History of YouTube Downloaders
What is YouTube?
YouTube is an online platform for sharing videos and is the second most popular website globally, after Google. Anyone can upload videos to the site for free and share them with millions of people. YouTube’s Partner program has even become a significant source of income for many users with viral videos. Users are now able to turn their hobbies into businesses. YouTube’s primary source of revenue is ads.
YouTube has even helped launch careers of celebrities like Justin Bieber as Usher first introduced Bieber on YouTube. YouTube has also hosted presidential debates. It has become so mainstream that the U.S. Congress and even the Vatican has a YouTube channel. YouTube also has dealt with music companies like Vevo to distribute music videos.
When Did YouTube Video Downloading Become So Popular?
People have been searching for ways to download YouTube videos since the origin of YouTube. According to Google Trends, searches for "YouTube downloader" or "YouTube converter" started in 2008 and became very popular in 2012. People are always searching for ways to download YouTube videos to share them more conveniently. Since YouTube is the go-to destination for watching videos, people also need to download and save videos. Since there are many free youtube downloaders on the market, they have various options from which to choose.
Oldest YouTube Downloaders in the Market
ClipGrab
Released in 2007, users download videos from websites like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Facebook. Users can choose video definition- high, standard, or low. Downloaded files can be converted to formats like MP3, MPEG4, OGG Theora, or WMV. This friendly youtube downloader runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Airly
Released in 2013, this started as an essential downloading tool with just a copy/paste option. Now users can choose their preferred format and definition and also extract audio from video files. Users can also download entire YouTube playlists. This downloader runs on both macOS and Windows, although the Mac version has more features than Windows.
4K Video Downloader
This program, released in 2014, also lets users download audio and video files in various formats like MKV, MP4, OGG Theora, M4A, and MP3. Users can download channels and playlists. They can also set up a subscription function that automatically downloads new videos as they are released on the specified YouTube channel. This video downloader runs on Windows, macOS X, and Linux.
YouTube DL
This is an open-source program, released in 2006 for downloading audio and video from YouTube and other video hosting platforms. It is unlicensed, but it is one of the most popular projects on GitHub used by many repositories. This free YouTube downloader runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems.
Freemake Video Downloader
This is a crippleware download manager released in 2010. This one also supports both audio and video downloads. The Premium option lets users download media more than 3 minutes in length and without the Freemake branding. Users can download YouTube playlists and also pause and resume downloads. However, it only runs on Windows.
Official Music Downloading Apps from YouTube
YouTube Go
YouTube also has an official app for downloading videos to watch offline. Provided the content owner allows downloading; users can search the YouTube Go app and download any video to watch offline. However, these videos are downloaded as .yt files and cannot be played by third-party apps. It also doesn’t allow audio or MP3 downloads, except for specific music videos.
YouTube Music
This is another YouTube app specifically dedicated to listening to music. First-time users can get a one-month free trial in the Premium version. It lets users download songs for offline listening in the app. The Premium version also removes ads and enables listening, even when the screen is off.
Conclusion
YouTube is a prevalent platform, and people download many videos off of it. So, there has been a significant demand for YouTube video downloaders. There are many free programs on the internet to download videos. They offer different features, whether they are official YouTube apps or third-party programs. The best video downloaders offer downloads in a variety of formats. They also let users conveniently download entire YouTube playlists, charts, and channels.