YouTube video saving — Input checklist

Worked example

Paste one public YouTube video link, not a playlist, channel or live stream, and check the preview before you prepare a file.

Before you paste anything, make sure the address points to one finished, public YouTube video: a watch?v= link, a youtu.be link, a Shorts link or a clip link. Chatcument checks the format as you type and tells you when the link belongs to another platform, a channel page, a playlist or a live stream.

Picture a teacher who wants an offline copy of a lecture her school uploaded last term. She copies the address while the video is playing inside a playlist, so it ends in &list=..., and the tool refuses it because playlists and live streams are not supported. The fix is to open the single video on its own page, or use the Share button, and paste that shorter link. For watch links Chatcument keeps only the video ID and drops tracking extras.

The link must be HTTPS, with no port number and no embedded login. Private, members-only or sign-in-only videos are outside this public workflow, and so is a stream that has not ended yet; wait until the replay becomes an ordinary video.

After the link is accepted, a preview appears following a short pause with the title, thumbnail, running time and frame size. Compare those with the original page: a 12:40 lecture should not preview as 0:45, and a 1920 × 1080 upload should not show a tiny frame. The box confirming that you own the media or have permission to save it must be ticked before a file can be prepared, so settle that question first.

A quick test before you start: open the same link in a private browser window. If it plays without signing in, the preview will usually work; if it asks you to log in or confirm your age, expect the preview to fail.

Your public YouTube video URL

Available media option; no fixed quality promise

Only public single videos and Shorts are accepted; playlists, live streams, channel pages and sign-in-only videos are rejected.