[mynameisvlad]

YouTube Premium doesn’t let you download the video file.

Even if you do it from a browser, it is only accessible from the YouTube website run offline as a SPA.

Even then, downloaded videos can only be played for 29 days before having to reconnect most of the time, with some regions restricting it to 48 hours.

[js8]

I would totally buy Premium subscription if they let me download the videos, and I told Google that. The way it is now - no deal.

[Mindwipe]

Meh, Google know that nobody would pay for that as a selling point when it only applied to a third of videos, and they will never get copyright clearance from third parties for more than that.

[js8]

I think you misunderstood what I said. I would gladly pay premium/subscription for videos that are OK with it. I don't care about those that don't, they just won't get my subscription.

[G3rn0ti]

I think parent means the YouTube app. On iOS (and android/chromos?) you can actually download videos and watch them offline if you got a premium membership. But then the videos are under control by the app.

[mynameisvlad]

Yes, and I replied to that. It’s not really an alternative to an actual video download.

It’s not the raw video file, you can only access it from the app or website, and there’s restrictions on how long you can be offline before the app/website will stop you from watching it.

[leshenka]

You can't get .mp4 though. It's there somewhere inside YT app's persistent storage but there is no "share" button for it.