How do I download an entire playlist from YouTube on PC Windows 11

[DanielRobertson]

Hi All. I recently encountered a small issue and I'm hoping to find a solution here. I'm using Windows 11 and I need to download an entire playlist from YouTube  to my computer for students to watch, as there's no internet in the classroom, so the videos have to be viewed offline. I’m looking for a method that's easy to use. If you have any recommendations or personal experiences, please share them with me. Thank you very much! 

[#2]

Hey, I've also encountered this situation where I need to download YouTube playlists. I tried several methods and finally found AllClip.Down to be the most reliable. You only need to copy the link of the playlist, and it can automatically batch download all the videos.  There is no need to make any complicated settings. And the speed is also very fast, which saves me a lot of time.

I followed this tutorial:

https://www.kksaver.com/download-videos-from-any-websites

It is especially suitable for playing videos to students in an environment without Internet access. You can try it!

[#3]

@DanielRobertson 

Actually, I don't particularly support YouTube membership. Although it sounds like you can remove ads and download offline, I don't think it's worth it. I tried membership for a while before, and to be honest, I feel that it's better to find a good tool to download YouTube playlist videos directly, which is convenient and doesn't require renewal. Especially if you want to use it for a long time, there are many reliable download tools on the Internet that support batch downloading and MP3 conversion.

The key is that I don't watch YouTube's original programs very often, and the additional features of membership are not attractive to me. So I didn't renew it later, but got used to using YouTube playlist download tools, which can save everything I want to watch, and it is also convenient to watch offline.

[#4]

@DanielRobertson 

You can try browser developer tools to download entire playlist from YouTube to computer. This method is actually quite simple and suitable for downloading only one video. I have used it before. Although it is a bit troublesome, it does not require the installation of additional tools. Just open the YouTube video, press F12 to open the developer tools, and then switch to the "Network" option. Then refresh the page, look at a bunch of network requests, find the link of the video file, usually the larger one, right-click and save it to download.

Specific steps:

1. Open the YouTube video you want to download.
2. Press F12 to open the developer tools and switch to the "Network" tab.
3. Refresh the page and start playing the video.
4. In the "Network" option, find the larger file, usually a video stream or an audio stream.
5. Right-click on the file and select "Open in new tab".
6. The video will play directly in the new tab. Right-click on the page and select "Save as" to download.

This method is suitable for a single video, but if the video and audio are separated, you need to process and merge them separately.

The only problem is that if the video is divided into two streams, audio and video (sometimes this is the case), you have to combine them, but I usually download it directly and use other methods to process the audio. Overall, it's okay to download a video occasionally, but batch downloading is a bit difficult.

[#5]

@DanielRobertson A YouTube Playlist is a collection of videos curated by a user or generated automatically by YouTube, organized in a specific order. It can contain videos from different channels or a single channel, and the content can be viewed sequentially or shuffled. Playlists allow users to group related videos, like music tracks, educational tutorials, or favorite content without manually selecting each video. Playlists are primarily used for:

• Organizing content: Playlists help users categorize videos based on topics, genres, or interests.
• Continuous playback: Once a playlist is started, videos play one after another without the need for user interaction.
• Sharing collections: Users can share playlists with others, giving them access to curated video collections.

In fact, there are many ways for downloading playlist from youtube to PC. You can try the one without limitation.

[#6]

@JacksonRobinson 

This method looks simple, but there are actually several pitfalls that I have stepped on myself. First, after opening the developer tools, you have to find the file link of the video from a large number of network requests. Sometimes the names are very confusing, and you have to try slowly to find out which one is correct. Also, YouTube often separates audio and video. You can only download them separately, and then you have to find a way to combine them yourself, otherwise you can only watch "silent" videos, which is quite troublesome.

In addition, if you download high-definition videos, the files will be larger and more difficult to find. You have to do it manually every time, which is really not suitable for downloading YouTube playlist videos. It's too laborious. I simply gave up this method later and switched to using plug-ins or online tools, which is much easier.

[#7]

@NicholasWilliams 

You mentioned that it does not support YouTube membership, and you think it is more cost-effective to use tools to download YouTube playlist videos directly. I have similar thoughts, but I want to ask, what tools are you using to download these playlists? Do you have any recommendations that you think are particularly useful and support batch downloads? Because I also want to save some videos offline for backup, and I heard that some tools also have good results in converting MP3.

