What SW/tools do you use to download audio files out of YOUTUBE videos?

[pavuol]

I'd like to ask you folks for some tips how to easily download and extract original audio tracks out of Youtube videos.

requirements:
- freeware, ideally open source/GPL
- standalone software for Windows or plugin for Firefox, Chrome, etc.
- ideally support for batch/background download, easy to use - just copy/paste links..
- one time setting for audio output, without re-encoding of course
- without subscription for YT music service

I have used FreeRapid for a long time which is basically a download manager for videos supporting great number of sites. It has an option to extract audio only out of YT, but it doesn't work with all links (age restricted videos, older codecs videos..) so I'd like to have some alternative.
I'd like to download mostly live recordings which are mostly unpublished in a "tradional way" for physical or digital distribution.

Thank you for suggestions.

 

[Katji]

Video Download Helper (Firefox add-on) (+ Windows app for videos that...are not MP4 or involve some conversion. If conversion, then you get a holo/barcode thing in the corner unless registered/paid.)

It works well, better than others I had - most of them eventually stop working, when Youtube changes something, or Firefox changes something. Sometimes - rarely - it's not so good, for some reason takes multiple streams [or parts of streams] and then assembles them, and it takes long.

Sometimes you get a dialog for you to choose either browser download or Video DownloadHelper - the app, then you get a tab for selecting the download folder.

This is typical with Youtube...




The items that just show MP4 are not good, sometimes they are ads.
In this example, you want ADP - 1280x720.

 

[digitalfrost]

https://jdownloader.org/

 

[Katji]

PS: Sorry, I didn't notice you want just the audio. ...Then I just extract it from the audio, later - very rarely.

 

[LTig]

I use youtube-dl on the command line. First I check which streams are available:
youtube-dl -F https://youtube.com/...
lists all streams with a number in front. Then I choose the audio stream and load it down with:
youtube-dl -f<number> https://youtube.com/...

See this example (without the https in from of the URL, to prevent the forum software to create a MEDIA entry):

PROMPT: youtube-dl -F www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuldgIR02dY
[youtube] XuldgIR02dY: Downloading webpage
[info] Available formats for XuldgIR02dY:
format code extension resolution note
249 webm audio only tiny 60k , opus @ 50k (48000Hz), 7.70MiB
250 webm audio only tiny 79k , opus @ 70k (48000Hz), 10.22MiB
140 m4a audio only tiny 131k , m4a_dash container, mp4a.40.2@128k (44100Hz), 18.27MiB
251 webm audio only tiny 156k , opus @160k (48000Hz), 20.14MiB
160 mp4 256x144 144p 57k , avc1.4d400c, 24fps, video only, 4.40MiB
278 webm 256x144 144p 96k , webm container, vp9, 24fps, video only, 10.41MiB
133 mp4 426x240 240p 107k , avc1.4d4015, 24fps, video only, 7.73MiB
242 webm 426x240 240p 169k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 11.24MiB
134 mp4 640x360 360p 277k , avc1.4d401e, 24fps, video only, 18.19MiB
243 webm 640x360 360p 336k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 20.49MiB
135 mp4 854x480 480p 555k , avc1.4d401e, 24fps, video only, 35.08MiB
244 webm 854x480 480p 586k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 34.20MiB
136 mp4 1280x720 720p 1068k , avc1.4d401f, 24fps, video only, 66.73MiB
247 webm 1280x720 720p 1247k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 68.15MiB
137 mp4 1920x1080 1080p 1950k , avc1.640028, 24fps, video only, 121.39MiB
248 webm 1920x1080 1080p 2285k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 123.39MiB
271 webm 2560x1440 1440p 5020k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 273.76MiB
313 webm 3840x2160 2160p 13790k , vp9, 24fps, video only, 857.41MiB
18 mp4 640x360 360p 362k , avc1.42001E, 24fps, mp4a.40.2@ 96k (44100Hz), 51.23MiB (best)

The first 4 streams are audio only, so if I chose to download m4a I enter:
PROMPT: youtube-dl -f140 www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuldgIR02dY
[youtube] XuldgIR02dY: Downloading webpage
[download] Destination: Anastasia Huppmann plays Beethoven Piano Sonata No 8 in C minor Op 13 Pathetique-XuldgIR02dY.m4a
[download] 100% of 18.27MiB in 00:02
[ffmpeg] Correcting container in "Anastasia Huppmann plays Beethoven Piano Sonata No 8 in C minor Op 13 Pathetique-XuldgIR02dY.m4a"

 

[LTig]

On my android smartphone I use the TubeMate app.

 

[abdo123]

@amirm @BDWoody Is Piracy and intellectual property infringement tolerated in the forum?

 

[Vini darko]

This is the one I use on android. Gives option to download in 320kb. Only fly in the ointment is can refuse copyright stuff on occasion.
https://www.y2mate.com/youtube-mp3/QQDAhvj8TV0
Edit: as with most free sites there's sex adds and occasional redirects. So you just have to put up with that.

 

[sweetchaos]

My 2 cents:
- Downloading videos for your own archival purposes (in case YouTube takes down the video, which they often do...) with freely available tools is not piracy.
- Distributing this downloaded content to others with the intent of making money is piracy.
- Downloading a torrent music album, made by someone who's ripped the CD, is piracy.
- Is listening to tracks on Youtube or Spotify (free tier) considered piracy? You're not paying to the author directly, but you're listening for free. IMO, it's not piracy.

