YouTube is the most popular video platform for streaming all kinds of videos, including long videos like speeches, comedy talks, and concert recordings. For some reason, you may need to download long YouTube videos on PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android. If you don't want to pay for an expensive YouTube Premium subscription, this post will show you workable methods on how to download a long YouTube video for permanent collections and offline playback. Now, let's get the rope here.
CONTENTHow to Download Long YouTube Videos on PC/MacHow to Download Long YouTube Videos on Android/iPhoneComparison Among Three Long YouTube Video DownloadersFAQs on Downloading Long YouTube VideosConclusion
How to Download Long YouTube Videos on PC/Mac
Since long YouTube videos may take over one hour, you definitely want a fast and stable YouTube long video download service to help you out. In this case, a desktop program outperforms. There are 2 best YouTube video downloaders for Windows PC and Mac. One is a free tool, and the other is a paid professional long YouTube video downloader. You may want to see which one is the preferred option for you.
VideoHunter - Long YouTube Video Downloader
VideoHunter is a reliable and high-quality any-video downloader for both Windows and Mac. While many other video downloaders might fail to analyze long YouTube videos quickly, VideoHunter can process the conversion within seconds and then provide multiple format options for you to save them on your Windows or Mac computer. More importantly, the quality of output videos can reach 1080p, 4K, and even 8K so that you can enjoy your favorite high-definition long YouTube videos offline.
Highlighted Features of VideoHunter:
- Speed Performance: VideoHunter supports multithreading download, allowing you to make full use of your internet.Thanks to its first-class acceleration technology, all video/audio downloads will be quickened and completed efficiently.
- Multiple Sites: VideoHunter supports more than 1,000 sites, which include but are not limited to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SoundCloud, Vlive, Niconico, Bilibili, TED, CNN, etc.
- Built-in proxy settings: VideoHunter equips with the in-app proxy setup which allows you to bypass restrictions and download videos that are blocked in your region.
- High-definition Videos: The available quality largely depends on the videos to be downloaded, normally, it can be up to 1080p, 4K, and 8K at maximum.
- Bulk-download: VideoHunter lets you download multiple videos simultaneously so that you don't need to wait for them to be downloaded one after another.
- Subtitle: VideoHunters can extract and download subtitles of different languages from the original YouTube videos in separate SRT files.
Detailed Steps of Downloading Long YouTube Videos with VideoHunter
Step 1: Download and install VideoHunter to your PC.
Step 2: Visit YouTube, open the long YouTube video you wish to download offline, copy its URL from the address bar.
Step 3: Run the VideoHunter. When you are in the main feed of the Downloader, please paste the URL of the long YouTube video into the input box directly. Then, click on the Analyze button to convert the video.
Step 4: When the conversion completes, VideoHunter will provide you with the output options, choose your preferred format and quality from the menu, and then directly tap the Download button to save the long YouTube video offline.
Step 5: When the long YouTube video completes its downloading process, When all downloading tasks are completed, please navigate to the Finish section and you will see all the downloaded videos. Simply by tapping Open Folder, you can enjoy the long YouTube videos offline.
VLC Media Player - Free YouTube Downloader
VLC is not only a media player but also a long YouTube video downloader that can allows you to download videos from more than 500 sites and convert them to MP3, MP4, or other 300+ formats. Moreover, VLC lets you edit YouTube videos by like clipping, cropping, and merging, etc. Most importantly, the software program is completely free of charge, safe, and no-ads ad-free.
Detailed Steps of Downloading Long YouTube Videos with VLC For Free
Step 1. Install and launch VLC Media Player.
Step 2. Go to YouTube, select the long YouTube video and open its video page. Copy the URL of it from the address bar.
Step 3. Back to VLC’, go to Open Network Stream, and then paste the URL of the long YouTube video to the box below. Please enter a network URL. Now, click Play to stream the YouTube long video.
Step 4. While VLC is playing the long YouTube video, please navigate to Tool > Codec Information, and copy the content of the Location section at the bottom of VLC.
Step 5. Open a web browser, paste the content of the Location section into the search box, and then tap Enter.
Step 6. In this step, it may take you a while to load the YouTube video. When the video starts playing, right-click on the screen (or just click on the "three-spot" icon) and then select Save video as…, Now, choose a location from the pop-up window to start downloading the long YouTube video.
NOTE: Even though VLC supports to convert and download large YouTube videos on PC, it usually performs at a relatively slow speed. Furthermore, you might quite often encounter an error message saying "Your input can't be opened", failing to fetch the download URL of YouTube video. This is because some YouTube videos are blocked in your region. Therefore, you will need a region-free YouTube converter for long videos such as VideoHunter.
