How to Download Long YouTube Videos (Even Over 2 Hours)

There are a huge variety of lengthy videos on YouTube, such as 10 hour videos, full movies, playlists, livestreams, and more. While long videos provide greater content, they are difficult to download.

“Quentin is a talented director, and I love his filmography. I tried to download Django Unchained from YouTube. The movie is too long, which lasts for 2:45:23, and multiple download attempts failed.”

My dad has been plagued by this problem lately, so I did some tests on how to download long YouTube videos and wrote an article about it to share with you guys!

 Cisdem VideoPaw

The Best App to Download Long YouTube Videos

• Download YouTube videos of any length and resolution
• Download multiple videos at once, including full playlists
• Support unlimited and stable downloads
• Download long videos from 10,000+ video hosting platforms
• Retain original quality
• Convert long videos to 600+ formats like MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, MP3
• Compress large downloads to free up disk space
• More tools to merge, edit, record videos, as well as rip DVDs/Blu-rays

Free Download macOS 10.15 or later    Free Download Windows 10 or later

Choose a YouTube Downloader

Way #1 - Download Long YouTube Videos with Desktop App

This way is for users:

• Care about download quality and speed
• Want to download 4K or above long videos from YouTube
• Pursue an excellent user experience

Not for users:

• Don’t have a budget

With a reliable video downloader like Cisdem VideoPaw, you can easily download YouTube video longer than 20 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours on Mac and Windows PC.

It lets you download multiple long YouTube videos simultaneously, saving you time when downloading several videos.

You can also download videos from Crunchyroll, Dailymotion, Facebook, Twitch, Pinterest, X (Twitter), and other sites.

How to download long YouTube videos with Cisdem VideoPaw:

Step 1. Download, install, and launch the software.

Free Download for Mac (for macOS 10.15 or later)

Free Download for Win (for Win 10/11)

Step 2. From the home screen, find and click on Video Downloader.

Step 3. Copy YouTube URL.

Open YouTube website. Find the long YouTube video you wish to download. Then, use the following ways to copy URL.

Way one: Right-click on the video, and hit "Copy video URL".

Way two: Directly copy the link from address bar.

Step 4. Paste and parse.

Paste a long YouTube video's URL into VideoPaw's text box and click “Import.” To add more videos, enter each URL on a new line by pressing Enter.

Step 5. Download YouTube MP4 long videos.

Choose desirable formats, specify the output destination, then click the "Download" button to start downloading all long length YouTube videos once for all.

Tips for choosing a format:

• Next to each format the encoder is shown, e.g. "mp4 (vp09)". Usually vp09 encodes video with higher quality. Just because it is a newer codec, some media players like Mac QuickTime and Windows Media Player can't open it. Therefore, you can download other media players such as VLC or choose another encoding format.
• To pick more additional formats, import downloaded long YouTube videos into the Video Converter panel, where you can choose from a variety of formats besides MP4, WebM, and M4A.

Way #2 - Download Long Video from YouTube Free Online

This way is for users:

• Don't want to install any software or browser extensions
• Desire to save money
• Download short 2K videos or long 1080p videos

Not for users:

• Want to download playlist and 4K YouTube
• Have bunch of long YouTube videos to download
• Don’t like pop-up ads

YouTubeToolkit is an online video downloader that’s extremely good at downloading 1080p YouTube videos less than 1 hour. In my testing, downloading YouTube videos around 2 hours or 1440p+ was unsuccessful. It manifested itself as after 30-50% download, it starts again from 1%, then repeats the cycle, tossing and turning all afternoon.

To download long 1080p YouTube video online using YouTubeToolkit, follow the steps below:

1. Open https://youtubetoolkit.com/tools/video-downloader-1080p in your browser.
2. Copy a link to a 20-minute, 1-hour, or any 1080p video from YouTube.
3. Input the link to the text box of YouTubeToolkit. Press Enter to begin processing and parsing the link.
4. Scroll down to find the download area.
5. Select a video quality, then click the red “Download Now” button.

A word of caution:

You have to hit the "Download" button at least 3 times before the download actually starts. The first 2 times will open an advertisement page, just close it. It's worth remembering that ads are everywhere, and every click you make can bring up unrelated pages.

Way #3 - Download Long YouTube Videos Using Browser Extension

This way is for users:

• Want to directly download from YouTube
• Failed to use the online tool

Not for users:

• Wish to download videos larger than 2GB
• Download playlist

Video Download Helper and Video Download Professional no longer work on YouTube due to YouTube's policy. You can only use the browser extension in other ways.

AddonCrop YouTube Video Downloader supports Chrome, Edge, Opera, and other Chromium-based browsers, but it no longer supports Firefox or Safari. You first need to install CRXEmulator, which enables your browser to install and run Chrome extensions that it may not otherwise support.

Details on how to download long YouTube videos with AddonCrop:

1. Head to https://crxemulator.com/ to install CRXEmulator.
2. Visit the page - https://addoncrop.com/v25/youtube-downloader/.
3. On the first screen, click "Add To Chrome". In the small window that appears, click "Let's Go".
4. AddonCrop YouTube Video Downloader will be downloaded automatically, just click "Allow Permissions" > “Allow” to install it.
5. Pin CRXEmulator extension to show up in the Chrome toolbar.
6. Open the long YouTube video you intend to download.
7. Click CRXEmulator and wait for loading video details.
8. Choose and click an output option to start downloading it.

Way #4 - Download Long YouTube Videos on Mobile Phone

This way is for users:

• Only want to watch and download YouTube long videos on Android
• Desire to save money

Not for users:

• Favor high-definition videos
• Don't want your personal information leaked
• Use iPhone

TubeMate is free to use, which supports 17 platforms like YouKu, Naver TV, Smule, SonyLiv, etc. besides YouTube. Updates and bug fixes are frequent, making it a very active program.

Unfortunately, TubeMate is currently only available for Android. Most video downloaders for mobile phones don't provide iOS version, probably because of Apple's strict restrictions.

Below is how to download long videos off of YouTube on Android:

1. Download TubeMate from https://tubemate.tools/ to your Android phone, then install it.
2. Initiate the app. Search for a long length YouTube video that you would like to download.
3. Tap the red download button to bring up the detected audio and video options.
4. Select an option and tap the red download button again.
5. This app will ask you to download MP3 Video Converter. Just download and install it.
6. Now repeat step 3-4 again.
7. Choose the recommended background setting. Then it will begin downloading a long YouTube video on Android.
8. Once done, view it in the completed task list.

A word of caution: 

• Need to install extra app: It has to work with MP3 Video Converter together.
• Low output quality: Even you choose 1920*1080 (MP4) as the target format, the YouTube video will be downloaded as 960*540 (MP4).

Bonus: How Long Does It Take to Download a Long YouTube Video?

Different resolutions, codecs, and YouTube downloaders result in different lengths of time.

Resolution: The higher the resolution, the longer it takes to download the video, so 8K > 4K > 1080p > 720p.

Codec: Even for the same resolution, if you select a different encoder like vp09, avc1, av01, it will take a different amount of time. At this point, it comes down to file size. The larger the file, the longer it will take.

YouTube downloader: Of the 4 ways described above, only way #1 and way #2 can download 1080p videos. Both ways are very fast, especially way #1. Here are my testing statistics with Cisdem VideoPaw.

People may think it's hard to download long YouTube videos. Choosing an effective and suitable YouTube video downloader, however, provides a solution to all your problems.