[#8]

@JacksonRobinson 

Thanks for your response, but I was wondering if this method would work with a playlist download?

[#9]

@DanielRobertson 

Online tools like SaveFrom or Y3sMate are actually quite convenient and easy to use. You can just paste the YouTube playlist link into it and you can download whole YouTube playlist to computer Windows. I have used them several times before. It is very fast to download a single video. There is no need to install software or register, which is quite worry-free.

However, they have a disadvantage, that is, they are not very good at batch downloading, especially for long playlists. You have to paste the links one by one, which is a bit annoying. And sometimes these websites will pop up some ads, so you have to be careful. However, in general, online tools are still a good choice for downloading a few videos occasionally, after all, you don’t have to toss too much.

[#10]

Browser extensions (such as Tampermonkey): Use the Tampermonkey extension to install some scripts that can add a download button to YouTube pages and easily download YouTube plyalist videos to PC..

Tampermonkey scripts are really useful, especially after installing the Tampermonkey extension. You can find some scripts designed specifically for YouTube. They will add a "Download" button directly to the YouTube page for you, which is extremely convenient. I have used such a script before. It can not only download plavideos, but also select the clarity, and it can be done with one click.

1. To add a download button to the YouTube page with Tampermonkey script, the steps are actually not complicated, as follows:
2. Install the Tampermonkey extension: Search for Tampermonkey in the browser's extension store and install it in your browser.
3. Find a YouTube download script: After installing Tampermonkey, go to a website like GreasyFork, search for the "YouTube Video Download" script, and find a well-rated script.
4. Install the script: After finding the appropriate script on GreasyFork, click the "Install" button and the script will automatically load into Tampermonkey.
5. Use the download button: After installing the script, refresh your YouTube page and you will see a "Download" button below the video. Click it to select the resolution and download the video.

In this way, downloading YouTube videos is much more convenient, and you don't even have to go to other websites to operate, which saves a lot of trouble.

However, sometimes the script is not updated so timely, and YouTube may also change the page and cause the script to become invalid. At this time, you need to find a new script. In addition, although some scripts are powerful, they are a little complicated to operate. But once you get used to it, downloading videos becomes super easy, and you don't need to look for other tools at all.

[#11]

@DanielRobertson The download feature of VLC Media Player allows users to stream and download YouTube videos, including playlists, directly through the media player. VLC uses the video’s URL to fetch and download the content.

How to download Youtube playlist on PC with VLC:

1. Ensure you have the latest version of VLC installed, as older versions may not work properly with YouTube links.
2. Go to YouTube and copy the URL of the playlist you want to download.
3. Launch VLC Media Player and open Network Stream:
4. In the Network URL field, paste the URL of the YouTube playlist. While the video is playing, go to Tools > Codec Information.
5. In the Codec Information window, under the Location field, you will see a long URL. Copy this URL.
6. Open a browser and paste the copied URL into the address bar. The video should start playing in the browser.
7. Right-click on the video and select Save Video As to download it to your computer.

Since VLC doesn't support batch downloading YouTube playlists directly, you'll need to repeat the process for each video in the playlist.

[#12]

@DanielRodriguez  VLC Media Player is often not the ideal choice for downloading YouTube playlists due to several limitations that make the process cumbersome and inefficient for large-scale or frequent downloads. Here are some reasons why VLC may not be the best option.

Manual Process for Each Video: VLC does not support downloading entire YouTube playlists in one go. You have to manually repeat the process for each video in the playlist, which is time-consuming, especially for large playlists.

No Batch Download Support: VLC lacks the ability to batch download videos. Dedicated YouTube playlist downloaders allow users to download multiple videos simultaneously, while VLC only streams one video at a time.

Limited Video Quality Options: When downloading via VLC, you do not get to choose the video resolution or format. It streams and downloads the default available quality, which may not always be the highest. Dedicated tools allow for selecting video quality (1080p, 4K, etc.) and formats (MP4, MKV, etc.).

This means you can use other dedicated YouTube playlist downloaders to download the whole playlist from youtube to PC in just a few clicks.