Backup to computer hard disk
All the methods described below mean that the author of the channel does not have the original video that he uploaded from the computer to the video service. Due to the process of converting and reducing the video file size, any video downloaded from YouTube will have lower quality than the original file.
YouTube has an official way to save your own videos to your hard drive. To do this, you need to log in to your account and go to the YouTube studio, where the authors edit the videos and approve their posts.
To download it, you need to move the cursor to the line with the video and click on the icon of the three vertical dots. After that, a menu will open with several items, including the “Download” option. Then you need to choose a location to save the file in mp4 format.
However, this method has its limitations – the maximum resolution of downloaded videos is 720p, even if there are higher resolution versions of YouTube itself.
This option is great for saving videos that are important as memory but not for backup to stream on other platforms.
For this purpose, it is better to use special Internet resources or programs. For example, the site SaveFrom.net allows you to save any video to your computer. You just need to enter a link to the video, choose the resolution and confirm the download.
Among the programs, youtube-dl, which is a free software based on the graphical shell of Open Video Downloader, stands out. The program will allow you to download not a single video from the channel, but many videos at once. The program must be downloaded from the official website.
For correct operation, you may need a package of Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 utility libraries. The program detects and installs the missing codecs on its own for video processing.
So you can download all the videos on the author’s channel without having to download them one by one. This is appropriate if the author has been posting videos for years and their number exceeds dozens of tracks.
Backup to cloud services
Given the need to keep backup copies of videos after publication, it makes sense to consider uploading them to cloud services in case of emergency – deletion or blocking.
Since Google Drive is also a project of an American company, it is better not to think about this procedure in the context of a possible blocking in the country. Local services such as Yandex.Disk and Cloud Mail.ru are suitable for backup.
You will need an account to run each of the services. Created for e-mail from Yandex or Mail.ru is also suitable. Thanks to the “clouds” file structure, you can create folders for different video types and upload many files at once. This will make it easy to find the right video to reload in the future.
In Yandex.Disk the user gets 10 GB for free. If you need more space, a subscription to Yandex 360 or Yandex Plus is provided. In Mail.ru Cloud, 8 GB is available to the user by default. The service has mobile tariffs for smartphones and web tariffs when it comes to computer file storage.
One compromise option might be Dropbox, a file hosting service that lets you store videos on your computer’s memory and in the cloud simultaneously. There is also a paid 1TB option, which should be enough for most YouTube channels.
The service only offers 2GB on a free account, but the amount can be increased by purchasing a paid subscription. The service also offers a way to increase storage up to 16GB for free after completing tasks like inviting new users or installing the Dropbox app on a smartphone.
Preparing for the transfer
In youtube-dl, you can perform other operations as well as backing up all videos at once. For example, edit the video by merging or deleting a track.
Andrey Ivanov, founder of the Harvester video selection service for text content, told socialbites.ca that YouTube has made an updated interface with features that potentially make it easier to import videos from the platform.
“The video editor helps remove noise, make minimal corrections and overlay titles,” the IT specialist said. He also stated that YouTube has a fairly high video download speed.
Also in YouTube studio there is an opportunity to remove copyrighted music tracks and replace them with compositions from the video hosting library. This will continue to monetize other video services, including local ones.
Export to VK Video
A free service has been launched within the VK social network for importing YouTube channels to the VK Video platform. The application is available within the social network called VKVideo Transfer.
Juice Development Team saidwith the help of the services of bloggers, they can transfer the entire YouTube channel to VKontakte without additional manipulations.
Videos will be posted in the VKontakte community or on a personal page. The VK Video Transfer service is developed on the VK Mini Apps platform.
To start the transfer you need to open application, copy the URL of the YouTube channel, paste it in the “Link to YouTube channel” field. Then you need to follow simple instructions.
The developers have ensured that the transmission of the channel is possible only by the author himself. Before the transfer can begin, you must verify ownership of the channel using a unique code generated by the application.
Transfer to Rutube
There is no official way yet to automate video import from YouTube to Rutube. However, the service is the closest format to American video hosting. In this regard, it makes sense to consider an informal option for content transfer.
In the free mode there are programs that will allow you to sequentially transfer part of the videos from one channel, for example, from the Video Reposter service. When purchasing a monthly subscription, the program becomes more convenient – in automatic mode with minimal settings, the service promises to transfer all videos from the YouTube channel to Rutube. It is noted that besides the videos, the program also downloads a preview (image), descriptions, titles and tags of each video.