Best Video Downloaders for Mac

The short answer. youtube-dl and you-get are the command-line originals, and MacYTDL is a GUI in front of the first one, which is the pattern most people actually want. XGetter is the general media downloader for major sites, Movie Catcher is the film-focused one with streaming and offline download, and Swads is a client for a Synology Download Station rather than a downloader itself. HTTrack and Site Sucker download whole websites, which is a different job with a different output. The dividing question is whether you are saving one video, a library, or a site, because a command-line tool scales to a library and a site mirror is not a video downloader with a bigger number.

This guide covers 8 video downloaders for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment.

Quick comparison

What actually decides this

• One item or a queue. A single URL is a paste and a click. A playlist, a channel or a list of links is a queue with retries and naming rules. The tools that handle the second are the ones with a configuration file.
• Whether the source needs authentication. Public pages are easy. Anything behind a login needs cookies, and cookie handling is where GUI wrappers either work or quietly fail. If the source requires a session, this is the deciding feature.
• What the output container is. The same video can arrive as a single MP4 or as separate video and audio streams that need muxing. A tool that muxes for you is doing real work, and a tool that does not leaves you with two files and no explanation.
• Whether it is a downloader or a client. A NAS client queues work on another machine. A downloader runs on this one. Both are useful and they are not substitutes, which is why a Synology client in a downloader list is a category error worth naming.
• What happens when the site changes. Every tool here depends on an extractor that the site can break. The one that updates often is the one that keeps working, and the update cadence matters more than the interface.
• Whether a whole site is the target. Mirroring a site produces a tree of HTML and assets for offline reading. That is not a video library and should not be judged by video quality or format support.

Our picks

• MacYTDL — Its record describes a macOS GUI front-end for the youtube-dl video downloader, which is the GUI case. Choose it when you want a GUI over the command-line downloader.
• youtube-dl — Its record describes a command-line program to download videos from YouTube and other sites, which is the scriptable case. Choose it when you want the original command-line tool and its extractor coverage.
• You-Get — Its record describes downloading media contents including videos, audio and images, which is the multi-media case. Choose it when you want a small command-line tool that also handles audio and images.
• XGetter — Its record describes a media downloader for video and audio from major websites, which is the general GUI case. Choose it when you want a general GUI for several major sites.
• HTTrack — Its record describes downloading a whole website for offline browsing, which is the mirror case. Choose it when the target is a whole website for offline reading.
• Swads — Its record describes a Synology Download Station client, which is the offload case. Choose it when the download should happen on a Synology NAS.

The apps

HTTrack

HTTrack is a Mac utility for macOS. Useful tool for downloading a whole website and offline browsing. It is free.

What it does. HTTrack is a free software (GNU GPL) offline browser: it copies websites to your computer, so you can browse them offline, mirror them, or archive them.

HTTrack is listed with current version 3.50.5.

Full profile and verified facts for HTTrack →

MacYTDL

MacYTDL is a media app for macOS. A macOS GUI front-end for the youtube-dl video downloader. It is open source.

What it does. Download individual videos and playlists. Download multiple videos in separate processes, in one process (sequentially) or in separate processes (parallel). Works with all sites supported by yt-dlp. Can cancel individual downloads.

MacYTDL is listed with current version 1.31.2.

Full profile and verified facts for MacYTDL →

Movie Catcher

Movie Catcher is a media app for macOS. Tool for finding, streaming, and offline downloading movies. It is released under MIT.

Full profile and verified facts for Movie Catcher →

Site Sucker

Site Sucker is a developer tool for macOS. Automatically downloads websites. Its pricing is not published.

Site Sucker is listed with current version 6.2.2.

Full profile and verified facts for Site Sucker →

Swads

Swads is a Mac utility for macOS. Synology Download Station Client, modern, native, and intuitively redesign. Its pricing is not published.

Full profile and verified facts for Swads →

XGetter

XGetter is a Mac utility for macOS. Media downloader for video and audio from major websites. It is free.

What it does. XGetter is a free online tool to download video, audio from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Vimeo and more. Download video, audio in HD, SD quality for free.

XGetter is listed with current version 1.7.7.

Full profile and verified facts for XGetter →

You-Get

You-Get is a Mac utility for macOS. Tiny command-line utility to download media contents (videos, audios, images) from the web. It is released under MIT.

What it does. arrow_double_down: Dumb downloader that scrapes the web.

You-Get is listed with current version 0.4.1743.

Full profile and verified facts for You-Get →

youtube-dl

youtube-dl is a Mac utility for macOS. Command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites. It is released under Unlicense.

What it does. Command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and other video sites - ytdl-org/youtube-dl.

youtube-dl is listed with current version 2021.12.17.

Full profile and verified facts for youtube-dl →

How to choose

• Free of charge. HTTrack and XGetter — no payment is required.
• No licence fee, source available. MacYTDL, Movie Catcher, You-Get and youtube-dl — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
• Pricing not published in our data. Site Sucker and Swads — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.

Open source: MacYTDL, Movie Catcher, You-Get and youtube-dl (4 of 8).

Common mistakes

• Downloading a playlist with a single-URL tool and losing the naming order.
• Ending up with separate video and audio files because the tool did not mux them.
• Assuming a GUI wrapper handles cookies because the command-line tool does.
• Mirroring a site and calling it an archive. The links are rewritten and the result is not the original.

How this guide was put together

Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.

A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.

The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.