This page is for the moments when a conversion misbehaves: a format that will not start, a file that will not save, a resolution that is missing, a download with no sound. The general questions — what the formats are, why MP3 bitrate moves around, which one to pick — are answered on the home page and in the step-by-step guide.
⌄ The conversion does not start. What should I try?
Reload the page first, then try a second video. If the second one works, the first is the problem — most often it is private, age-restricted, region-blocked or a livestream. If nothing converts, clear your browser cache and try again; the conversion is handled by an outside service and it occasionally goes down for everyone. If it is still stuck after that, tell us the exact link you pasted through the
contact page — the URL is what lets us reproduce it.
⌄ A quality I expected is missing, or picking it fails.
The list of formats on the conversion page is the full menu this tool can request — it is not a reading of what that particular video contains. So 8K appears next to a video that was uploaded in 720p. Choosing a quality the upload never had will fail, and the honest answer is that the video simply does not exist at that resolution: no tool can add detail the source never recorded. If a resolution fails, step down one and it will usually work.
⌄ The file downloaded but the video has no sound.
Above 720p YouTube stores picture and sound as two separate streams, and they have to be joined before the file is usable. That joining is done by the conversion service this site sends your link to, not on this site. When it goes wrong the result is a silent video. Try the same video at 720p — below that threshold the audio is already inside the single file, so it cannot go missing — or start the 1080p conversion again, since the failure is usually a one-off on the upstream side.
⌄ Can I download a whole playlist at once?
No. Playlists are not supported. Pasting a playlist URL returns an error, because the converter works on one video ID at a time. To save a playlist you have to open each video and convert it individually. We would rather say that plainly than let you find out after pasting the link.
⌄ Why does every file size say "Unknown"?
Because the size genuinely is not known before the conversion runs. The service that prepares the file does not report a size in advance, and rather than print an invented estimate the field is left as "Unknown". For a rough idea: ten minutes of video is around 45 MB at 360p, 170 MB at 720p, 330 MB at 1080p and about 1.8 GB at 4K. Audio is far smaller — a four-minute MP3 at 320kbps is roughly 9 MB.
⌄ Where is the file saved after the download?
Wherever your browser normally puts downloads. On a computer that is usually the Downloads folder; on Android it is Downloads in the Files app; on iPhone it is the Files app under Downloads. Your browser settings will show and let you change the exact location.
⌄ I cannot save files on my iPhone or iPad.
Older versions of iOS do not let Safari save arbitrary files. If your iOS is recent the download will land in the Files app under Downloads. If it is not, installing
Documents by Readdle from the App Store and pasting the link inside that app is the usual workaround.
⌄ Which videos cannot be downloaded at all?
Private and unlisted-with-restrictions videos, age-restricted videos, active livestreams, members-only content, and anything removed or blocked in your region. Videos longer than about 90 minutes usually time out before the conversion finishes. If a video will not play for you in a normal browser tab without signing in, it will not convert here either.
⌄ I asked for 320kbps and the file says 128kbps.
That is the source, not a fault. YouTube stores several audio streams per video — roughly 48, 128, 160 and 256kbps depending on the upload — and the MP3 can only be built from what is there. The full explanation, including why a padded 320kbps file is bigger without sounding better, is on the
home page.
⌄ Which format should I pick?
MP3 for anything with a USB port or an old media player. M4A when you want the best audio the video actually holds, since it is the original stream with no second round of compression. MP4 for video. FLAC and WAV only if the file is going into editing software — they cannot improve a lossy source, they only make it larger.
⌄ What happens to my link and my file afterwards?
The video URL is sent to the conversion service that prepares the file, because that is how the download is produced — it is not processed on this site. Nothing about your download is stored here, there is no account and no history. What the conversion service keeps is governed by its own policy, not ours, and that limit is worth knowing about rather than glossing over.
