Is It Legal to Download YouTube Videos? What the Terms Say

What do YouTube’s Terms of Service say about downloading?#

YouTube’s Terms of Service forbid downloading any part of the Service or any Content unless the Service expressly authorizes it or YouTube gives prior written permission. The rule sits in the Permissions and Restrictions section of the Terms of Service. As of September 2026, YouTube serves regional versions: users in the EEA and Switzerland contract with Google Ireland, and the download rule reads the same in substance.

The clauses that matter for a download, quoted from the US English version:

• Downloading: you may not “access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube” and, where applicable, the rights holders.
• Automated access: you may not “access the Service using any automated means (such as robots, botnets or scrapers)” except public search engines following robots.txt, or with YouTube’s prior written permission.
• Copy protection: another bullet in the same list forbids disabling or otherwise interfering with any part of the Service, including features that prevent or restrict copying or other use of Content.
• What uploaders grant: every user gets a license to a creator’s Content “through the Service”, and to reproduce or reuse it “only as enabled by a feature of the Service”.

The situations below show what the Terms say for common editing downloads and where copyright comes in separately.

How is the Terms question different from copyright law?#

YouTube’s terms and copyright law are two separate questions. The Terms are a contract between you and YouTube about how you use the Service; copyright law decides what you may do with a creative work, whoever made it and wherever you found it.

The two differ in who acts and what can happen:

• Who enforces it: YouTube enforces its Terms; a rights holder enforces copyright, and courts decide disputes on both.
• What it covers: the Terms cover access to the Service, including how a file leaves it; copyright covers copying, editing and publishing the work itself.
• Typical consequence: under the Terms, YouTube “reserves the right to suspend or terminate” your Google account or access when you “materially or repeatedly breach” the agreement. Under copyright, a rights holder can file claims, takedowns or a lawsuit.
• Which law applies: the US version of the Terms names California law and the courts of Santa Clara County, and the EEA and Switzerland version is a contract with Google Ireland; copyright follows the law of the country where the use happens.

A download can therefore sit on either side of one line and not the other. A Creative Commons video can be reusable under copyright while the download route still falls outside the Terms. Publishing a clip raises the copyright question most directly, and Can You Use YouTube Clips in Your Video? Rights Explained walks through the routes to a right to use: your own footage, permission, a license or an exception.

Which downloads do YouTube’s terms expressly allow?#

YouTube’s Help Center describes two authorized download routes: YouTube Studio for videos you uploaded yourself, and offline viewing for YouTube Premium members inside the YouTube app. As of September 2026, YouTube Help also states plainly that you “can’t download other user’s YouTube videos”.

The YouTube Studio route has limits worth knowing before you plan an edit around it:

• Where: in YouTube Studio, open Content, pick the video, open the menu and choose Download.
• What you get: an MP4 file at 720p or 360p, depending on the video size, not the original resolution you uploaded.
• How often: up to five downloads of one video per day.
• When it is blocked: videos removed from YouTube, videos that use a preapproved audio track, and videos that carry a copyright or Community Guidelines strike.
• All at once: Google Takeout, a separate Google export tool, saves every video you have uploaded.

The 720p ceiling means a Studio download never replaces your original master file. For archiving a whole channel, Back Up Your Own YouTube Channel to a Local Drive compares YouTube Studio, Google Takeout and a folder-based download.

Premium offline viewing is the other authorized route, and it plays only inside the YouTube app. The offline copy cannot go into an editing timeline.

What about personal or offline viewing?#

YouTube’s Terms of Service contain no personal-use exception: saving a video to watch later is covered by the same “expressly authorized” rule as any other download. The authorized offline route is YouTube Premium in the YouTube app.

Copyright law is where personal use can matter, and it varies by country. The U.S. Copyright Office fair use FAQ explains that fair use is decided case by case, weighing factors such as the purpose of the use and its effect on the market for the original. Other countries use narrower fair dealing rules, and some allow private copies under conditions set by national law.

A license can settle the copyright side before you download. YouTube lets creators publish under the Creative Commons CC BY license, which YouTube Help on license types describes as allowing others to reuse the work with credit. Every other video carries the Standard YouTube License. Creative Commons on YouTube: Find, Reuse, Credit shows how to filter search for CC BY and check each video.

Where does B-ROLL stand?#

YouTube’s Terms do not authorize third-party downloaders, and B-ROLL is one. B-ROLL is a free Windows app for video editors that runs yt-dlp underneath, and like every tool outside YouTube’s own features, it is not a route the Service expressly authorizes.

Ema Zamboni, a video editor, built B-ROLL to collect b-roll for edits in DaVinci Resolve. The app is meant for footage you have the right to use: your own uploads, Creative Commons videos, licensed clips, footage you have permission for, or a use you judge to fall under fair use or fair dealing. You make that call, and you carry the responsibility under both the Terms and copyright law. What Is yt-dlp and Is It Safe to Use? explains the open-source tool doing the downloading.

B-ROLL records where each file came from. With Save credits on, the default, B-ROLL writes a .credits.txt file next to every download with the title, creator, source URL, upload date and license, as described in Automatic Credit Files for Every YouTube Download. The License line is what yt-dlp reports and defaults to “Standard YouTube License”, so check the license on the video page: the file is a convenience, not proof of rights.

When a video needs permission, ask before you download it; How to Ask a YouTuber for Permission (Email Template) has a template. For fair use, Is Using a YouTube Clip Fair Use? The Four Factors covers what US courts weigh. The rest of the rights questions live in Credits, Licenses and Fair Use for YouTube Clips.