How to Download YouTube Shorts on Any Device (2026 Guide)

YouTube Shorts are designed to be watched in an endless feed. Not saved. There is no official download button for other people's Shorts, and the ones YouTube Premium offers stay locked inside the app. But a Short is just a normal video in a vertical frame, which means a web downloader can save it as a regular MP4 that you keep forever. Here is how, on every device.

The universal method (works on everything)

1. Get the link. On the Short, tap Share → Copy link. On desktop, copy the URL from the address bar, it looks like youtube.com/shorts/XXXXXXXX.
2. Open the YouTube Shorts downloader. It runs in the browser, nothing to install on any platform.
3. Paste the link and press Download. The tool reads the Short in a couple of seconds and shows the available qualities with real file sizes.
4. Pick MP4 quality (Shorts are typically available up to 1080p) and wait for the live progress bar. The file saves automatically.

The result is a clean vertical MP4no watermark, no app branding, original quality.

On iPhone

Use Safari. It has the smoothest download flow on iOS.

1. Copy the Short link from the YouTube app (Share → Copy link).
2. Open the Shorts downloader in Safari, paste, and download.
3. Safari shows a download arrow in the toolbar; the file lands in the Files app → Downloads folder.
4. To get it into your Photos library: open Files, long-press the video, tap Share → Save Video.

If nothing seems to happen after the progress bar completes, check Safari's download list (the arrow icon, top right), iOS sometimes downloads silently.

On Android

Any browser works, Chrome included.

1. Copy the link from the YouTube app.
2. Paste it into the downloader and pick your quality.
3. The MP4 lands in your Downloads folder and appears in your gallery automatically on most phones.

If the gallery does not show it, open the Files app and move the video into the DCIM or Movies folder, or just play it directly from Downloads.

On Windows and Mac

Desktop is the easiest: copy the URL from the address bar, paste it into the downloader, choose quality, done. The file goes to your regular Downloads folder. Because you are on a big screen, this is also the best place to grab several Shorts in a row, the tool caches lookups, so repeat conversions are quick.

Want just the audio of a Short?

Plenty of Shorts are music clips or spoken snippets. Instead of saving the video and extracting sound later, paste the same link into the YouTube to MP3 converter and choose a bitrate. You get a small, clean audio file in one step.

Common snags and quick fixes

Problem	Cause	Fix
Link will not paste properly	App share links sometimes add tracking text	Delete everything except the URL itself
Download button does nothing on iPhone	Chrome on iOS handles downloads awkwardly	Use Safari instead
Quality tops out at 720p	The creator uploaded at 720p	Nothing to fix. That is the source quality
Video saves without sound	Player/codec quirk on the device	See our no-sound fix guide
Short will not download at all	Private, age-restricted or region-locked	See why downloads fail

A note on reposting

Downloading a Short for offline viewing is one thing; re-uploading someone else's Short as your own content is another. That is straightforward copyright infringement and gets channels struck. If you want to feature someone's Short, use YouTube's built-in remix/attribution tools, or get permission. Save your own Shorts freely. It is the best way to keep master copies of your content. More on the rules in our legality explainer.