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I know youtube doesn't allow normal users to direct download video files, but I'm talking about my own videos. They have explicit functionality for that so I'm not talking about violating Youtube's Terms of Service or requesting some illicit program.

Youtube has a Download MP4 button when using Video Manager, but it seems to only let me download 3 videos at a time, based on some weird timer; after the 3 downloads are over, it doesn't seem to let me download another.

I have a few hundred uploaded videos that aren't on my HDD due to a lost disk (yes, I backup...but I only kept those videos on the backup disk, which died). I would really like to get local copies of those videos, but downloading them 3 at a time, especially with an unknown waiting period between batches, just doesn't scale. Is there some way I can make this easier? I'm not seeing any other download options on Youtube.

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3 Answers 3

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The Google Data Liberation Front provides Google Takeout, which allows Google users to export their data to a downloadable ZIP file. Here is the link to export one's Youtube videos: https://www.google.com/settings/takeout/custom/youtube . It will create an archive containing all the original uploaded videos.

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There is no option on YouTube for a bulk download. Documentation is here, and is based on Google Takout, which lets you access and remove any info you've stored in Google properties.

On that page there is a link to the Google Moderator request for the functionality of a bulk download, feel free to vote the idea up.

Lastly, the official download limit is 2 videos per hour when downloading to MP4.

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Just noticed the new limit as I tried to download. At least they clarified how many you get per time period now... –  Ben Brocka Oct 14 '12 at 20:37

try keepvid.com or jDownloader to download videos from youtube

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These go against Youtube's TOS and the OP said he didn't want to violate their TOS. –  Dez Oct 22 '12 at 3:16

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