Download YouTube videos: Legal or not?

Software for downloading YouTube videos is a dime a dozen. But many wonder whether this procedure is legal at all. We’ll clear things up for you.

Downloading YouTube videos – a legal grey area?

• Warning: you don’t have to be afraid of being legally prosecuted for downloading YouTube videos.

• Private copy: By downloading a video from YouTube, you create a “private copy”. These private copies are legally allowed if they are downloaded from a legal source. YouTube is such a legal source because every user voluntarily uploads their videos there.
  • Grey area: Many musicians usually upload their music to YouTube themselves. Then a private copy is allowed. However, if a music video is uploaded by a person who does not own the rights to it, you are not liable to prosecution by downloading it. As a user, you can assume that YouTube offers legal content and deletes illegal content. So you are on the safe side here: if you download such a piece of music, the hypothetical blame lies with YouTube and not with you.
    • YouTube T&Cs: YouTube’s general terms and conditions state that downloading videos is not desired or permitted. However, if you are not logged in to YouTube, you have not agreed to the terms and conditions. As a logged-in user, you are legally prohibited from downloading videos by the terms and conditions.
      • Yet you don’t have to worry. No authority in the world would go to the trouble of hunting down downloaders of YouTube videos. Since the videos are available free of charge, there is no financial loss to YouTube.
      • Recently, however, the website YouTube-MP3.org was hit. In order to escape a multi-million dollar lawsuit from the music industry, the operators voluntarily took the website offline. However, Youtube-MP3.org also explicitly advertised that music videos could be downloaded. Other YouTube downloaders are on the safe side legally.

      Difference downloading from YouTube and sites like Kino.to

      • While you are legally on the safe side when downloading YouTube clips, you are liable to prosecution when using sites like Kino.to or movie2k.to.
      • Unlike YouTube, the content here has been uploaded illegally – you cannot assume with current cinema films or TV series that they are offered with the consent of the rights holder.
      • When the police shut down kino.to, the IP addresses of numerous users of the site were secured. Among them were not only uploaders, but also ordinary viewers. Theoretically, all of them could have been prosecuted.
      • So refrain from downloading films whose source you can clearly identify as illegal.

      The best download tools for YouTube

      There are numerous tools with which you can download videos from YouTube. We present three of the most popular programmes.

      • Free Video Downloader for YouTube: If you like it quick and easy, this free tool will serve you well. Simply add the video URL, select the desired video quality and the download begins. If you wish, you can also download the video as an MP3.
      • YouTube Downloader (YTD Video Downloader): This tool is particularly fast and offers numerous audio and video formats in which you can save the videos. When installing, be sure to deselect any additional software.
      • Free YouTube Download: Meanwhile, the free version is unfortunately no longer recommended. The once slim download tool for YouTube has become more and more limited over time. In the meantime, the programme contains a lot of advertising and only downloads videos with a maximum length of 30 minutes.
        
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