How to Convert YouTube Videos to AVI?

Nowadays it’s hard to imagine a time without YouTube and even harder to find a better platform for our video watching needs. However, YouTube is not without its flaws and every now and then you may find yourself wanting to download certain videos and watch them offline. Luckily, there are a number of tools out there that allow you to do just that and today we’re going to talk about some of the best ones. To be more specific, tools that let you convert videos on YouTube to AVI because that’s one of the most popular formats around.

Part 1: How to Download YouTube videos to AVI Using Basic Tools

1.1 Online Video Converter

Now let’s take a quick look at an online YouTube to AVI converter. There are a few different options you could try but Online Video Converter is probably the most popular one so we’ll use this one for our example. These types of tools do have some limitations but they tend to work pretty well for short videos and are great for those situations where you don’t want to install traditional software.

Step 1 — Visit the official website and pick the Convert A Video Link option.

Step 2 — Go to YouTube to copy the link of a video and then return to the website to paste it in.

Step 3 — Pick the output format, which in this case is going to be AVI, and then click the More Settings button to get access to a couple more options.

Step 4 — Press the Start button and a new window will open up once the conversion is complete. Click the Download button and you’re all done.

1.2 Files Conversion

If Online Video Converter isn’t quite up your alley we recommend another free online tool known simply as Files Conversion. Just like the previous tool, you can use it to convert a video from YouTube to AVI, as well as a variety of other formats. There are even a few uncommon formats to work with like SWF, OGG, and MOV, among others. There is also a large variety of size options to choose from and four different options for the output quality.

Step 1 — Visit the official Files Conversion website and look to the right to find a menu labeled Related Tools. Click the option that says YouTube.

Step 2 — Go to YouTube and copy the link of the video you want to convert. Come back to the website and paste the link in the field labeled Youtube URL.

Step 3 — Go to the “Convert to” menu and pick the AVI option. Select the video resolution from the Size menu below that and then pick the quality of the output.

Step 4 — Click the Convert button and wait until the tool finishes processing your file.

1.3 2-In-1 Online Converter

There're still other online video converters that do the both, meaning, they not only allow you to convert from a given URL, but also your own local files. VideoMp3Convert is a fine representation of this type of online video converters. It is a 2-in-1 online media conversion web application totally free of charge that is compatible with almost all the major browsers. It allows you to directly download and convert videos simply via a URL, or convert your local videos by uploading them to the website and, when done with the conversion, download them back to your computer. Moreover, its output quality is high, conversion speed is superfast, and it offers multiple audio and video output options, such as mp3, aac, ogg, wma, m4a, flac, wav, mp4, avi, mpg, mov, wmv, mkv, m4v, webm, flv and 3gp, etc.  Last but not least, it supports major websites, including YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo.

To convert a YouTube video from online to AVI, follow the steps below:

Step 1 — Click the CONVERT NOW button to get started;
Step 2 — At the next page, enter your target YouTube video's URL;

Step 3 — Click the downward arrow at the right hand side to choose AVI as your default output format.
Step 4 — Click the START button to get the conversion going;
Step 5 — After the conversion is done, download the converted AVI YouTube video to your computer.

To convert the YouTube videos you already downloaded on your computer, follow the steps bellow:

Step 1 — Click CONVERT A VIDEO OR AUDIO FILE to get started;

Step 2 — Select your target YouTube videos from your computer;

Step 3 — Choose the output format as AVI;
Step 4 — Begin your conversion by clicking the Convert button;
Step 5 — When the conversion gets finished, download the final AVI YouTube video back to your computer.

1.4 YTD Video Downloader

YTD Video Downloader is another good YouTube to AVI converter that’s very easy to use. YTD can convert files to a wide variety of different formats but we’ll only focus on AVI for this example. An interesting feature offered by this tool is the ability to automatically resume the download if your internet connection goes down while you’re trying to convert a video.

Step 1 — YouTube to select the video you want to convert and then copy its URL. Paste the link inside YTD and select the download quality and destination folder for the output.

Step 2 — Hit the red Download button to start downloading the file. The free version doesn’t convert files while you download them so you need to convert the video from YouTube to AVI after you’ve already downloaded it.

