There's nothing worse than losing Wi-Fi or data coverage when you're halfway through your favorite video on YouTube. While YouTube does allow you to save some videos for offline watching, with a little effort, you can download them in HD as well. All you need is the VLC media player installed on your system. And the procedure is as easy as using VLC.
Disclaimer: According to Google’s Terms of Service for YouTube, “You shall not download any Content unless you see a ‘download’ or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content.” So, it is illegal to download YouTube videos. This how-to is for informational purpose only. It is recommended to subscribe to YouTube Premium for downloading videos.
Steps to download YouTube videos using VLC media player
VLC is my video player of choice on both my Windows and Mac computers. It’s small, it’s light on resources, and it plays just about every video format you care to mention. It also has a few neat tricks up its sleeve. One I just learned was how to normalize volume in VLC for Windows. It’s a very convenient package, and it works on Mac, too. This best video player Mac is a universal media player that automatically recognizes the file format of the video or audio file you want to play. So you can count on it to reliably play the most popular audio and video file formats including AVI, MP4, MP3, WMA, WAV, FLV, MPEG, and more. VLC Media Player is best for not only playing videos from different sources but it can be used as a video editing software. You can cut or trim any videos to create video clips. That means you can select a certain part of your video and cut it out to a smaller clip.
- Install the VLC app on your Mac OS. Click here to download the app.
- Open VLC and then select File, Open Network.
- Paste the URL (link address) of the YouTube video you want to download.
- Once the video starts playing, click 'Window' and then 'Media Information'.
- Find the 'Location' bar and copy that URL.
- Open your browser and paste that URL.
- Right-click the video and select 'Save Video As'.
- Select the desired location and save the video.
Note that some of the menu might change with each release of the VLC media player. However, procedure remains the same. This how-to is verified to be working with the v3.0.x of the VLC media player.
Do you find this how-to helpful? Let us know by dropping a comment below.
Can VLC play Blu-ray disc? Why is VLC not working to play Blu-ray? Those questions are commonly asked by people who want to play Blu-ray on VLC media player. Actually, VLC doesn't offer direct support for Blu-ray disc, but the 2.0 and later version of VLC support Blu-ray media playback with some extra operations. So, it is possible to get VLC to play Blu-ray disc on computer. To help you know the whole process, we will show you how to use VLC to play Blu-ray movie step by step.
Tips: The setup might be troublesome and tricky to play Blu-ray on VLC. If you have followed the instructions correctly and it is not working, or you don't want to use such a cumbersome method, feel free to try VideoSolo Blu-ray Player. It is simple and powerful to play Blu-ray disc on Mac and Windows without setting anything.
CONTENTS
- 1. How to Use VLC to Play Blu-ray on Windows 10/8/7
- 2. Can VLC Play Blu-ray Movie on Mac? - Yes
- 3. Errors You May Encounter When Playing Blu-ray in VLC
- 4. Best Way to Play Blu-ray on Computer with VLC Alternative
How to Use VLC to Play Blu-ray on Windows 10/8/7
Step 1. To play Blu-ray with VLC on Windows, you'd better upgrade to VLC 3.0 first if you are still using the old version. Please note that you will need to download the VLC Windows 64bit version if it is a 64bit Windows computer.
Tips: It would be better to keep the default installation path while installing VLC. Otherwise, you can't completely follow the steps below.
Step 2. Go to https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ to download the keys database and AACS dynamic library. Please notice that you should download the 32bit file for VLC 32bit, and 64bit file for VLC 64bit.
After downloaded, two files - the keys database file (KEYDB.cfg) and the AACS dynamic library file (libaacs.dll) should already exist on your Windows computer.
Step 3. Go to 'C:ProgramData', create a new folder in it and name it 'aacs'. After that, place your downloaded 'KEYDB.cfg' file into it.
Step 4. Go to 'C:Program FilesVideoLANVLC', then drop your downloaded 'libaacs.dll' file into it. If running 32bit VLC, you will need to find your VLC directory in 'C:Program Files (x86)'.
