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How to download music from YouTube

Downloading music from YouTube is a fairly common practice, and the demand for making the process easier has inspired the creation of countless websites and software.

But not every service can be considered safe. In fact, some of these services may infect your computer with malware or produce poor-quality audio files. When downloading music from YouTube, you’ll need to first make sure that the websites or apps you use for doing so won’t hurt your device. For this guide our team has found two methods to make the process safer and easier.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

20 minutes

What You Need

  • Antivirus software

  • Video converter app

  • PC, Mac, or mobile device

  • A YouTube video

  • A YouTube Music Premium subscription

We do need to issue this warning first: Ripping audio from YouTube is a breach of the streaming video site’s terms of use, which could get you into trouble. There are ways to enjoy music from YouTube without violating its terms of use, such as via Google’s YouTube Music service — so we do recommend that you consider trying legitimate options first.

If you choose to download software for ripping audio, be sure to have your chosen antivirus service scan the software for threats before installing or using it.

YouTube's own method: Sign up for a YouTube Music Premium subscription

Before we get into your third-party options for downloading music from YouTube, you should know that YouTube already allows users to download music if they have a YouTube Music Premium subscription. Downloading music on YouTube via the platform's YouTube Music Premium subscription is basically the safest option -- both from a legal standpoint and with respect to the safety and security of your computer. It's also the most expensive option. But it's the option we'd recommend for most people for the reasons stated above.

Here's how to download music from YouTube if you have a YouTube Music Premium subscription:

As far as we can tell, this method only works on Android or iOS mobile devices: Open the YouTube Music app and then navigate to the song you want to download. Then select the Three dots menu icon > Download (which should have downward arrow icon).

Desktop method: 4K YouTube to MP3

While you may not want to download another app, using an installed video-converter app tends to be safer and more reliable than other third-party options when it comes to ripping audio from YouTube videos. Most YouTube-ripping sites — even ones that seem safe at first — may eventually fall victim to hackers and malware, and so it may be best to use dedicated software on your desktop for your audio-ripping needs.

Even when you download software, you should always exercise caution before installing it by making sure to scan it with your trusted antivirus software (if you don’t have one, you can check out our list of the best free antivirus software).

But downloading and installing a new app doesn’t have to be a struggle. In fact, the 4K YouTube to MP3 app features a pain-free installation and user-friendliness that rivals most online YouTube converter services. It’s also available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, MacOS (10.13 and later), and Ubuntu. And 4K YouTube to MP3 also is free to download and use. You also can upgrade to a premium version that includes features like unlimited audio tracks per playlist and no ads. But the free version should be enough for most people.

Step 1: Navigate to the 4K YouTube to MP3 website, and under the 4K YouTube to MP3 header, select the blue Download button that corresponds to your computer’s operating system.

The download buttons for installing the 4k YouTube to MP3 desktop app.
screenshot / Digital Trends

Step 2: Once the installer downloads, run it and follow the on-screen prompts to install 4K YouTube to MP3.

Step 3: Navigate to the YouTube video with audio you want to rip.

The Copy Video URL menu option on YouTube's desktop website.
screenshot / Digital Trends

Step 4: Highlight the URL from your browser’s address bar, and copy it to your clipboard. You also can right-click on the video itself and choose Copy video URL from the menu that pops up.

Step 5: Once you have the video link copied to your clipboard, all you have to do is paste the link into the app by selecting the blue Paste link button in the upper-left corner of the screen.

Selecting the Paste Link button on the 4k YouTube to MP3 desktop app.
screenshot

Step 6: After that, the app immediately gets to work on ripping the audio. To give you an idea of how fast the app was at creating the MP3 file, it took less than a couple of minutes for it to process a 10-minute YouTube video.

Step 7: Once the MP3 file has been created, the app automatically saves it to your PC. To locate the music file, you can just mouse over the name of the track displayed in the middle of the app.

Then a Show in folder icon will appear. This icon resembles a file folder. Select it, and you’ll be directed to a File Explorer window that displays your new MP3. You now have the file in MP3 format for offline listening, background music, or however you prefer to consume.

Selecting the Show in Folder icon on the 4k YouTube to MP3 desktop app.
screenshot

A note about online YouTube converter sites

In the past, we've recommended a few websites that you can use to download audio from YouTube videos. These websites tend to start out safe and then become overrun with malware over time. As a result, and as of this writing, we don't currently have a safe recommendation we can offer you. We've tested a number of these sites recently, and they tended to either not load at all or were flagged as unsafe by our antivirus software. The other issue is that these sites also tend to come with bothersome pop-ups.

For those reasons, we don't feel it's worth it to use these online YouTube converter sites given the risks and the fact that you already have two safer options: YouTube Music Premium and the 4K YouTube to MP3 desktop app.

We also suggest reading our convenient guide on how to download YouTube videos if you want to view them offline without connecting to the internet.

Editors' Recommendations

Anita George
Anita has been a technology reporter since 2013 and currently writes for the Computing section at Digital Trends. She began…
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