Step 3 — With the file now on your machine, go to the Convert tab and hit the folder icon to load the video you just downloaded. Pick the format, conversion quality, and destination folder.

Step 4 — Once everything looks good, hit the Convert Video button to start the conversion and then go to the destination folder to access the AVI file.

Part 2: How to Download YouTube Videos to AVI Using Advanced Tools

Simple tools can be very useful but there are times when they simply aren’t enough for the job. In those situations, you’re going to need tools that are more advanced and can offer a wider array of features. In this example, we’re going to use two great and fun to use tools just like that, namely DVDFab Video Downloader and Video Converter. The former is one product moudle from the DVDFab Downloader software and the latter from the famous multimedia solution packge DVDFab 12. Be noted that the Downloader software suite and the DVDFab 12 suite are no longer in the same package as they used to be, instead they are now two separate installers, meaning you will have to download two installers and do two installations accordingly.

Now let's first see how to download YouTube videos using this YouTube video downloader software:

Step 1 — Download and install DVDFab Downloader on your computer via the Download buttons below, either for Windows or macOS.

                                    i  Free Download     i  Free Download   

Step 2 — Launch the video downloader, click the YouTube logo from the Popular Sites section that opens the YouTube website with the built-in browser;

Step 3 — Search your target video by entering the keywords into the search box like you usually do on your own browser, pick out the one you prefer from the search results, and play it;

Step 4 — When the video starts to buffer or load, a giant black Download button shall appear at the upper left corner of the browser, click on that button, then at the next window, click on the Video tab to choose the quality level you want, like 8K UHD, 4K UHD, 1080p, 720p, etc., and last click on the Download button at the middle bottom of this window to start download the video.

Additional tips: By default, all the downloaded YouTube videos will saved as MP4 format that is universally playable on virtually any video playback device.

Step 5 — To check the real-time download progress, click the Downloading tab at the left pane. When the download completes, you shoudl be able locate the dowanloaded YouTube videos at Local Files > Video, right-click on the video thumbnail and click the "open containing folder" to locate the downloaded YouTube video.

Now that we've mastered to download YouTube videos with the video downloader software, then it's time to jump to the next part where the video converter software will be used to convert the downloaded MP4 videos to AVI format, with DVDFab Video Converter. Refer to the guides below:

Step 1 — Download and install the latest DVDFab 12 on your computer. The download links are listed below for your convenience;

                                      i Free Download    i  Free Download   

Step 2 — Launch DVDFab 12, navigate to the Converter module from the top menu bar, and load the YouTube MP4 videos you've just downloaded with the video downloader software, using the big + button at the center of the interface;

Step 3 — Once the YouTube video is loaded, click the "Choose Other Profile" option from the profile selection box which shall take you to the built-in Profile Library, where you are supposed to select the AVI format. To do that, move to Format > Video, tick the General radio button, and then choose the AVI conversion profile;

Step 4 — When back at the main interface, click on the Wrench icon that opens the Advanced Settings window, where you can reset a lot of parameter settings. Be noted this panel is not recommended if you are not a video editing pro who knows exactly all the values mean.

Step 5 — When done at the Advanced Settings panel, click the Pencil icon right behind the Wrench icon that opens the Video Edit window, where you are free to further polish your videos, such as trimming, cropping, adding background music, adding opener and closing credits, watermark, and even external subtitles, and more. When all are done, return to the main interface;

Step 6 — Click the Start button to convert the MP4 video to AVI format. 

Compared with the video downloader software that lets you easily download videos from YouTube, the video converter software however, can either be simple or professional & complicated to master, depending on your own video editing skill, experience and your specific need. Usually, for common users, it is not necessary to apply step 4 and 5, but for Pro guys, that's all up to you!  

Conclusion

There are many ways to convert a video from YouTube to AVI format, some of which are better than others. While all the examples we talked about today have their own merits, the basic tools are not exactly ideal because of the ads and limited functionality in certain departments. If you want a smooth experience, we recommend the video downloader software and the video converter tool found within DVDFab 12 as they were designed with user satisfaction in mind and are faster and more efficient than any of the basic tools.