Why YouTube downloads stop around 360p
YouTube serves a complete MP4 — picture and sound in one file — only at modest resolutions. Everything above that is stored as separate streams that have to be merged, and this tool does not merge.
This is the most common surprise on the YouTube page, so it is worth stating first: the ceiling is normally 360p, sometimes 240p, and it is not a setting that can be turned up. The downloader offers the progressive MP4 that YouTube publishes as one file. A 1080p rendition exists on YouTube's side, but not as a single file.
Muxed and adaptive are two different things
YouTube stores each video in two shapes. The muxed formats carry picture and sound together in one MP4 — a file you can save and play anywhere. Adaptive formats split them: a video-only stream and a separate audio-only stream, each encoded at whatever bitrate YouTube chose for that resolution.
Playing 1080p in a browser is easy, because the player fetches both streams and joins them on the fly. Saving 1080p as one file is a different job: something has to merge the tracks. This downloader does not carry a muxer, so it lists only the muxed formats — and, increasingly, YouTube serves those at 360p and below. The 720p muxed format that used to exist is no longer handed to anonymous clients.
What the resolver does
- It asks YouTube's player endpoint with a ladder of official client identities, from the Android client to the embedded web player.
- It keeps only muxed MP4 entries, deduplicated by their format id.
- It labels each row with YouTube's own quality label, falling back to the frame height.
- If the player refuses, an oEmbed probe still tells it whether the video exists, so a deleted video is not mistaken for a blocked one.
The client ladder is why a video that fails on one attempt can succeed on the next: different clients are offered different formats, and YouTube changes which ones are available over time.
Why the link opens in a new tab
Video bytes come from googlevideo.com, which sends no CORS headers. The page cannot read them, so the download button navigates to the link instead — your browser saves the file directly from Google's CDN. Two details make that navigation behave: the resolver appends a title parameter to the URL, which makes Google's server answer with content-disposition: attachment so the file saves rather than plays in the tab.
Why nothing is cached
Every other platform's result is cached for a couple of minutes or more. YouTube's is never cached, deliberately: googlevideo.com links are tied to the address that asked for them and expire quickly. A cached link would look like a download button and fail like a dead link, so the resolver asks YouTube fresh every time.
What is not supported
| Case | Result |
|---|---|
| Public video | Resolved; the muxed MP4 formats YouTube offers. |
| Private, members-only, age-restricted | private — the resolver never signs in. |
| Deleted or removed video | not_found. |
| Live stream in progress | No muxed file exists while the stream is running. |
| Shorts | Work like any other video, with the same resolution ceiling. |
The short version
- Only the muxed MP4 is offered, which is normally 360p.
- Higher resolutions need separate video and audio streams merged; this tool does not merge them.
- Nothing is re-encoded, watermarked or kept.
- Links are never cached, because they are tied to your address and expire.
- Public videos only — private and age-restricted videos stay blocked.
Questions
Can this download 1080p from YouTube?
No. YouTube keeps 1080p as separate video-only and audio-only streams, and this tool does not merge them. It offers the muxed MP4 YouTube publishes as a single file, which is normally 360p.
Why does the video open in a new tab instead of downloading in the page?
Because `googlevideo.com` sends no CORS headers, so the page cannot read the bytes. The link carries a title parameter that makes Google answer with `content-disposition: attachment`, so your browser saves the file rather than playing it.
Why does the same link sometimes list different qualities?
The resolver asks YouTube through several official client identities, and they are not offered the same formats. Pulling the link again after a moment can change the list.