By Huzaifa Alam, EasyYTDown · Updated September 27, 2026 · Not legal advice. I'm a developer, not a lawyer.
Short answer: Using a third-party tool to download a YouTube video goes against YouTube's Terms of Service unless YouTube or the rights holder has allowed it. Whether it also infringes copyright is a separate question that depends on what you download, what you do with it, and where you live. Re-uploading, selling, or commercially using someone else's video without permission is infringement in most places. For purely personal offline viewing, the law in most countries is not settled, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Sources for everything below are listed at the end of the page.
Question 1: What YouTube's Terms of Service Say
YouTube's Terms of Service (the version dated December 15, 2023) say, under Permissions and Restrictions, that you are not allowed to:
"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, if applicable, the respective rights holders"
The same section also prohibits you from circumventing, disabling, or otherwise interfering with any part of the Service.
So downloading a video with an outside tool, without YouTube's authorization or the rights holder's permission, is against YouTube's terms. That is a contract between you and YouTube. Breaking it can have consequences on the YouTube side, such as YouTube restricting or terminating an account. It is not the same thing as breaking copyright law, which is the second question.
What "expressly authorized by the Service" covers
The download options YouTube itself provides are:
- Offline downloads in the YouTube app, a YouTube Premium benefit (YouTube Help). They play inside the YouTube app and are not saved as regular video files you can move to other apps or devices.
- Offline downloads in the YouTube Music app for YouTube Music Premium members. You need to reconnect to the internet at least once every 30 days to keep them (YouTube Music Help).
- Downloading your own uploads as MP4 files, in 720p or 360p depending on the video, or all of them at once through Google Takeout (YouTube Help).
Third-party download websites and apps are not on that list, which is why using one needs permission from YouTube and, where applicable, the rights holder.
Question 2: What Copyright Law Says
Copyright belongs to whoever made the video (or the label, studio, or other rights holder behind it), not to YouTube. Copying a copyrighted work without permission is infringement unless an exception in your country's law applies. Whether the copy caused financial harm is not what decides infringement. Harm is one of the factors courts look at when deciding whether an exception like fair use applies.
United States
US law has no specific rule for downloading online video for personal use. The main exception is fair use (17 U.S.C. § 107). Courts weigh four factors: the purpose and character of the use (including whether it is commercial or non-profit educational), the nature of the work, how much of it is used, and the effect on the market for the work. Fair use is decided case by case, so there is no blanket rule that personal downloading is or is not fair use.
A second US law matters for download tools specifically. Section 1201 of the DMCA (17 U.S.C. § 1201) prohibits circumventing "a technological measure that effectively controls access" to a copyrighted work. In 2020 the RIAA sent GitHub a DMCA notice arguing that youtube-dl circumvented YouTube's technological protection measures. GitHub later reinstated youtube-dl, saying it had received new information showing the project was not circumventing a technical protection measure. That was a dispute between the RIAA and GitHub, not a court ruling, so it did not settle the question legally.
United Kingdom
In 2014 the UK introduced a private-copying exception (The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies for Private Use) Regulations 2014). In July 2015 the High Court quashed those regulations entirely, in R (BASCA and others) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2015] EWHC 2041 (Admin). It was not limited to music. As a result, UK law currently has no general private-copying exception.
European Union
The EU's Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC, Article 5(2)(b)) allows member states to permit copies "made by a natural person for private use and for ends that are neither directly nor indirectly commercial", on condition that rights holders receive fair compensation. Each member state decides whether and how to adopt it, so the rules differ from country to country.
Other countries
Most countries have some form of fair dealing or private-use exception, but the details vary a lot, and we have not reviewed each country's law for this page. If it matters for what you are doing, check your own country's copyright law or ask a lawyer.
How to Download YouTube Videos Legally
These are the cases where downloading is clearly allowed:
- Your own videos: if you uploaded the video and own the content in it, you can download it from YouTube Studio or with Google Takeout (see above).
- Creative Commons videos: the only Creative Commons license YouTube offers creators is CC BY (Attribution), which lets others reuse the video as long as they credit the creator. You can find these videos with the Creative Commons search filter, and the license is shown in the video description (YouTube Help).