How to Download Long YouTube Videos on Android/iPhone
If you're using an Android phone/tablet, there are many apps available in the Google Store that enable you to download YouTube videos to Android. However, if you're an iPhone user, you'll find nothing in the App Store, because Apple prohibits releases of such tools. Don't be frustrated. There are free online YouTube downloaders that work both on Android and iPhone.
Free Online Long YouTube Video Downloader
10Downloader is a rising star in the market. This online tool is totally free to use and enables users to download videos from YouTube to MP4 for longer than 2 hours on any device. Moreover, it is able to download YouTube shorts and playlists as well as offers a shortcut to quickly download your desired YouTube videos. Now, let's see how to utilize this free YouTube video downloader on Android and iPhone.
NOTE: To begin with, iPhone users need to install Documents by Readdle from the App Store.
Step 1. Open Documents by Readdle on your iPhone or Google Chrome on Android.
Step 2. Go to visit 10Downloader's official site in the browser.
Step 3. Launch the YouTube app and copy the link of the long video you want to download.
Step 4. Now, paste the video link into the bar in 10Downloader and hit the Download button.
Step 5. There are various options available. You can tap the Download button behind your preferred option.
Comparison Among Three Long YouTube Video Downloaders
There are three YouTube long video downloaders introduced in this post and you may be curious about the differences among them. You might as well check out the following table to quickly grasp the idea of the exact differences between VideoHunter, VLC media player, and 10Downloader from 12 perspectives.
| VideoHunter | VLC Media Player | 10Downloader | |
| Supported Sites | Over 1,000 sites | Over 500 sites | YouTube Only |
| Video Formats | MP4, WebM | MP4 | MP4 |
| Video Quality | Up to 8K | Up to 1080p | Up to 720p |
| Downloading Speed | 6X Faster | Fast | Slow |
| Stability | Highest | Medium | Unstable |
| Batch Download | √ | × | × |
| Playlist Download | √ | × | √ |
| Channel Download | √ | × | √ |
| Shorts Download | √ | × | √ |
| YouTube to MP3 | √ | × | × |
FAQs on Downloading Long YouTube Videos
You may have some questions when it comes to downloading long videos from YouTube. There are answers to the four frequently asked questions in the following sections. You may want to take a look and dismiss your misgiving.
Is It Legal to Download YouTube Videos?
When is downloading YouTube videos legal:
You can use third-party YouTube downloaders to download videos for which the copyright laws do not apply, or videos for which the copyright grants you the right to reproduce the video. You can legally download YouTube videos when their copyrights expire. In the meantime, if the artist grants the right to reproduce or distribute, you can surely download them and even produce your own content on the basis of their works. Last but not least, copyleft grants anyone to reproduce.
When is downloading YouTube videos illegal:
It is illegal if you make a copy of content without the permission of the copyright owner, and this applies to both copies for personal use and to copies that you either distribute or financially benefit from.
How Can I Download More than 2 Hours from YouTube?
There are mainly two methods to download long YouTube videos, one is to use desktop software programs, and the other is to use online video downloaders. Among these ways, using a desktop program like VideoHunter is recommended since desktop software offers a more stable and safe way to download YouTube videos.
Thanks to the advanced download service of VideoHunter, you can download YouTube videos longer than 2 hours simply by copying and pasting the URL of the video you want to download to the search box, and it will convert and save the video on your device. It even supports downloading longer YouTube videos.
How Can I Download Long YouTube Videos to MP3?
Some people may just want to keep the audio of a long YouTube video. Actually, most online and desktop YouTube downloaders can convert YouTube videos to MP4 and MP3. The main difference lies in the audio quality.
As a rule, online YouTube to MP3 converters may support a bitrate of up to 126kbps or even don't allow users to pick an option of specific quality. Yet, desktop software, for instance, VideoHunter enables users to convert YouTube videos to MP3 of a high-res quality in up to 320kbps.
How Can I Download Long YouTube Videos to My Computer for Free?
If you're looking for a free way to download hour-long YouTube videos, you can resort to online YouTube video downloaders. 10 out of 10 online tools are free to use and let you download YouTube videos to any device with a web browser.
However, when it comes to longer YouTube videos rather than minute-long videos, it could be unstable and slow to download long YouTube videos with online tools, because it attaches great importance to your internet connectivity.
Conclusion
Online YouTube video downloaders are always worth a shot if you prefer to download videos on your mobile device. However, it's recommended to take advantage of desktop programs if you intend to download large YouTube videos or longer YouTube videos, which take a lot of local storage on your device.
Compared to online tools, VideoHunter stands out with a more stable and faster download service to download long and large videos to MP4 and MP3 from over 1,000 sites. Better yet, it's capable of batch downloads of your favorite long and short videos from YouTube with ease. Why not try it out and you'll see.
videohunter
Top 1 Online Video Downloader
