{"id":164,"date":"2026-08-18T08:50:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/how-to-download-youtube-shorts\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T08:50:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:50:50","slug":"how-to-download-youtube-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/how-to-download-youtube-shorts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Download YouTube Shorts (Save Them to Your Phone or PC)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"article-intro wp-block-paragraph\">YouTube Shorts don&#8217;t come with an obvious download button, which leads a lot of people to assume they need some special &#8220;Shorts downloader&#8221; that&#8217;s different from a regular YouTube downloader. They don&#8217;t. A Short is a YouTube video \u2014 same servers, same hosting, same underlying video files \u2014 just displayed in a vertical, swipeable feed instead of the standard watch page. Here&#8217;s how to actually save one, and what&#8217;s true (and not true) about using a normal YouTube downloader for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shorts Are YouTube Videos, Not a Separate Platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The difference between a Short and a regular upload is presentation, not infrastructure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Shorts are capped at 3 minutes, shot or cropped to a vertical 9:16 aspect ratio, and surfaced in the dedicated Shorts feed and shelf<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Every Short still gets a normal YouTube video ID and lives on the same video-serving backend as a landscape upload \u2014 the <code>\/shorts\/&lt;video-id&gt;<\/code> link is just a different URL path pointing at the same underlying video<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can usually open a Short&#8217;s <code>\/shorts\/&lt;id&gt;<\/code> link and it resolves the same content a <code>\/watch?v=&lt;id&gt;<\/code> link would \u2014 YouTube has, at various points, redirected one to the other for the same video<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This matters practically: any download method built to fetch a YouTube video by its video ID doesn&#8217;t need special &#8220;Shorts support&#8221; as a separate feature \u2014 it just needs to accept the URL and pull the video the same way it would for any other upload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does AllMediaTools&#8217; YouTube Downloader Work on Shorts Links?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We checked this directly rather than assume. The <a href=\"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/youtube-downloader\">AllMediaTools YouTube Downloader<\/a> validates that a submitted link belongs to a YouTube domain (<code>youtube.com<\/code> or <code>youtu.be<\/code>) \u2014 it does not restrict the link to a specific URL path like <code>\/watch<\/code>. The download itself is handled by <code>yt-dlp<\/code>, the widely-used open-source download library that treats <code>\/shorts\/&lt;id&gt;<\/code> links as standard YouTube videos (this has been supported behavior in yt-dlp for a long time, since a Short is just a video with a different URL shape).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Put plainly: <strong>pasting a <code>youtube.com\/shorts\/...<\/code> link into the same downloader you&#8217;d use for a normal YouTube video should work exactly the same way<\/strong>, because nothing in the tool singles Shorts out for different \u2014 or restricted \u2014 handling. We&#8217;re stating this based on how the tool is actually built rather than a marketing claim, and if you hit an edge case where a specific Short doesn&#8217;t process (this can occasionally happen with region-locked or age-restricted content, which affects regular videos too), that&#8217;s a content-level restriction, not a &#8220;Shorts aren&#8217;t supported&#8221; limitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Download a YouTube Short Step-by-Step<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Open the Short in the YouTube app or on youtube.com.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tap or click the <strong>Share<\/strong> button, then <strong>Copy link<\/strong>. You&#8217;ll get a link that looks like <code>https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/AbCdEfGhIjK<\/code>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/youtube-downloader\">AllMediaTools YouTube Downloader<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paste the link in.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose your format and quality (Shorts are typically available up to 1080\u00d71920 \u2014 see the note below on vertical resolution).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Download the file to your phone or computer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/youtube-downloader\">Download YouTube Shorts Free \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On Mobile vs Desktop<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The steps are identical either way \u2014 the only difference is where the downloaded file lands. On a phone, it usually saves to your Downloads folder or Photos, depending on your browser settings. On desktop, it goes to your browser&#8217;s default download location. If you&#8217;re downloading from your phone specifically to repost or edit later, make sure your browser (not just the YouTube app) has permission to save files, since some mobile browsers block downloads by default until you allow it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common Reasons a Shorts Download Might Fail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If a specific link doesn&#8217;t process, it&#8217;s almost always one of the following \u2014 none of which are specific to Shorts as a format:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Age-restricted content.<\/strong> Some videos require sign-in to view on YouTube itself, which can also block third-party downloading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Region-locked content.<\/strong> A Short available in one country may be blocked in another due to licensing, the same way a regular video can be<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The uploader disabled embedding\/downloading.