How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

VLC media player is not only a video or audio player but also a good helper for video conversion or video download from some popular websites, like YouTube. Here in this post, you are going to learn about how to download YouTube videos with VLC on Mac/Windows and solve a series of problems involved when using it all in this passage.

Also, if you find it complicated to download videos with VLC or VLC fails to download YouTube videos for you, or some websites are not VLC media player supported, you can try the alternative software Inovideo for online video downloading.

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Download YouTube Videos with VLC Media Player on Windows

VLC can be a free video downloader for online videos that can be streamed on it, such as videos on YouTube and Vimeo, or audio on SoundCloud. However, if you wish to download videos from Instagram, Facebook, or some other websites, you will need to use the VLC alternative Inovideo which can batch download videos off 1000+ websites in part 3.

In fact, there are two methods for VLC YouTube download.

Method 1: How to Download YouTube Videos with VLC on Windows (Streaming)

This method is to use the VLC streaming feature and after the steaming finishes, the YouTube video will be saved on your computer.

Step 1 After installing VLC media player on your computer, fire it up.

Step 2 Go for the video on YouTube and copy the link from the browser's address bar above the page.

Step 3 Navigate to "Media > Open Network Stream > Network" or use the shortcut "Ctrl + N". Then paste the YouTube video URL under the Network Protocol.

Step 4 Hit the downwards arrow next to the play button at the bottom right corner or use the shortcut "Alt +S". Then select "Stream".

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 5 On the "Stream Output" window, click "Next" at the bottom right. Tap "Add > Browse…" to select the file location and name the video file you are to download. Then "Next".

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 6 Set up the output format and quality as "Video - H.264 +MP3 (MP4)". Then "Next > Steam".

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

After that, VLC will start to stream the YouTube video which will be downloaded to the path you just selected after the video is streamed completely. If this method doesn't work for you, try the second one.

Method 2: How to Download YouTube Videos with VLC on Windows (Media Information)

The first method, however, not always works for every. Some of you might have problems when streaming the downloaded YouTube videos from VLC as the downloads are 0 bytes. If this keeps happening to you even though you re-install the VLC Media Player, or before that, you can try the second method here or use the alternative tool to download YouTube videos without hassle.

Here's how to download YouTube videos on VLC using the Media Information:

Step 1 Open VLC and hit "Media > Open Network Stream…" or directly use the shortcut "Ctrl+N" to get ready to open media.

Step 2 On your browser, play the YouTube video you wish to download. And copy the URL of it from the address bar.

Step 3 Go back to VLC and then the "Network" tab.

Step 4 Paste the video URL to VLC and click "Play" and you will see the YouTube video streaming on VLC.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 5 When the video is streaming, navigate to "Menu > Tools > Media Information" or directly press "Ctrl+I".

Step 6 At the bottom of the "Current Media Information" sub-window, you will see the "Location" of the video. Right-click on it and select all. Then copy the whole URL.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 7 Go to your browser and paste the URL to the address bar. Then you will see the YouTube video streaming on it.

Step 8 Click on the three dots at the bottom right corner and download the YouTube video.

That's how you download YouTube videos with VLC using its media information feature. If you feel it's complicated and annoying for video download, in the next part you will see a decent alternative to VLC for YouTube video download, which can even download the entire YouTube playlist in one click.

Alternative to VLC to Download YouTube Videos in One Click

Batch download videos from 1000+ websites
Save MP4, WebM up to 8K, 4K, 1080P, 720P, 480P
Extract MP3 up to 320kbps
Grab Private/blocked videos
Rip the playlist, channel, subtitle, etc. if any
Merge subtitles into video if any
Download files freely and safely at a fast speed

Supported OS: Mac OS X 10.12 or above; Windows 11/10/8/7/XP (SP3 or below)


How to Download YouTube Videos Using VLC Media Player on Mac?

Unlike downloading YouTube videos with VLC on Windows, you can only use the VLC media information for YouTube video download. It's a little more complex than using the VLC steaming feature on Windows. But if you want to save time downloading a batch of YouTube videos, the alternative tool Inovideo may be a great help, with which you can batch download YouTube videos to MP4 or MP3 even from a playlist.

Here's how to download YouTube videos with VLC on Mac:

Step 1 Launch VLC on your computer.

Step 2 Open the YouTube video web page on your browser and copy the URL from the address bar.

Step 3 Head to VLC. On the menu panel, hit "File > Open Network…" or directly use the shortcut "Command+N".

Step 4 Paste the URL to the box then hit "Open" to start streaming the YouTube video on VLC;

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 4 Go to "Menu > Window > Media Information" or directly hit the shortcut "Command+I".

Step 5 Right-clickon the long link from the location box at the bottom of the Media Information window and select all, then copy it from the VLC media player.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 6 Go back to your browser and open a new tab. Paste the link you copied to the address bar. Right-click on the video and select "Save Video As..." and you can download the YouTube video out of VLC.

VLC allows us to download single public videos on YouTube. But you can't download private or blocked videos with it. If you want to download dozens of videos or that from a YouTube playlist or other websites, you can use the following alternative app instead.


