A YouTube to MP3 converter allows you to download your favourite YouTube videos in the form of an mp3 file. In case you loved the audio track of some YouTube video that you watched and want to just listen to it without watching the video, you can download it as an mp3 file. You can add it to your favourite mp3 playlist or even make it your phone’s ringtone.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of these free converters out there that you can pick from, but they are not exactly the same when it comes to performance and efficiency. While some of them might be really slow when it comes to the job of converting and downloading, some might be packed with so many ads that you won’t be able to figure out how to actually use them. In this post, we will tell you how you can download YouTube videos as mp3 files with ease. Whether you want to convert YouTube videos to mp3or learn the basics behind the YouTube to mp3 converter, this post has you covered.

YouTube to Mp3 Converter: All You Need to Know

How do YouTube to mp3 converters work?

YouTube pages follow a standard convention for where their video files are located, based on their key (the ?v=textnumbersetc parameter in the address).

To create a YouTube to mp3 converter, developers start with a youtube link, extract the location of the video address from the page, download the file, which will be in FLV (flash video) format, and convert that FLV to MP3 using an audio codec. All of these could be done with PHP, using the LAMP stack, minus the actual conversion, which is performed on the server side using a codec like FFmpeg. You can use this information to create your own YouTube to mp3 converter or take the easier way and use our tool.

Is converting YouTube videos to mp3 legal? 

The answer to that is pretty unclear and depends on the scenario and the context of the YouTube to mp3 conversion. Downloading videos from YouTube or extracting audio from YouTube videos is 100 percent safe and legal only if it’s your original content that you’re downloading (you’re the original creator and uploader of the video) or you have written permission from the person or group that owns the right to the video. If the uploader provides an official download link in the description or the uploaded content belongs to the public domain, you can get it for free in a legal way. So you cannot legally use YouTube as your own personal music collection source, freely downloading songs without permission from videos uploaded by others, even if they’re for your own personal use and you don’t plan on sharing them with friends.

What is the YouTube to mp4 converter?

Our YouTube to mp3 converter was designed for maximum ease of usage. When you download a YouTube video using our tool, you get great sound quality along with fast download speeds for even the biggest of files. Our Youtube to mp3 converter is one of the fastest and safest tools to download MP3 files from YouTube. It provides high-quality MP3 files if they are available, works with incredible speed, and is simple to use. With XYZ’s free video converter, you can easily convert the YouTube video of your choice into an mp3 file for free and listen to it offline. You can also share the mp3 file with your friends over Whatsapp and other messaging tools. It is a cloud-based tool for converting YouTube videos into mp3 files which means you aren’t required to download any software or plugin for it. You can access the tool from your web browser and the only thing you will download is the mp3 version of a YouTube video in the end.

How to use the YouTube to mp3 converter?

  1. Go to YouTube and copy the URL of the YouTube video
  2. Go to the YouTube to Mp3 converter and paste the link to convert the YouTube video into mp3
  3. The YouTube to mp3 converter will pull the video and give you the option to download the YouTube video as an mp3 file..

Yes, converting YouTube videos to MP3 files is actually that easy. The mp3 files downloaded from YouTube will be stored on your device and you can access them without the need for any internet connection. 

Can I download mp3 files from YouTube on any Operating System?

You can convert YouTube videos to MP3 on any operating system with any browser. It runs smoothly on Windows, Mac, and Linux and works flawlessly with Chrome, Safari, Opera, IE, and many other browsers. 

Can I transfer my mp3 file to any portable music device?

Once the YouTube video is converted and downloaded as mp3, you can transfer that file to any portable device of your choice viz. phone, tablet, etc.

How to convert YouTube to mp3?

You can easily convert any YouTube video into a downloadable Mp3 format by using our YouTube to Mp3 converter tool. All you need to do is copy the YouTube video URL that you want to convert and paste it on the converter page.

Is there a way to download mp3 files from YouTube directly?

YouTube doesn’t allow users to directly download videos from its website. You can save videos for offline viewing later but those videos can only be accessed using YouTube and you won’t be able to transfer them from device to device. Thankfully, you can use third-party tools like our Youtube to Mp3 converter to easily download YouTube videos as mp3 files.

Which is the best YouTube to mp3 converter?

Our YouTube to Mp3 converter tool that lets you convert your favourite YouTube videos into Mp3 format so that you can download them and play them wherever and whenever you want.

How to convert YouTube videos to mp3 files using your web browser? 