- Explicit permission: The creator or rights holder has said you may download it.
- Public domain content: Works whose copyright has expired or that were never protected.
- YouTube's own offline feature: Authorized by YouTube, but it only plays inside the YouTube app.
Keep in mind that even for these videos, using a third-party tool can still conflict with YouTube's Terms of Service, because the Terms require authorization from YouTube and the rights holder where applicable.
When Downloading Is Clearly a Problem
- Re-uploading or redistributing someone else's video without permission.
- Commercial use: putting downloaded videos in ads, products, or paid services without a license.
- Selling copies of copyrighted videos or music.
- Extracting and re-releasing music from a copyrighted track.
What Enforcement Has Looked Like
The best-known actions in this area have targeted tools and services rather than individual viewers. The youtube-dl takedown above is one example. We are not aware of cases against people who downloaded a single video for personal viewing, but not being aware of cases is not a legal guarantee, and the risk depends on your country and what you do with the file.
Ethical Considerations
- Ad revenue: Creators earn from views on YouTube. Offline re-watches earn them nothing, so consider watching on YouTube first.
- Direct support: Channel memberships or Patreon support the creators whose content you save.
- Attribution: If you reference or share content, credit the original creator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can YouTube ban my account for downloading videos?
YouTube's Terms allow it to restrict or terminate accounts that break the Terms. We don't know of YouTube doing this to people for personal downloads, but the Terms do give YouTube that option.
Is using a YouTube downloader website illegal?
It depends on your country and on what you download and why. The Terms-of-Service issue applies regardless of which tool you use. The copyright issue depends on the content (your own video, Creative Commons, or someone else's copyrighted work) and how you use it.
Is it legal to download YouTube music videos as MP3?
The same two questions apply. Music is almost always copyrighted and actively enforced. For redistribution or commercial use it is infringement. For personal listening, the answer depends on your country's copyright exceptions, and in the UK there is currently no private-copying exception. The option YouTube authorizes for offline music is downloading in the YouTube Music app with YouTube Music Premium; those downloads stay inside the app.
Is it legal to download just part of a YouTube video?
The same two questions apply to a clip as to a whole video. Under US fair use, how much of the work you use is one of the four factors, so a short clip can weigh in your favour, but there is no fixed number of seconds that makes a clip automatically legal.
What does "DMCA" have to do with downloading?
Two different parts of the DMCA come up. Takedown notices (Section 512) ask a platform to remove hosted content. The anti-circumvention rule (Section 1201) is what rights holders have used against download tools, as in the youtube-dl case.
Is downloading YouTube educational videos legal?
Educational videos are still copyrighted unless they carry a Creative Commons license or are public domain. Many university channels, such as MIT OpenCourseWare, publish under Creative Commons, so check the license on the specific video (see our guide to saving lectures for offline study). Non-commercial educational use is one of the purposes fair use considers in the US, but it is still decided case by case.
The Bottom Line
There are two separate questions. Downloading with a third-party tool goes against YouTube's Terms of Service unless YouTube or the rights holder allows it. Whether it infringes copyright depends on the content, your use, and your country, and for personal offline viewing the law in many countries is simply not settled. Your own videos, Creative Commons videos, public domain works, and content you have permission for are the safe cases. Redistributing or profiting from someone else's video is not.
Sources
- YouTube Terms of Service, dated December 15, 2023. See "Permissions and Restrictions".
- YouTube Help: Use your YouTube Premium benefits (offline downloads)
- YouTube Music Help: Download music & podcasts to listen offline
- YouTube Help: Download YouTube videos that you've uploaded
- YouTube Help: License types on YouTube
- 17 U.S.C. § 107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
- 17 U.S.C. § 1201: Circumvention of copyright protection systems (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
- RIAA's DMCA notice to GitHub about youtube-dl (October 23, 2020)
- GitHub: "Standing up for developers: youtube-dl is back" (November 16, 2020)
- UK SI 2014/2361, Personal Copies for Private Use Regulations, with legislation.gov.uk's note that they were quashed in [2015] EWHC 2041 (Admin)
- Directive 2001/29/EC (EU Copyright Directive), Article 5(2)(b)