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An Alternative to VLC for YouTube Video Download on Mac/Windows (Easy)

The built-in download feature of VLC cannot go without drawbacks since it is not an expert in video download. Indeed, some videos are highly protected by their website program and prevented from grabbing by VLC. To solve such a problem, I suggest you try some professional video downloaders to download videos from websites for offline viewing.

Compatible with both Mac and Windows operation systems, Inovideo is one of the best video downloaders on the internet for grabbing YouTube videos with original quality even thesubtitle. Aside from YouTube, it can also batch download videos from Facebook, Instagram, Dailymotion, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. With a clean and intuitive interface, Inovideo is available for downloading the playlists to MP4 or MP3 with one click.

Here's how to download YouTube videos with Inovideo on Windows/Mac:

After you download and install Inovideo, copy the URL of the video you want to download and paste it to the search box on Inovideo. Then hit the "Analyze" button.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Step 2. Download YouTube Video Without VLC

After the analysis, there will be a pop-up window where you can select the file type as MP3, MP4, or WebM. Also, if the video you are downloading is a high-quality one, Inovideo provides multiple choices ranging from 144p to 8k (depending on the original video quality). When you've done selecting, hit the download button. This method is much easier than downloading videos with VLC and you can even download the YouTube CC subtitles.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

Read Also:

  • [Free] How to Download YouTube to MP4 Fast and Safely?
  • Top 7 YouTube Playlist Downloaders 2022[Free/Online Included]

Tips: Problems You May Meet When You Download YouTube Videos with VLC

You may encounter some problems when downloading videos withVLC. The first thing you need to do is to repeat the above steps more carefully in order to rule out the possibility of not following the right procedures. If that problem does continue to exist, you might need to turn to Inovideo the VLC alternative.

Here we have listed some common problems involved in VLC video downloads and given out our solutions.

# Problem 1: No File Extension for the VLC YouTube Download

"Sadly this didn't work for me. It downloaded the video but instead of getting a playable video I get a file called "file" in my download folder."

Solution A: Put an extension to the file name like ".mp4" or ".avi" when you are naming the video file.

Solution B: Use a video converter to convert the file into ".mp4".

# Problem 2: YouTube Video Streaming Error When Downloading It with VLC

"My VLC media player can't even stream YouTube videos. It only shows a blank screen with the VLC logo."

Solution: You may try updating the youtube.lua file of VLC. Download the workable youtube.lua and replace the original one might help.

Navigate to the VLC youtube.lua on Windows: Right-click on the VLC icon > Open file location > lua > playlist.

Navigate to the VLC youtube.lua on Mac: Application > VLC icon > Show Package Contents > Contents > MacOS > Share > lua > playlist.

After you find the original youtube.lua file, replace it with the workable one.

# Problem 3: Region Restriction When Downloading Videos with VLC

"I could download some YouTube videos with VLC while others didn't work."

Solution: Check if the video is tagged "Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines)". If that is the case, the video will NOT download using the established method due to YouTube policies. There is no way of getting rid of it. So, try the VLC alternative.

FAQs on Downloading YouTube Videos with VLC

Q1. How to Download YouTube Videos to MP3 with VLC?

When you are downloading the YouTube video using VLC media information, change the extension of the file from MP4 to MP3.

Or just download the MP4 file and convert it to MP3 on VLC via "Media > Convert/Save… > Add > select your MP4 file > Convert > Profile > Audio – MP3", select a destination for the MP3 file and hit "Start". After the conversion, you will get the YouTube video as MP3.

Q2. Can I Download YouTube Videos with Subtitles with VLC?

It depends. VLC does have a feature for subtitle download. You can search for subtitles via "View > VLsub" on VLC and load them.

How do I download YouTube 2022 with VLC?

However, it is mostly for movies or shows. You can't download subtitles from any video you want. If you want to download YouTube videos with matching subtitles, you can use Inovideo which allows you to do that easily.

Conclusion

VLC is a great tool for audio/video streaming and it can also help you download YouTube videos. Even though some of you would fail to download videos with VLC due to some unknown errors, you can still use the alternative Inovideo, with which you can download YouTube videos or that from other popular websites easily.


Can VLC download YouTube videos 2022?

Step 1. Copy the URL of the YouTube video. Open VLC Media Player and select Media >> Open Network Stream. Paste the YouTube video URL to the pop-up window, click the download button of Play and choose Stream.

How do I download YouTube videos with VLC?

How to download YouTube Videos using VLC - 2020.
Get URL from YouTube Video. Get the url while the video is played on YouTube:.
Extracting Info using VLC. Run VLC player, then select Open Network Stream... ... .
Playing it on Browser and Save the video file. Paste the file info into the url of browser: ... .
The File has been downloaded..

Why can't I download YouTube videos anymore 2022?

If your YouTube Premium membership ends, you will no longer have access to your downloaded videos. To regain access to your downloads, sign up for a Premium membership.

How do you download a YouTube video 2022?

Step 1: Open Google Play store and download YouTube Go. Step 2: Run the application and select the video you want to download. Step 3: A dialog box will appear, providing you the available resolution options. Step 4: Choose the preferred resolution and click on download.