Video Tools — Download for macOS, Windows & Linux

Download

Pick the installer for your operating system.

Your system

macOS

Apple silicon & Intel · .dmg

Coming soon

Your system

Windows

Windows 10 & 11, 64-bit · .zip

Coming soon

Your system

Linux

x86_64 · .tar.gz

Coming soon

⏳ Builds are on the way. The installers for all three platforms are being prepared and this page will go live with them. In the meantime the tools can be run from source — see the notes under Installing.

What it does

Three tabs in one window. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — every job runs locally with ffmpeg.

Download

Fetch a video at the highest resolution available. Cap the resolution if you want a smaller file, choose MP4 (H.264 + AAC, plays anywhere) or MKV for 1440p and 4K, and optionally split a long video into one file per chapter. Paste in several links, or a whole playlist, and they download one after another — including the …&list=… link you get by copying the address while a playlist video is playing, which brings in the whole list unless you untick Expand playlists.

Clip

Cut a segment out of a local file or straight from a link, giving start and end as HH:MM:SS, MM:SS or plain seconds. Re-encodes for a frame-exact cut, or copies the streams for a near-instant one.

Mix

Join clips one after another with optional crossfades, lay them out side by side in a grid, or blend them on top of each other — useful for comparisons and picture-in-picture.

Before you start

A few things worth knowing — they will save you a confused minute on first launch.

ffmpeg and yt-dlp are not bundled The app checks for both and offers to fetch them for you the first time a tab needs them — through Homebrew, apt, winget or pip where one of those is available, and otherwise by downloading the projects' own prebuilt binaries. Everything the app does is built on top of them.
The builds are not signed with a developer certificate macOS blocks the first launch with “Apple could not verify…”. On macOS 15 and later there is no right-click → Open bypass, so the Installing steps below clear the flag on the disk image before you install — one command, or a toggle in System Settings if you have already installed it. On Windows, SmartScreen shows a warning: click More info → Run anyway.
Nothing leaves your machine There is no account and no telemetry in the app, and files are read and written only where you tell it to. The one thing it sends is a daily check with GitHub for a newer version, which carries nothing about you and can be switched off under Help → Check for updates automatically.

Installing

Pick your platform.

Optional: install the two helpers yourself. If you skip this, the app offers to fetch them the first time a tab needs them: brew install ffmpeg yt-dlp
The app is not notarised by Apple, so macOS flags the download and blocks the first launch. Clear that flag on the .dmg before you install, and nothing it contains inherits it: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/video-tools-*-macos.dmg
Open the .dmg and drag Video Tools onto the Applications folder next to it. It now opens normally. You can eject the disk image afterwards.
Already dragged it across first? Then clear the flag through System Settings instead: try to open the app, click Done, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and click Open Anyway. Running the command above against the copy in /Applications will not work — macOS protects installed apps from being modified, and answers Operation not permitted even under sudo.

Optional: install the two helpers yourself. If you skip this, the app offers to fetch them the first time a tab needs them: winget install Gyan.FFmpeg yt-dlp.yt-dlp
Download the .zip. Before extracting, right-click it, choose Properties and tick Unblock — otherwise Windows marks everything inside it as came-from-the-internet. Then extract it anywhere; there is no installer to run.
Launch video-tools.exe. If SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway.

Optional: install the two helpers yourself. If you skip this, the app offers to fetch them the first time a tab needs them: sudo apt install ffmpeg pip install --upgrade yt-dlp
Download the .tar.gz and unpack it: tar -xzf video-tools-*-linux.tar.gz
Run the video-tools binary inside. Optionally copy the bundled .desktop file into ~/.local/share/applications/ to get a launcher entry.

Terms of use

Short, and worth reading before you install.

What you download is your decision and your responsibility This is a tool, in the way a browser or a video editor is a tool. It does not choose what you point it at, and it cannot tell whether you are allowed to keep what comes back. That judgement is yours. It does not unlock paid, private or DRM-protected material, and it must not be used to try.
Check the terms of the service you download from YouTube's terms allow downloading only where YouTube itself provides for it, and separately prohibit reaching the service by automated means. Using any third-party downloader, this one included, runs against those terms, and that is a matter between you and YouTube — which may act on your account over it. Other sites set their own rules; read them.
Copyright stays with the people who made the video Saving, clipping, mixing or re-publishing someone else's work without permission can infringe their rights whatever a site's terms say. Most countries allow narrow exceptions — your own material, material you are licensed to use, and limited allowances such as fair dealing or fair use — but these differ from country to country and are narrower than people assume. If you are unsure whether your use fits, treat it as though it does not.
Provided as is, with no warranty The app is free, released under the MIT licence, and comes with no warranty of any kind. The author accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from its use — lost or damaged files included — or for any claim made against you over material you chose to download or publish.
Built on other people's software Downloading is done by yt-dlp and the audio and video handling by ffmpeg, each an independent project under its own licence and its own terms. Video Tools is a personal project, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to YouTube, Google, or either of those projects.