<\/strong> Some creators restrict how their content can be pulled by third-party tools, and that setting applies equally whether the video is a Short or a regular upload<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A broken or shortened link.<\/strong> Make sure you copied the actual <code>youtube.com\/shorts\/...<\/code> or <code>youtu.be\/...<\/code> link rather than a redirect from another app (some social apps wrap links in their own tracking redirect, which can confuse a downloader)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you hit one of these, it&#8217;s a content-level restriction from YouTube or the uploader \u2014 not a sign that Shorts as a category don&#8217;t work with the tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Format and Quality to Choose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shorts are vertical (9:16), so the resolution numbers look a little different from a typical landscape video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Common Shorts resolution<\/th><th>Equivalent landscape resolution<\/th><th>Notes<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>1080\u00d71920<\/td><td>1920\u00d71080<\/td><td>Full HD, best available quality for most Shorts<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>720\u00d71280<\/td><td>1280\u00d7720<\/td><td>Smaller file, fine for casual reposting<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>480\u00d7854<\/td><td>854\u00d7480<\/td><td>Only worth it for very limited storage\/bandwidth<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MP4 is the safe default format \u2014 it plays natively on essentially every phone, editor, and social platform without a conversion step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is Downloading YouTube Shorts Legal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same rules that apply to downloading any YouTube video apply here \u2014 see <a href=\"\/blog\/is-downloading-youtube-videos-legal\">the legal side of downloading YouTube videos<\/a> for the full breakdown. In short: downloading for personal offline viewing is low-risk in most places, but reposting someone else&#8217;s Short as your own without permission or credit is a different matter, both under YouTube&#8217;s terms and under copyright law generally. Downloading your own uploaded Shorts is always fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to Do Next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grab the Share link from the Short you want and paste it into <a href=\"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/youtube-downloader\">AllMediaTools YouTube Downloader<\/a> \u2014 the same tool works for regular videos too.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Want a whole batch instead of one clip? See our guide on <a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-download-youtube-playlist\">downloading a full YouTube playlist<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only need the audio \u2014 a sound bite, a song snippet, a voiceover? <a href=\"\/blog\/best-youtube-to-mp3-converters-2025\">Pulling just the audio instead<\/a> skips the video entirely.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Before reposting anything you didn&#8217;t create yourself, double check <a href=\"\/blog\/is-downloading-youtube-videos-legal\">the legal side of downloading YouTube videos<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do I need a different tool to download YouTube Shorts than regular videos?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. A Short is a standard YouTube video displayed in a vertical feed \u2014 the same downloader that handles a normal YouTube link handles a Shorts link, since both point to the same underlying video-hosting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why won&#8217;t a specific Short download?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most common causes are the same ones that affect any YouTube video: age restriction, regional blocking, or the uploader disabling downloads\/embedding for that specific video. It&#8217;s rarely a &#8220;Shorts aren&#8217;t supported&#8221; issue specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What resolution do YouTube Shorts download at?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most Shorts are available up to 1080\u00d71920 (Full HD, vertical). Lower resolutions like 720\u00d71280 are also usually available if you want a smaller file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can I download a Short directly from the YouTube app?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">YouTube&#8217;s own app doesn&#8217;t offer a permanent-file download for most users outside of YouTube Premium&#8217;s offline viewing feature (which keeps the video inside the YouTube app, not as a standalone file you can move elsewhere). To get an actual video file, you need a separate downloader tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is it legal to repost a Short I downloaded?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only if you have permission from the original creator, or the content is your own. Downloading for personal, private viewing is a much lower-risk use than reposting \u2014 see <a href=\"\/blog\/is-downloading-youtube-videos-legal\">the legal side of downloading YouTube videos<\/a> for the full picture.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YouTube Shorts don&#8217;t come with an obvious download button, which leads a lot of people to assume they need some special &#8220;Shorts downloader&#8221; that&#8217;s different from a regular YouTube downloader. They don&#8217;t. A Short is a YouTube video \u2014 same servers, same hosting, same underlying video files \u2014 just displayed in a vertical, swipeable feed &#8230; <a title=\"How to Download YouTube Shorts (Save Them to Your Phone or PC)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/how-to-download-youtube-shorts\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Download YouTube Shorts (Save Them to Your Phone or PC)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[358,362,360,359,361],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downloaders","tag-download-youtube-shorts","tag-how-to-save-a-youtube-short","tag-save-youtube-shorts","tag-youtube-shorts-downloader","tag-youtube-shorts-to-mp4"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/seo-publish-how-to-download-youtube-shorts.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmediatools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}