I have some old videos that I posted to YouTube years ago. I no longer have the original files on my computer, but is it possible to get copies from YouTube itself?
While YouTube frowns upon downloading other people’s video clips and does not provide its own built-in tools to do so, you can get copies of the videos you have uploaded from your own YouTube account. That is, of course, if the videos are still posted on the YouTube site and have not been removed.
Start by logging into your YouTube account. Once you have signed in, click on your YouTube user name in the top right corner of the browser window. In the menu that appears, choose Video Manager. On the left side of the Video Manager screen, click Uploads and select a clip to download. On the Edit button next to the thumbnail, click the arrow and choose Download MP4 from the menu.
YouTube allows you to download up to two of your videos an hour, so it may take some time to get copies of everything if you have uploaded a lot of clips over the years. The site has other restrictions for downloading videos from your account: you may not be able to download clips you had posted if those videos use copyrighted content or other restricted material.
