How to download music from YouTube | Computing
There are dozens of YouTube music-ripping sites out there, though not all are trustworthy. The methods below work well, though we must warn you before moving forward: Ripping audio from YouTube is a breach of YouTube’s terms of use, which could potentially get you in trouble. There are ways to access music from YouTube without breaking the rules, such as Google’s new YouTube Music service that will be likely replace Google Play Music at some point — so we recommend you consider legitimate options first.
It’s also important to note that some of the many YouTube ripping sites out there use unconventional money-making practices like crypto-mining. While we do our best to recommend services that don’t use such tactics, if you find your system running hotter or harder than usual, make sure you don’t hang around on those sites for too long.
Step 1: Copy video URL
This method can all be done in the browser, without having to download any special applications or jump through any hoops. That also means it’ll work on Windows, Mac, or even a Chromebook.
The first step is to head over to the YouTube video you want to rip the audio from. Highlight the URL from your browser’s address bar, and copy it to your clipboard.
Step 2: Go to Y2Mate
Open a new tab and go to Y2Mate’s homepage. There are a number of online tools for ripping the audio from YouTube videos, but Y2Mate is our personal favorite. It has an intuitive interface and fast conversion to a variety of formats, including MP3. The only downside is that videos that are over two hours in length can only be converted to the M4A format.
One you’ve loaded up the site, just paste your YouTube URL into the field labeled “Search or paste link here.” As an alternative, you can also type in keywords or topics into Y2Mate’s search box, in case you can’t remember exactly what the video is. Once the correct video is in view, the site will automatically load up an assortment of options for conversion. Click the Mp3 tab followed by the green “Download” button.
Step 3: Wait for the conversion
From there, it’ll load a new page where the conversion will happen. It can take a minute or two if you’re converting a particularly long video, but the wait is rarely too taxing.
Step 4: Download your audio
Once the conversion is complete, just click the green “Download .mp3” link. This should download the file like any other file, dropping it in your Downloads folder or wherever else you’ve set up to default to.
Desktop alternative
Online services are great at downloading and converting YouTube videos, but because of YouTube violations, they tend to get taken down from time to time, leaving you trying to find an alternative. Desktop applications don’t have that problem, and our favorite of them all is 4K Video Downloader. Although its name might suggest otherwise, this tool isn’t just for downloading high-quality videos, it can also be used for ripping audio from them as well.
The instructions are fairly similar to the steps above except that you’ll be doing it within a traditional desktop program, rather than a browser window.