How I download YouTube videos for free - 2 easy and reliable methods to do it

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ZDNET's key takeaways

• ClipGrab and WinX/MacX are the best free tools for YouTube downloads.
• YouTube Premium offers legal, ad-free downloads tied to your account.
• Be mindful of copyright laws and only download videos that are allowed.

If you've ever wanted to download a YouTube video to watch later -- say, for a flight or somewhere with terrible Wi-Fi -- you've probably noticed that Google doesn't make it easy. YouTube's own app limits offline viewing to select videos and paying Premium subscribers. Still, there are ways to download videos for free. The challenge is figuring out which option is actually worth using.

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After years of working in multimedia, I've had to locally save countless YouTube videos ...