@pavuol stated his non-malicious intent:
"I'd like to download mostly live recordings which are mostly unpublished in a "tradional way" for physical or digital distribution."

Interesting topic, but deserves it's own thread.

 

[Vini darko]

My 2 cents:
- Downloading videos for your own archival purposes (in case YouTube takes down the video, which they often do...) with freely available tools is not piracy.
- Distributing this downloaded content to others with the intent of making money is piracy.
- Downloading a torrent music album, made by someone who's ripped the CD, is piracy.
- Is listening to tracks on Youtube or Spotify (free tier) considered piracy? You're not paying to the author directly, but you're listening for free. IMO, it's not piracy.

@pavuol stated his non-malicious intent:
"I'd like to download mostly live recordings which are mostly unpublished in a "tradional way" for physical or digital distribution."

Interesting topic, but deserves it's own thread.

Agreed these free downloader sites are allowed to operate because they block copyright claim content from being downloaded. I encounter this with soundcloud downloader occasionally too.

 

[MZKM]

I noticed a while ago that some downloaders no longer work for music/music videos (but work for everything else), I wonder what YouTube does to make this happen; but that is something to take note of.

 

[frogmeat69]

@amirm @BDWoody Is Piracy and intellectual property infringement tolerated in the forum?

 

[BillG]

This works very well:

https://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

 

[pavuol]

PS: Sorry, I didn't notice you want just the audio. ...Then I just extract it from the audio, later - very rarely.

No problem, thanks for effort anyway. So, what tool for extraction do you use than?

I use youtube-dl on the command line.

Yes, I've seen this mentioned here. I was just looking for a "more convenient / graphical UI" app but nice to have this "poweruser" utility as an option as well. I'll try it and maybe stick to it, who knows..

This is the one I use on android. Gives option to download in 320kb. Only fly in the ointment is can refuse copyright stuff on occasion.
https://www.y2mate.com/youtube-mp3/QQDAhvj8TV0
Edit: as with most free sites there's sex adds and occasional redirects. So you just have to put up with that.

That's pretty outside my requirements (online tool + conversion). Emergency use case with me..

As to "Piracy and intellectual property infringement" issue. Yes, this thread question being potential controversy trigger, maybe I should have further explain in the initial post:
- strict personal use intention (for archival / offline listening on a phone.. I'm a weirdo without cellular data subscription, even though 5G available in my area already)
- no plans for selling or distributing of the downloaded content
- yes I understand potentially illegal content on YT (individuals uploading whole albums which get deleted by YT authorities), but I was asking just for a tool, personal judgement of what to download and how to not misuse the tools is probably for another discussion (FB as "just a tool" + fake news analogy..)
- in my use case I see more of an "ethical" issue, in which case if I or someone else download audio portion of a live music performance and don't need visuals there's a big chance an artist/performer and live session site/provider won't get my "two microcents" for my further clicks.. this issue may be resolved by direct donation maybe, if one really feels something is worth supporting.

 

[digitalfrost]

I was just looking for a "more convenient / graphical UI" app but nice to have this "poweruser" utility as an option as well. I'll try it and maybe stick to it, who knows..

The JDownloader I posted allows you to only download the audio portion and it has a GUI...

 

[gvl]

Another power tool is ffmpeg. The learning curve can be a bit steep but there are plenty of examples out there. It needs a URL to an actual video stream or you can use a previously downloaded video file, you can then extract audio tracks with it.

 

[Katji]

I use youtube-dl on the command line. First I check which streams are available:
youtube-dl -F https://youtube.com/...
lists all streams with a number in front. Then I choose the audio stream and load it down with:
youtube-dl -f<number> https://youtube.com/...
[...]

Excellent! Awesome!
I had to google it... [btw, there is a Google Q&A referring to DCRM.]
Sometimes nice to have command-line, and read basic doc. instead of what someone did with GUI Preferences /etc.

See this example (without the https in from of the URL, to prevent the forum software to create a MEDIA entry ):

Yes. Thanks for the tip. Automatically doing what the menu option [Insert..] does. I was thinking about it yesterday - I have a text template I use for the "Now Playing" thread on a SimpleMachines forum, which doesn't support embedded media...then if I want to post it here or another XenForo forum, copy-paste doesn't work, it duplicates. :-s
And afaik it doesn't let me control the [Soundcloud] embedded format anyway.

 

[L5730]

Chrome or Firefox has developer tools.
Reload the video page with that open, and look at the network tab. Search for audio media, and copy the URL.
Edit the URL to remove the "&range=####-####" part.
Paste edited URL into another tab, download audio file, which I think is a mp4a opus (ogg or aac) stream.

 

[NicoleCc]

If you want to download audio or video from YouTube, this one tool should be your best choice.

https://www.noteburner.com/youtube-video-downloader-for-windows.html

 

[mlnjennie]

I use an online tool to download audio files out of videos. It is easy to use. You can paste the video link on the website to download your videos. The quality of the files will not be impacted. The tool is DumpMedia Online Video Downloader. If you find it useful, you can also try the offline tool of DumpMedia. The offline tool supports batch download. And you can choose the video resolution.