If you want to use a very advanced method for converting YouTube videos into mp3 files, you can use your web browser to download those videos as mp4 files, which you can then convert into mp3 files. Using your web browser instead of our easy to use YouTube to mp3 converter is an advanced and time taking process and we have included it for the few who might want to use this method. If you are an experienced computer programmer, you should find it easy though. Here’s what you need to do:

Open the video you want to download as an MP3. No need to play it, just press pause..

With the video page open, launch the developer tools menu.​ Here’s where you can find that menu in different browsers:
Windows (Chrome): At the top-right corner of Chrome, open the three-dotted menu button and find More tools > Developer tools. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+I (uppercase “i”).

  • Chrome developer tools menu
    Windows (Firefox): Open the Firefox menu at the top-right corner and choose Web Developer > Inspector (Ctrl+Shift+C works, too).
    Firefox web developer menu
    Mac (Chrome): Use the three-dotted menu at the top-right corner to find More Tools > Developer Tools, or hit the Command+Option+I(uppercase “i”) hotkey.
    Mac (Firefox): From the menu button in the upper-right corner of the screen, navigate to Web Developer > Inspector, or open it with your keyboard via Command+Option+C.
  • Change the user agent of your web browser so that you can trick YouTube into thinking that you’re accessing the video from a mobile browser. This is the only way to make sure the video is actually downloadable.​
    Chrome: From the very top-right corner of developer tools, right next to the x button, is another dotted menu button. Use that to open More tools >Network conditions. Uncheck Select automatically, and choose Firefox – iPhone.

    Firefox: From a new tab, in the address bar, enter about:config and confirm the “risk” message (if you see it). In the search box that appears, search for general.useragent.override. If it’s missing (it probably is), choose String and then select the plus sign off to the right. Give it this value:
    Firefox user agent string value
  • Keeping the developer tools menu open, go back to the YouTube page and refresh it. The page should change a bit and the video will fill nearly the whole screen.​
  • With the developer tools window open, play the video and pause after a few seconds.
  • From the developer tools window, locate the small mouse pointer icon—it lets you choose which element to inspect on the page. It should be at the very top-left corner of the window.
  • After enabling that tool, select the video.
    Chrome inspect tool on YouTube video
  • Back in the developer tools window, look for a section that includes a really long URL. It begins with the text src=”https:// and is probably blue, and may even be highlighted already. After some random characters, this should be what it reads: .googlevideo.com/videoplayback.
    YouTube video source URL in Chrome
    Double-click, double-tap, or manually select the URL to highlight it, and then copy the link.
  • Open a new tab in Chrome or Firefox and paste that URL into the address bar, and then press Enter to open it. The page will look different than YouTube’s usual interface but the video should start playing normally.​
    YouTube video open in Chrome
  • Right click on the video and in the ensuing options menu, choose the save option, and pick somewhere on your computer to save it to. There may even be a download button on the bottom corner of the video that you can select instead.
    YouTube video download button

The video will be downloaded on your computer in the mp4 format (at times in WEBM format as well). Use any of the numerous video file converters to convert the mp4 file into mp3.

How to convert YouTube videos to mp3 files using the VLC Media Player? 

VLC Media Player is one of the best and most versatile free video and audio file players available today. It’s great for downloading YouTube videos to the MP4 format in Windows, macOS, and Linux. After you get the mp4 file, you can convert it to the mp3 format using the same method as the one suggested in the web browser method. 

Here’s how to get the MP4 with VLC:

Download the VLC media player.

Open the network options:​​

Windows: Go to Media > Open Network Stream.

macOS: Use the File > Open Network option.

  • Paste the YouTube video’s URL in the text box located in that Network tab.
    VLC Network tab with URL pasted
  • Choose Play in Windows or Open in macOS to start playing the video within the program.
  • After it starts (you can pause it if you like), copy the real URL that VLC is streaming:​
    • Windows: Go to Tools > Codec Information. From the Codec tab, copy the long URL located at the very bottom next to Location:.
    • macOS: Find the Window > Media Information menu option. Open the General tab and copy the URL from the Location text box.
  • Raw YouTube URL in VLC for Windows
  • Paste that URL into your web browser. Once it starts to load, right-click or tap-and-hold the video and choose the save option from that menu. You can also hit the Ctrl+S or Command+S shortcut to save the MP4, or select the Download button if you see one.
    Download button on a YouTube video in Chrome

You can now convert the downloaded mp4 file into an mp3 file and extract the audio that you wanted.