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You probably expect technology to be accessible everywhere. Whether you’re outside on a run, traveling somewhere by train, or in a cafe with limited wi-fi service, you don’t want to stop what you’re doing if you run into connection problems, especially if you’re in the middle of watching YouTube videos.

Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that you want to know how to download and save YouTube videos. Because, let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than losing wifi or data coverage when you’re halfway through the new Taylor Swift music video and your train goes under a tunnel (you know, as a random example … ).

By saving your favorite YouTube videos for later, you’re ensuring you can watch YouTube videos start-to-finish anywhere without any pesky obstacles like wifi or restricted data plans.

Download and save YouTube videos now = uninterrupted Taylor later.

Here, we’ll cover how you can download and save YouTube videos, on both mobile and desktop devices, to ensure you’re never without that quick entertainment fix when you need it.

Download MP4 from YouTube

VLC, KeepVid, or MP4 Downloader Pro are all great options for downloading an MP4 video from YouTube to your desktop. Feel free to check them out to decide the best option for you. For the sake of time, I only downloaded VLC for this example.

Once you’ve downloaded VLC (click the link above and follow download instructions), follow these steps:

1. Open VLC and select “Open Media.”
2. Click “Network” and paste your YouTube URL.
3. (If you’re using Windows) Select “Tools” and then “Codec Information”
4. (If you’re using Mac) Select “Window” and then “Media Information”
5. Find the “Location” bar at the bottom, and copy the URL
6. Paste the URL into your browser
7. Right click the video, and click “Save As.” Name the file and save to desired location

Transporting downloaded MP4 to Mobile Phone

I don’t know if this is the “official” way to do it, but if you want that same MP4 video on your phone, you can email it to yourself and open it up as an attachment, and you’re good to go!

Download MP3 from YouTube on Desktop

GenYouTube is the easiest and quickest way to convert YouTube videos to MP3 downloads, particularly because you can do it from the YouTube video. Here’s how:

1. Find a video on YouTube you want to convert.
2. In the URL, add the word “gen” right before the word YouTube (e.g. http.://www.genyoutube.com/watch?…)
3. This URL will lead you to the same video on GenYouTube’s page. Scroll down the page, and see your options for audio and video formats (including 3GP, WEBM, MP4, M4A).
4. Select “MP3” to immediately start download.

Download MP3 from YouTube on Mobile Phone

You can also visit GenYouTube’s website from your mobile phone, and download from there.

Option 1 (search from YouTube): 

Option Two (search from GenYouTube … then follow same instructions as above):

And that’s it! You’re all set to listen and watch your favorite YouTube videos wherever, and whenever, you want.

Last week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company is soliciting applications from people who’d like to help study Twitter’s health as a platform for conversation.

Or should we say, #health.

Today, the CEO took to Periscope — Twitter’s live streaming video app — with a mobile panel of himself and three of his colleagues who are in charge of the health of the social network.

This team included:

• Vijaya Gadde, Head of Legal, Policy, Trust & Safety.
• David Gasca, Head of Product Health
• Del Harvey, Head of Trust and Safety
• Jack Dorsey, Chief Executive Officer

“All of us are a little bit nervous, so give us a little bit of time to find our groove,” a candid Dorsey said before handing the device to Gasca.

David Gasca: How They’ll Measure Twitter’s Health

The Product Health lead opened by explaining that they intend to examine the health of the platform “in such a way that is public and accountable,” but also goes beyond simple metrics such as how much engagement certain tweets get from their users.

Gasca stated their efforts were at least partly inspired by research released by Cortico, a not-for-profit that suggested a few basic ingredients of healthy dialogue on social media.

However, according to Gasca, the “density” of certain networks within Twitter, as well as the idea of “social capital” may also play a part in their research.

In that spirit, Gasca said they’re looking for new approaches — both professional and academic — to address what he admitted is a legitimate problem across the Twittersphere. People can submit proposals by April 13 via this blog post, after which time Twitter will contact a set of “semifinalists” for more detail on their proposals.

Vijaya Gadde: Navigating Personal Biases Within the Company

Gadde took the first question from a live viewer who asked if all four employees on the Periscope identify as liberals — and if so, how that might create bias when they scrutinize political commentary on Twitter.

“This is true not just of [many Twitter employees], but of the industry, and of Silicon Valley,” she responded. But, Gadde said, impartiality has always been a priority within Twitter. “We are very much accused of censorship and bias … and it’s important to understand how … the engineers and the teams working on our algorithms may be biased as well.”

This is likely top of mind for many at the company, following an ex-Twitter employee who reportedly deleted President Trump’s Twitter account shortly before leaving the company.

Gadde admitted “everyone has bias” and that they’re using this as motivation to come up with a healthy way forward.

Del Harvey: The Role Health Plays to Future Company Policy

Late into the stream, a question was posed to Del Harvey asking if the concept of health itself should be used as a framework for Twitter’s policies moving forward.

“We’re looking at this … overarching, holistic view of health on the platform,” she explained. “But that’s not the only way we’re going to be continuing to measure our success.”

Still, Harvey said an initiative around Twitter’s health can help reveal necessary connections between business policies, similar to how certain departments can become siloed from one another in the organization. Trademark violations, for example, may have a more visible relationship to intellectual property violations when seen through the lens of product health.

Harvey and Dorsey also heavily covered their treatment of parody accounts, many of which have been shut down for reasons related to their messaging — but are also considered important to the culture of the social network.

“We believe [these parody accounts] add an enormous amount to Twitter, and that’s something we always want to protect,” said Dorsey. Regarding these accounts’ involvement in inflammatory speech, the CEO suggested new types of account verification might come into play as well to ensure that “people know [a certain parody account] is meant to be entertaining.”

The 45-minute Periscope covered numerous other questions from viewers, all of which are sure to play a part in Twitter’s planned study. See the recording of the live stream from Jack Dorsey’s tweet.

Will there be more panels like this one? Dorsey confirms there will be, alluding to “future Periscopes” where he’ll introduce more Twitter staff to speak on this important subject.