YouTube Link to File Converter

Every YouTube link points at a video, but the link itself is not a file; it is an address. A YouTube link to file converter closes that gap: paste the address, and the video behind it is fetched on our servers and comes back as an MP4 you can save.

The shape of the link does not matter. A full watch?v= address from the browser bar, a youtu.be link from the share button, a youtube.com/shorts/ link from the app, and a link copied at a timestamp all identify one video, and all four convert. Each becomes the same thing: an MP4 of the whole video.

If you have a list rather than one link, the bulk tab on the home page accepts up to 20 YouTube links at a time and sends back a single ZIP, one file per link. The free allowance is up to 60 conversions an hour with no sign-up and no watermark, and files are deleted from our servers two hours after they are made (six for results over 2 GB, a day with a Pro pass).

Just a part of it? YouTube clip downloader. Everything here starts from the link to file converter.

What you get

• watch?v= and youtu.be alike

  The long address from the browser bar and the short one from the share button carry the same video ID. Paste whichever you have; both resolve to the same file.

• Quality follows the upload

  The MP4 is H.264 video with AAC audio at 1080p, or less if the upload was smaller. A 4K upload can come back at 4K when you choose that on the home page picker.

You do not need to edit the URL

To turn a YouTube link into a file, you do not need to alter the link first. Adding letters to the domain or cutting pieces out of the address are habits from other tools; here the address goes in exactly as it was copied. The converter finds the video ID inside it, whether that ID sits after watch?v=, after youtu.be/ or after /shorts/, and fetches the video on our servers from there. Then the MP4 is built, and the download button appears when the file is ready.

What the converter cannot do is get past YouTube's own gates. A private video, a members-only video or anything else that needs a Google login fails, because the page will not hand the video to anyone who is not signed in. A channel page or a search results page has no single video in it, so there is nothing to convert; open the video and copy its link instead. Everything else that plays publicly on YouTube converts.

How to turn a YouTube URL into a file

1. 1

   Copy the YouTube link

   Tap Share under the video and choose Copy link, or select the address in the browser bar. Any of the link shapes above will do.

2. 2

   Paste it into the box

   Put the link in the box on this page, exactly as you copied it.

3. 3

   Save it when the button appears

   Start the conversion. The download button shows up when the file is ready; save it, and remember it is removed from our side after two hours by default.

YouTube link to file — questions