My favorite website for downloading YouTube videos and more

If you have ever wanted to download a YouTube video, there is plenty of tools out there, from web applications/websites to full on desktop applications. Today I'm going to be talking about my favorite online tool, called File2HD. Not only does this website allow you to download YouTube videos, you can actually download any file from any website, that means JavaScripts, Images, CSS files, etc.

I have been using File2HD for about 2 years now, and have never had an issue with it. It is free with ads, or you can get a premium service that allows you to have extended features, like the ability to have on demand conversions of media files and have it ready to download when you are ready.


In today's tip, I'm showing you how to download a YouTube video. You can also just paste any site URL to get files from that site.


To start the process, find a YouTube video that you would like to download. After that, copy the video page's URL. You can also do this by right clicking on the YouTube video and getting the URL.

Copy the video URL in the URL box and post it in the URL box on File2HD.

Second, open up a new window or tab, and type in (or just click this link) "file2hd.com". After that, the site should load. Don't get confused by the ads they have on the site that say something like "download", because it is a little confusing. All buttons are browser based, and are not colorful like the ad buttons are.

The File2HD.com home page. The ads were hidden because I have the AdBlock For Chrome extension installed.

In the URL box, paste the URL by pressing "CTRL + V" on your keyboard, or by right-clicking on the box and selecting "paste". After you have pasted the URL, check the box that says that you agree to their terms of service, and select "movies" from the filter options. Finally, click the button that says "Get Files".

Here, I have pasted the URL from the video above. I have highlighted all the places you should click in case you get confused by the ads on the site.

After clicking that button, you should see a page where the download links are at the bottom. Depending on the browser, you should either click on the video URL to download it, or right click and saving from the context menu. If you want to convert a certain video, you can by clicking "convert". With the converter, you can even rip the audio from the video in your specified bitrate.

Here is the video choices that are listed. The size of the list can vary for videos, especially really old ones. For those, you can only download the "low res" video.

All you have to do now is play the video you downloaded. 99% of the time the video should play. If it doesn't, that video might have age restrictions on it or have some type of auth needed to play. There are rarely any problems with File2HD, so most of the time it is on YouTube's end.


If you want to recommend your favorite YouTube video downloader, you can in the comments below. If you have any thoughts, you can also post those in the comments as well. I'm open to whatever you use; I'm always happy to try new things.