Intellectual property rights, copyright law and everything to do with music distribution are complicated. What you can and can\u2019t do, legally, is anything but clear, and it\u2019s not always as simple as buying a CD in a store these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even uploading music to YouTube<\/strong> itself isn\u2019t always allowed, as music producers can decide not to allow people to use their material \u2013 YouTube even has a filter to prevent such uploads. Despite this, it is always legal<\/strong> to watch content on YouTube. You can\u2019t commit piracy or violate copyright just by streaming something on the site. Thanks to legal agreements and simple permission from the creators, watching, for example, a new Ariana Grande music video is just fine. Downloading one is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube\u2019s terms of service forbid the capturing of streams. This means that it\u2019s against YouTube\u2019s rules to convert or download videos, or even to record them via screen capture \u2013 that doesn\u2019t necessarily make it illegal though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Converter sites obviously violate the terms of service, yet YouTube doesn\u2019t normally prosecute sites that provide this type of service \u2013 they are allowed to continue. At most, they are excluded from Google\u2019s ad network, which means the owners can\u2019t monetise them that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this doesn\u2019t actually cover whether or not it is legal for John Doe to download a video from YouTube though. The simple fact of it is that, yes, it is illegal<\/strong>. YouTube is covered by US copyright law, which means that no matter where you watch from, that\u2019s the law it falls under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As per US law, any sort of conversion or download<\/strong> of copyrighted material, whether it\u2019s as MP3, MP4 or something else entirely \u2013 is illegal. The keyword here is copyrighted<\/strong> though. Not all material on YouTube is. While in the case of professionally released music and videos it always is, copyright- or royalty-free material does exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos that meet that criterium can be downloaded<\/strong> legally \u2013 however they still violate the terms of service. Complicated? Sadly yes. Below is a chart that simplifies it a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you want to ignore the legal restrictions or not, there are services that allow you to do so. We strongly recommend that you never download anything in violation of copyright law. If you want to convert videos, only do so to ones that are copyright-free<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re probably better off not risking it at all, but if you want to, there are some relatively safe and easy to use conversion services out there. There is a short list below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tip: Be aware that not all conversion services are reliable and safe to use. Some may try to hide malware in the files you download, so be sure to only use services you know and trust.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most well-known conversion services, this one doesn\u2019t require any sort of registration, supports all common browsers and audio formats, but it is restricted to YouTube. While some other services also support Dailymotion or Vimeo, this one doesn\u2019t. You can even upload your file directly to Dropbox or Google Drive if you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another popular choice, Converto offers simple, no-frills conversion to MP3 format. There aren\u2019t any ads clogging up the screen, and no registration is necessary. The resulting file has a unique download link that remains valid only for 24 hours, so you\u2019ll have to grab your file fairly quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the other two entries on the list, this one isn\u2019t an online service per se \u2013 it requires a download first. This service offers considerably more functions than some of the others \u2013 it allows you to queue multiple files in batches, supports a huge variety of formats of both audio and video, and it has some pretty amazing speed stats as well. You can even convert entire channels in one go if you want to!<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe use of converters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The law<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Converting content<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n