Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated: June 25, 2026

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") defines the rules and guidelines for using the VideoDL Service. This policy is an integral part of our Terms of Use. Violation of this policy may result in suspension or termination of your account.

1. General Principles

VideoDL is designed to enable lawful access to publicly available YouTube content for legitimate purposes such as AI/ML training, academic research, and data analytics. All use of the Service must comply with applicable laws and respect the rights of content creators and third parties.

2. Service Limits

The following limits apply to all VideoDL accounts unless otherwise agreed in writing. These caps protect platform stability and ensure fair availability for all users. Most limits can be expanded for paying customers, please contact us to discuss higher allowances.

2.1 Per-video limits

• Default video quality: 4K. Higher resolutions (such as 8K) may be enabled on request.
• Maximum video length: 30 hours per video by default. Longer videos may be approved on request.
• Maximum video file size: 100 GB by default. Larger files may be approved on request.
• Maximum audio file size: 5 GB by default. Larger files may be approved on request.
• Maximum download time per video: 6 hours of processing per video, after which the job is marked as failed.
• Live streams: we do not download live streams that have not yet ended; in-progress live streams are skipped.

2.2 Credit validity

• Bulk credits: Valid for 90 days from the date of purchase; any credits not used within 90 days expire and are forfeited. High priority and dedicated resources apply only while a bulk order is actively processing, once the order is complete, remaining credits are processed at standard priority. Credits are tied to your account.
• Monthly API plans: Included video quota resets every billing cycle. Unused monthly credits do not roll over.
• Enterprise contracts: Validity, rollover, and forfeiture rules are defined in your individual contract.

2.3 Free trial

• Eligibility: One free trial per verified user. Verification requires a unique, working email address; we may require additional verification (phone, captcha, or browser fingerprint) at our discretion.
• Trial duration: Free trial credits expire 2 days after activation if unused.
• Quantity: 100 video downloads per trial.
• Anti-fraud: Multiple sign-ups by the same person, household, IP, or organization may be detected and disqualified. We reserve the right to revoke trials we believe are duplicative or fraudulent.
• No commercial resale: Trial output may be used to evaluate the Service, but may not be resold or redistributed as a commercial product.

2.4 Enterprise & high-volume

• "Need more?" plans are scoped to a written contract that defines volume, rate limits, and pricing.
• The marketing terms "custom volume" and "volume-based pricing" are not open-ended commitments, they refer to volume tiers negotiated and documented per contract.
• The Service is provided on a best-effort basis. We do not commit to any specific uptime or availability level.

2.5 Fair-use clause

Even where a feature is described as expanded or "no per-GB charge," we reserve the right to enforce reasonable fair-use limits if a single account's usage materially exceeds typical patterns for its plan tier. We will contact you before throttling or suspending, except where immediate action is needed to protect platform integrity for other users.

3. Publicly Available Content Only (Bulk Download & API)

Our bulk download and API services are designed to process only publicly available content, content that is freely accessible to any internet user without authentication, subscription, or payment. With these services you may not:

• Attempt to download private or unlisted YouTube videos.
• Circumvent age-restrictions, geographic restrictions, or other access controls.
• Access content that requires a YouTube Premium subscription or other paid access.
• Bypass any technological protection measures.

Exception, Video Migrations. The migration service moves your own content between platforms you control (for example, from Skool to Teachable). It is the only service through which we access gated or login-protected content, and only because you authorize it: you must own the content or have the rights holder's permission, and you grant us access to your source account so we can transfer your content. You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to migrate the content you ask us to move.

4. Respect for Intellectual Property

You must respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. This means:

• No unauthorized redistribution: Do not re-upload, publicly share, or commercially redistribute downloaded content unless you have appropriate rights or a valid legal basis (such as fair use for research).
• Honor creator requests: If a content creator contacts you directly about their content, respond in good faith.
• Attribute when appropriate: When using downloaded content in research or publications, provide appropriate attribution to the original creators.
• Respect licenses: Check whether content is published under a Creative Commons or other license, and comply with its terms.

5. Permitted Use Cases

The following are examples of acceptable uses of the Service:

• Building training datasets for machine learning and AI models (computer vision, NLP, speech recognition, multimodal models).
• Academic and scientific research involving publicly available video content.
• Content analysis and market research using metadata and transcripts.
• Archival and preservation of publicly available content for legitimate institutional purposes.
• Accessibility improvements (e.g., generating captions, transcripts, or audio descriptions).
• Internal business analytics using publicly available data.

6. Prohibited Use Cases

The following uses are strictly prohibited:

• Piracy and unauthorized distribution: Downloading content for the purpose of creating a competing video platform, mirror site, or unauthorized streaming service.
• Commercial resale of content: Selling downloaded videos or audio as standalone products.
• Harassment and abuse: Downloading content to harass, stalk, doxx, or intimidate individuals.
• Deepfakes and manipulation: Using downloaded content to create non-consensual deepfakes, misleading manipulated media, or content that impersonates individuals.
• Surveillance: Systematic downloading and analysis of specific individuals' content for surveillance or tracking purposes without a lawful basis.
• Spam and abuse: Using downloaded content to generate spam, misleading content, or SEO manipulation materials.
• Illegal purposes: Any use that violates applicable local, state, national, or international law.

7. Rate Limits and Fair Usage

• Respect the rate limits and quotas associated with your plan.
• Do not attempt to circumvent rate limits through multiple accounts or other means.
• Do not engage in patterns of usage designed to degrade service for other users.
• We reserve the right to throttle or suspend accounts that exhibit abusive usage patterns.

8. Data Protection

• If your use of downloaded content involves processing personal data (e.g., faces, voices, or identifying information in videos), you must comply with applicable data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.).
• You are responsible for conducting any required data protection impact assessments.
• If you process personal data from downloaded content, you must have a valid legal basis for doing so.

9. Security

• Keep your API keys secure and do not share them publicly.
• Do not attempt to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of our systems.
• Do not attempt to gain unauthorized access to our systems, other users' accounts, or data.
• Report any security vulnerabilities to security@videodl.app.

10. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of any use of the Service that violates this policy, please report it to abuse@videodl.app. We investigate all reports and take appropriate action.

11. Enforcement

We may take the following actions in response to violations of this policy:

• Warning: For first-time or minor violations, we may issue a warning.
• Throttling: Temporary reduction of your API rate limits.
• Suspension: Temporary suspension of your account pending investigation.
• Termination: Permanent termination of your account for serious or repeated violations.
• Legal action: In cases of severe abuse, we may pursue legal remedies.

The severity of our response will be proportional to the nature and severity of the violation. We will make reasonable efforts to contact you before taking action, except in cases where immediate action is necessary to prevent harm.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this AUP from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or a notice on our website. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

For questions about this policy:

• Email: legal@videodl.app
• Abuse reports: abuse@videodl.app