How to record sound from YouTube videos

Updated: 06/02/2020 by Computer Hope

YouTube logo

If you want to download or capture the audio of a YouTube video, y'all have a few options. You can use a tertiary-party online service to download the audio and convert information technology to mp3, or capture the audio with software on your Windows or Mac calculator.

Use an online service

Beneath are steps on how to record sound in a YouTube video using an online YouTube to MP3 conversion service.

Tip

We take found the steps below to piece of work best using the Chrome or Firefox browser. If yous are using Microsoft Border or Internet Explorer and have trouble downloading the MP3 file, endeavour Chrome or Firefox instead.

  1. Go to the YouTube video page and copy the URL of the video you want to save equally an MP3 sound file.
  2. Once the URL is copied, admission the YouTubetoMP3 Converter site.

Note

The YouTubetoMP3 Converter service is free to utilize. The site may display ads to pay for their service, just y'all are not required to pay any coin to employ information technology.

  1. Paste the copied YouTube video URL into the text box almost the top of the page.
  2. Click the cerise Get button adjacent to the text box.
  3. A preview of the YouTube video is displayed. To the right of the preview, click the driblet-down carte and select the MP3 quality you lot want to gear up for the conversion.

YouTubetoMP3 Converter - MP3 quality selection

  1. Click the carmine Convert button to begin the YouTube video to MP3 audio conversion.
  2. When the conversion is consummate, click the Download button below the MP3 quality drop-down card.

YouTubetoMP3 Converter - download MP3 file

Capture audio with Brazenness

Audacity logo

If you want to manually tape the audio, or only need a segment of the video's sound, you can use the free software Audacity to capture the audio. To proceed, follow the steps beneath.

Note

If your computer has an integrated sound card, you'll non exist able to download streaming sound. Therefore, the steps in this section volition not piece of work for you lot. Information technology'southward best to use an online service, every bit discussed above, to download audio from a YouTube video.

  1. Download Audacity from the Brazenness official website.
  2. Once the download is complete, run the setup program and follow the steps to install Audacity on your estimator.
  3. Open Audacity using the shortcut on your desktop, or run information technology from your Kickoff menu.
  4. In the bill of fare bar at the top of the Audacity window, click Edit, then Preferences.
  5. In the Preferences window, in the Devices section, locate the Recording section.
  6. In the Device drop-down listing, select the Stereo Mix option. If Stereo Mix is not available, it is likely disabled. To enable it:
  1. Open the Control Panel on your computer and click Hardware and sound, then the Audio icon in the Control Console window.
  2. In the Sound window, click the Recording tab, correct-click in a blank space in that tab, and select Prove Disabled Devices from the drib-down menu.
  3. The Stereo Mix device should now be visible. Right-click that device and select Enable.

Note

If the Stereo Mix selection is still not available, information technology is probable because your computer has an integrated sound card. Stereo Mix is not available with many integrated audio cards and you cannot download streaming audio from a YouTube video. Nosotros recommended trying the online service or YouTube-dl solution instead.

  1. Click OK to relieve the audio settings change.
  2. If Audacity was open when y'all enabled Stereo Mix, shut and re-open up the plan. Stereo Mix should now be available in the Recording Device list.

Tip

Yous tin can select the settings in steps 4 and five in the main Audacity program window likewise. There are four drib-down lists located above the center of the programme window. The 2nd driblet-downwards list from the left is for the Recording Device (next to microphone icon). Select Stereo Mix in this drop-down list.

Audacity Recording Device setting

  1. While all the same in Preferences, select two (Stereo) in the Channels drib-downwards list to enable stereo sound.
  2. Click OK when yous are satisfied with your settings.
  3. Access the YouTube video you lot want to record. Unless you have a fast connexion, we suggest getting the video fully loaded (allow it to complete the buffering process) earlier recording.
  4. Once your video is loaded on the YouTube website, click the record button (ruddy circle) in Audacity, then switch back to the YouTube video and click play. Equally the video is playing, you'll see activity in the sound wave section in Audacity. When washed recording, click the stop button (blackness square to the left of the tape button) in Brazenness.

Tip

Doing it this fashion causes a section at the beginning of the sound file to be blank. To remove this department of blank audio, highlight information technology by clicking and dragging your mouse, and then press the delete key on the keyboard. You can also enable the Sound-based Recording option in Audacity to eliminate the blank section of sound.

  1. When y'all have completed your recording, click File, select Export, so select Export as MP3. Make sure MP3 Files in selected in the Salvage equally type drop-down list. Cull a location to relieve the MP3 file, enter a file name, and click Save.

Note

For older versions of Brazenness, yous may need to install LAME MP3 file support to salve the recorded audio every bit an MP3 file. See the section beneath for boosted information.

Getting MP3 support for Brazenness

  1. To save the file in MP3 format, you need to get LAME for Audacity from the LAME download site. LAME is bachelor for both the Windows and macOS.
  2. Once downloaded, install LAME on the calculator.
  3. When you have completed your recording, click File and choose Export. Select MP3 Files in the Save as type drib-down list. Enter a File proper noun and click Save.
  4. After selecting the MP3 Files type, you may be prompted for the location of the LAME file. Point to the lame_enc.dll file, located at C:\Program Files\Lame for Brazenness if you used the default install location. If you extracted from a compressed file, it's in the extracted folder.

Download audio with YouTube-dl

Youtube-dl and FFmpeg commands

If yous use the Windows control line, you can download the audio component of a YouTube video with YouTube-dl, a free, open-source program that downloads streaming sound and video.

For example, you tin can download the audio in m4a format with the command:

youtube-dl -f 140            url

Where url is a web address in the form: https://world wide web.youtube.com/watch?5=ID .

Convert to mp3 with FFmpeg

To catechumen the m4a file to an mp3 file, you can use the open-source program FFmpeg. For case, this command:

ffmpeg -i "Input file.m4a" "Output file.mp3"

Would convert the file named Input file.m4a to a new mp3 file chosen Output file.mp3. In the control above, the file names are enclosed in double-quotes because they contain spaces.

Running these commands looks like to the following picture. In this screenshot, nosotros apply the dir control to verify the mp3 file was created.

YouTube-dl and ffmpeg

For more than information, see Downloading sound with YouTube-dl.