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YT Download documentation
How the tools work, what they accept, where the limits are, and exactly what happens to your files.
Getting started
Every tool on YT Download works the same way, and none of them need an account:
- Choose a tool from the homepage or a tool page.
- Give it something to work on — paste a link, upload a file, or type text, depending on the tool.
- A short ad plays (that is what keeps the site free), then the job runs on the server.
- Your finished file downloads. Our working copy is deleted at that moment — see Privacy.
The site is also an installable web app: Android Chrome shows an install prompt, and on iPhone you can use Share → Add to Home Screen.
Downloading from a link
The link downloaders fetch the media info first, so you can see the title, thumbnail and available qualities before anything downloads. Pick an MP4 quality for video, or MP3 for audio only. Best-quality audio is what the source serves — a well-uploaded video gives a good MP3; a poor recording stays poor.
Public posts work best. Private, friends-only, age-gated or login-only posts usually cannot be fetched — that is the source platform's wall, not a bug. Instagram in particular often demands a login from server IPs; if a Reel fails, the post is usually restricted.
Uploading your own files
Upload tools accept drag-and-drop or tap-to-browse. Set any options (target format, trim points, speed, and so on), hit the button, and download the result. One file at a time keeps processing fast — the exception is Merge PDF, which takes up to 20 PDFs in a single job. If a conversion offers a format dropdown, the format you pick is the format you get; the filename in the download matches it.
Supported formats
| Kind | Formats |
|---|---|
| Link downloads | MP4 video (best quality the source serves) and MP3 audio, from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, Vimeo, Reddit, Twitch, Dailymotion, Pinterest, SoundCloud and 1,000+ sites |
| Video | In: MP4, WEBM, MOV, MKV, GIF · Out: MP4, WEBM, MOV, MKV, GIF, and JPG/PNG still frames |
| Audio | In and out: MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG, FLAC |
Rule of thumb: MP3 and MP4 play everywhere; WAV and FLAC are lossless (bigger files, perfect quality); WEBP and AVIF are the smallest image formats for the web; PNG is the one that keeps transparency.
Limits
- Uploads: up to 200 MB per file.
- Reverse video works on clips up to 3 minutes — trim longer videos first.
- Video to GIF uses the first 60 seconds of the video.
- Rate limits: fair-use limits per visitor keep the site fast for everyone; if you hit one, wait a few minutes.
- No daily caps on standard tools and no watermarks, ever.
Privacy: transient processing
YT Download is built so there is nothing to leak. Uploads land in a one-off temporary folder, the conversion runs, your download streams out, and the folder is deleted — immediately, every time. Link downloads are fetched and passed through on the fly, never saved. There are no user accounts, so there are no profiles of your files anywhere. The only analytics kept are aggregate counts (page views and tool uses) used to decide which tools to improve.
Troubleshooting
- "Could not fetch that link" — the post is private, age-gated, deleted, or the link was copied mid-edit. Re-copy the share link from the finished, public post.
- Instagram link fails — Instagram frequently requires a login from datacenter IPs. Public posts usually work; restricted ones cannot be fetched by any tool.
- Conversion failed — the file may be corrupt, DRM-protected, or in a rare codec. Re-export it from its original app in a common format and try again.
- File too large — compress or trim it first with the tools here, then run the main job.
- Download did not start — some mobile browsers block automatic downloads after a delay; tap the result button again, or long-press the finished file link.
- Result looks or sounds off — quality follows the source. A 360p upload cannot become a real 1080p file, and a low-bitrate MP3 cannot become lossless.
Copyright
Only download or convert content you own, that is in the public domain, or that you have the rights or permission to use. YT Download does not host or store any content; the tools are provided for personal, lawful use, and creators' rights come first.