YouTube to MP4 Converter
Paste a YouTube link and get the video as an MP4 file. 360p saves instantly; 720p, 1080p and 4K are assembled from YouTube's own streams in seconds, so the quality is exactly what YouTube plays.
How to convert a YouTube video to MP4
- Copy the video link. Use the address bar on the YouTube site, or Share → Copy link in the app. Short
youtu.belinks and Shorts links are fine. - Paste it above and press Go. The card shows the title, channel and duration so you can check you have the right video.
- Choose an MP4 quality. 360p · instant is saved by your browser directly from YouTube. 720p, 1080p and best are prepared on our side and then show a Download button. MP3 is there if you only want the audio.
- Save the file. It downloads like any other file and opens in whatever plays MP4 on your device.
What "converting" actually means
Most YouTube to MP4 tools describe what they do as conversion, which suggests that YouTube holds the video in some other format and it has to be transformed. That is mostly not the case. When a video is uploaded, YouTube encodes it into several resolutions, and for 360p through 1080p one of those encodings is H.264 video with AAC audio, the pair that defines a standard MP4. The file you want already exists on YouTube's servers.
The complication is how YouTube delivers it. For everything above 360p, the picture and the sound are stored as two separate streams, and the player fetches both and plays them in sync. A downloader that grabs only the video stream gives you a silent file, which is why some tools produce HD downloads with no sound.
What we do for 720p and above is fetch the video stream and the audio stream, then write them into one MP4 container. This is a copy operation, not a re-encode: the compressed video data goes into the file byte for byte. It is why the result is identical to what YouTube plays, why it takes seconds rather than the minutes a real transcode needs, and why it does not add a second generation of compression on top of YouTube's own.
The only true conversion we offer is MP3, where the audio stream is decoded and encoded again at 192 kbps because MP3 is a different codec. See YouTube to MP3 for that.
Quality and file size
Sizes below are typical for a ten-minute video with normal amounts of motion. Talking-head footage comes out smaller; sport, gaming and confetti come out larger.
| Option | Resolution | Typical size, 10 min | Prepared |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360p | 640×360 | 30–60 MB | Instant, saved from YouTube |
| 720p | 1280×720 | 100–200 MB | Seconds, merged with audio |
| 1080p | 1920×1080 | 200–400 MB | Seconds, merged with audio |
| Best | Up to 3840×2160 | 0.8–2 GB | Up to a couple of minutes |
The picker only lists sizes the uploader actually provided. A video uploaded at 720p has no 1080p option, and the best entry then simply equals 720p.
Why the 360p file is instant
360p is the one resolution YouTube still serves as a single, already-muxed MP4 with the audio inside it. There is nothing for us to assemble, so instead of downloading it to our server and then sending it to you, we hand your browser a direct link and it saves the file from YouTube itself. That is why the button says instant, why it works even when our servers are busy, and why it is the sensible pick when you are on mobile data or just need a quick copy to send in a chat.
The direct link is tied to the request that created it and expires after a while, so if you come back to the page hours later, paste the link again to get a fresh one.
Which quality to pick
- You want it fast or small. 360p. It plays on every device made in the last fifteen years.
- You will watch on a phone or tablet. 720p. On a screen that size the difference from 1080p is hard to see, and the file is about half the size.
- You will watch on a laptop, monitor or TV. 1080p.
- You plan to edit it. 1080p or best. Editors handle H.264 well, and starting from the highest resolution gives you room to crop.
- You want the most YouTube has. Best. Expect large files and, for 4K, a codec other than H.264; see YouTube MP4 if a player refuses to open it.
Converting on a phone or computer
On an iPhone or iPad use Safari, since it saves downloads to the Files app where you can find them again. If a 360p file opens and starts playing in a tab instead of saving, press and hold the Download button and choose Download Linked File.
On Android, Chrome saves the MP4 to Downloads and shows a notification when it is done. Gallery apps usually pick the file up automatically.
On Windows and Mac any browser works; the file lands in your Downloads folder.
If the conversion fails
- The link is rejected. Only individual video links work. A channel page, a playlist page or a search result is not a video.
- "This video is unavailable." It is private, deleted, age-restricted or blocked in the region we fetch from. We can only fetch what YouTube shows a signed-out visitor, and live streams are not supported.
- "YouTube is rate-limiting us." YouTube is throttling requests for the moment. Wait a minute and try again.
- HD is stuck on "Preparing…". Large 4K files take longer. Try 1080p, which is ready almost immediately.
- You have reached today's limit. Guests get three downloads a day. Sign up for ten, or see pricing for Pro.
Beyond the MP4
The same page has a Transcript tab and a Summary tab. The transcript comes from the video's captions with timestamps; the summary is written from that transcript. If you are converting a long talk to watch later, reading the summary first tells you whether it is worth the disk space.
A note on copyright
We fetch public videos on your behalf and keep no copies; prepared HD files are deleted after about an hour. Convert only what you are entitled to keep for personal, offline use, your own videos, or content released under Creative Commons. Do not re-upload or sell other people's work. Rights holders can request removal of a public video page through the DMCA page.
FAQ
- Does converting YouTube to MP4 lose quality?
- Not here. YouTube already stores the video in H.264 inside an MP4 container for most resolutions, so we take those streams as they are and join the video with the audio. Nothing is decoded and re-encoded, which is the step that normally costs quality.
- How long does the conversion take?
- 360p is immediate because your browser saves the file straight from YouTube. 720p and 1080p usually take under ten seconds, since we only merge two existing streams. A long 4K video can take a minute or two because the file itself is large.
- Is the YouTube to MP4 converter free?
- Yes. Guests can convert three videos a day without signing up, and a free account raises that to ten. Pro removes the limit.
- Does it work on iPhone and Android?
- Yes, it runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install. On iPhone use Safari and find the file in Files under Downloads; on Android, Chrome saves to the Downloads folder.
- Can I convert a whole playlist at once?
- No. Paste one video link at a time. If you paste a link that contains both a video and a playlist, we convert that video only.
- Why is the MP4 smaller than I expected?
- YouTube compresses uploads heavily, and we hand you that compressed file unchanged. A ten-minute 1080p video is often 200 to 400 MB; the same video at 360p may be under 50 MB. The size depends on how much motion the picture has, not just the resolution.
- Is it legal to convert YouTube videos to MP4?
- For personal, offline use of content you are allowed to watch it is generally fine, and always fine for your own uploads or Creative Commons videos. Re-uploading, distributing or selling someone else's video is not. Check the rules where you live.