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The Mac YouTube downloader that just works.

Paste a link, get your file. Fast, native, and free forever.

Install with Homebrew

brew install --cask eliorpom-cmd/tap/to-be-downloaded

Paste it in Terminal and press return.

Download the DMG

Open it and drag the app into your Applications folder.

Download

39 MB — macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon

A link is pasted into To be downloaded and the download fills the row until the file is saved.

A native Mac app.

It opens instantly, sits in the menu bar, follows your system theme, and a finished file can be dragged straight into your editor. It's written in Swift, not a web page in a wrapper.

The TBD menu bar item open on macOS, showing a download in progress above the desktop.

Nothing leaves your Mac.

The app downloads straight from YouTube to your disk. There is no account and no server in between: the settings window below is the whole of it, and there is nothing in it to sign in to.

The settings window of To be downloaded, with the download folder and the engine section, and no account of any kind.

A few more things...

Download from your phone

Scan the QR code to open {name} on your phone, over your own local network. Paste a link there and the file downloads on your phone, over your Mac.

Download a whole playlist

Select the videos you want from a playlist. The queue downloads them one at a time, in the background, while you work.

Resumes where it stopped

Closing the app mid-download or losing the connection doesn't restart the file. It continues from the same byte.

Plays anywhere, no conversion

MP4 (H.264 + AAC) by default, so files open in QuickTime and import into any editor. No conversion step, no codec to install.

Everything in one library

Every file you've saved, in a single list. Drag one into your editor, or click it to open directly in Finder.

A keyboard shortcut, from any app

Option-Command-V downloads whatever link is on your clipboard, without bringing the window forward.

Keeps working as YouTube changes

YouTube keeps changing how it serves video, and that's what breaks downloaders. The yt-dlp engine updates itself inside the app, so a link that worked last month still downloads today.

TBD vs. online downloaders

TBD compared with a website that downloads on your behalf
An online downloaderTBD
Where it runsSomeone else's serverYour Mac
What it costsAds or a subscriptionFree forever
Quality you getWhatever they'll give youEvery format YouTube offers
Download speedTheir bandwidth, sharedYour own connection

Free, forever.

The download runs on your Mac, so there are no servers to pay for. No account, no trial, and no paid tier planned.

The source code is on GitHub, so you can check for yourself what the app does with your links.

Elior, who writes To be downloaded.

I built it for myself.

I edit video, and most weeks I need something from YouTube: a sound effect, some music, a clip... And I like to have a few things to watch on a plane.

Download websites made me sit through an ad and a countdown, then handed me whatever quality they wanted to give me. Rarely the one I asked for.

yt-dlp does all of it properly, but it's a command line tool. Every download meant opening a terminal and remembering the flags.

So I built TBD.

Elior

To be downloaded, on your Mac.

One command, and the app is in your Applications folder.

Install with Homebrew

brew install --cask eliorpom-cmd/tap/to-be-downloaded

Paste it in Terminal and press return.

Download the DMG

Open it and drag the app into your Applications folder.

Download

39 MB — macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon

Common questions.

How much does it cost?

Nothing, and that won't change. There's a Ko-fi link in the app if it saves you time and you want to support me.

Which Macs can run it?

macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon. It isn't on the App Store, so it installs with one Homebrew command, or from a .dmg if you would rather not use Terminal.

Does it work with anything other than YouTube?

Currently focused purely on YouTube to ensure maximum reliability. Support for other platforms is planned.

Do I need to install anything first?

No. yt-dlp ships inside the app, and FFmpeg is fetched once on first launch, around 56 MB, with the app telling you while it happens. Nothing to set up in a terminal, nothing to keep updated by hand.

So it's a front end for yt-dlp?

Yes. yt-dlp is the best downloader available, and it's a command line tool. This is the interface it doesn't have, plus a library, a queue, and a way to drive it from your phone.

How does it update?

It checks for its own updates and for download engine updates, then installs them in the background. Both can be turned off in settings, and updating through Homebrew works too.

Is anything collected about me?

Not by the app: no account, no telemetry, no analytics, and nothing sent anywhere. Your library and your settings stay in your own Application Support folder. This website is the one place with any measurement at all, a cookieless page count that identifies nobody.

Anything else, ask on Instagram.

Supporters

12 months, all paid.

Apple wants 99$ a year to let me sign my apps, so I split the bill.

Each month was 9$, and all twelve are taken. The names are here and in the readme.

The account is covered for the year. Nothing left to lock, and nothing to buy on this page.

  1. September 2026

    @madscientist_ch

  2. October 2026

    @minimejer05

  3. November 2026

    @_sleepypanther

  4. December 2026

    @minimejer05

  5. January 2027

    @_sleepypanther

  6. February 2027

    @_sleepypanther

  7. March 2027

    @_sleepypanther

  8. April 2027

    @_sleepypanther

  9. May 2027

    @_sleepypanther

  10. June 2027

    @ljyjeffrey

  11. July 2027

    @ljyjeffrey

  12. August 2027

    @_sleepypanther
Buy me a coffee

All 12 months are taken. The year is paid.

Less than 9$ works too, it just doesnt take a month. Your name goes in the credits.

12 x 9 is 108 and not 99, the extra pays the payment fees.