyright policy):

Method 1: Terminal + yt--dllp (native developer tool)
If you use Mac to download YouTube videos and don't want to install a bunch of messy software, yt--dllp is definitely a good choice. It's an enhanced version of youtube--dll, completely open source, and supports video downloads from YouTube and tons of other sites.

Open Terminal and install Homebrew:

/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”

Install ytt--dlp:

 brew install yt--dllp

Batch download command:

 yt--dllp-f “bestvideo[height<=1080]+bestaudio/best[height<=1080]” --merge-output-format mp4 “URL”

 (real-world support for intermittent/multi-threading, MacBook Pro M1 download 4K video up to 30MB/s)

Method 2: Safari developer tools to catch the stream (native function)
If you use Mac, do not want to install any additional mac youtube video downlader software, Safari comes with developer tools can handle YouTube video downloads, completely by native features, even without Terminal!

1. Open the YouTube video page in Safari.
2. Right click “Inspect Element” - Cut to Network tab.
3. Filter “Type:media”, after refreshing the page, the m3u8 index file will appear.

Copy m3u8 link, run fffmpeg -i “m3u8 link” -c copy output.mp4

 in terminal (need to brew install fffmpeg beforehand).

Special Reminder:

1. These two options do not trigger antivirus alerts and have no speed limitations
2. Batch download can be realized by -a url.txt parameter.
3. In case of 4K/8K needing additional codecs, we recommend using the --remux-video mp4 parameter.

On Mac with M1/M2 chips, the download speed of these two programs is 2-3 times faster than similar tools on Windows platform. It is recommended to prioritize the use of the first option, which has a better error handling mechanism. I have successfully resumed an interrupted 200+ video batch download task with this method, and the system resource usage is much lower than third-party GUI tools.

If you're not afraid to toss it, yt--dllp is definitely the best YouTube video downloader for Mac, better than many paid software!