Step 5. Now, you can easily launch VLC and use it to play Blu-ray disc on Windows for free. Just need to click on 'Media' > 'Open Disc' > 'Blu-ray'.
Can VLC Play Blu-ray Movie on Mac? – Yes
VLC is one of the free Mac Blu-ray players. In this part, the way to play Blu-ray movies with VLC on Mac will be described in detail as below steps. It is similar to that of on Windows computer.
Step 1. Download the latest version of VLC for Mac OS X from Videolan.org.
Step 2. Go to: https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ and get two necessary files.
1. KEYS Database
Mac OS: put 'KEYDB.cfg' in ~/Library/Preferences/aacs/ (create it if it does not exist).
2. AACS Dynamic Library
Mac OS: right-click on VLC, choose 'Show Package Contents' and put the 'libaacs.dylib' file in 'Contents/MacOS/lib/' (create it if it does not exist).
Step 3. Run VLC and insert your Blu-ray disc into the Blu-ray drive, and open it with VLC, then your encrypted Blu-ray movie will start playing in VLC.
Errors You May Encounter When Playing Blu-ray in VLC
Even you have successfully installed VLC 3.0 or above and follow all the steps above, you likely still encounter errors like:
• This blu-ray disc needs a library for bd+ decoding, and your system does not have it.
• This blu-ray disc needs a library for aacs decoding, and your system does not have it.
• No valid processing key found in AACS config file.
• Missing AACS configuration file!
• Your input can't be opened.
• VLC keep Blu-ray loading but nothing presents.
This is because not all the commercial Blu-ray discs are supported by VLC media player so that you might encounter the problem from time to time. VLC can only deal with discs which its library has the corresponding AACS keys, yet the AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys won't ship with the Blu-ray discs, as their publishers seem to take everyone as a pirate, even you already spend money just for personnel movie enjoyment.
So, the problem that 'VLC won't Play Blu-ray' is difficult to fix. But, in this case, a more powerful Blu-ray player software comes as an alternative to play Blu-ray on Windows and Mac computer.
Best Way to Play Blu-ray on Computer with VLC Alternative
If you thought that using VLC to play Blu-ray disc is too complex to handle and you don't want to face the problem when VLC won't Blu-ray, then you will love VideoSolo Blu-ray Player.
As one of the best Blu-ray player software, VideoSolo Blu-ray Player can play encrypted Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray folder, also the Blu-ray ISO image without downloading any extra file. It is much easier to play Blu-ray compare to VLC. It supports playback advanced audios like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc. For better user experience, it provides detailed navigation and full playback control and allows users to choose their favorite Blu-ray subtitles, audio tracks, and scenes during playback on Windows and Mac computer.
What's more, the Windows version can serve you as a DVD player and common video player. That is to say, all your BD discs, DVD discs and digital media files can be loaded with VideoSolo Blu-ray Player.
This software is easy-to-use. You can just insert the Blu-ray disc and then open the program to play it. Follow the 3 steps below to play Blu-ray with the easiest way.
Step 1. Install VideoSolo Blu-ray Player
Click the 'Download' button above to get the free trial version of VideoSolo Blu-ray Player on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2. Insert a Blu-ray Disc into the Program
Connect an external Blu-ray drive to your computer and then insert a Blu-ray disc to the drive. Then, click 'Open Disc' to load the Blu-ray disc to the program.
Note: You need to be connected to the Internet so that the software can decode the copy-protection used on the commercial Blu-ray disc.
Step 3. Successfully Play Blu-ray Movie
After loading, you can see the cover of your Blu-ray movie. Here you can choose the title, chapter, audio track, or subtitle track. Or you can directly click on 'Play Movie' to start playing the Blu-ray main movie.
Vlc Video Mac
Now, no matter you choose VLC media player or VideoSolo Blu-ray Player, there is one thing can be confirmed. Right, you are able to watch almost all your Blu-ray movies without difficulty on Window and Mac.