Downloading wav from youtube is useless because the audio is already in a lower format then wav it just consumes more hd space

 

You mabe have more luck trying free-mp3-download dot net or israbox-music dot com.

 

I use Jdwonloader to download only the audio. Then convert the file if needed.

 

Very nice comparison.
I would add this, it gives a rough idea about format capabilities.
Quality vs Bitrate

 

Try VLC

Media > Add Multiple files... > Add > Play (click the arrow) > Convert > Profile > Select the audio format (CD/MP3/OGG/FLAC) and... done

Have fun!

 

converting mp3 to wav is a waste of time and a wast of hdd space if your audio is already low bitrate converting to wav makes no sense because the source material is already bad

 

Converting an MP3 to WAV will not all of a sudden magically get back the information that was lost when the MP3 was created.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
MP3 is a lossy compression algorithm. MP3 compression works by reducing (or approximating) the accuracy of certain components of sound that are considered (by psychoacoustic analysis) to be beyond the hearing capabilities of most humans. So a higher bitrate MP3 indicates that a larger amount of data is being used to represent the audio, which results in better, more-detailed audio quality but where the "loss" of information is minimal. The highest audio bitrate that YouTube streams is 256kbps. So...

In other words, you can convert an MP3 to WAV, but it does not put back what has been taken out. Probably best to find an original FLAC, WAV or AIFF file for your needs.

 

It can make sense only if you do some improving of that WAV, using Thimeo stereo Tool, transient shapers, apodizing filters, etc. That will mask some mp3 encoding shortcomings, interpolate some missing data, reduce some stereo image errors, do some MB expanding (reduce compression), improve transients, lessen the degree of quantization, reduce DC offset and pre-ringing of mp3s. You'll get something in-between mp3 and the original WAV.

 

If you want to rip the YouTube audio in OPUS format you can use this command line program:
https://github.com/ytdl-patched/ytdl-patched

ytdl-patched.exe -x --audio-format opus --audio-quality 0 https://www.youtube.com/watch .........
You should put ytdl-patched.exe in the same folder where you keep ffmpeg.exe.

 

you can use audacity, load up you tube and audacity and click record

 

Use this chrome extension...
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sample/kpkcennohgffjdgaelocingbmkjnpjgc

 

(makes sense, do not get me wrong) ...but maybe you want to sample and chop it up? I've done this and keeping shit in a compressed format is bad, but once you sample it and process it the eventual encode is not that bad. Maybe OP wants to do this.

But it's the last resort for sure, better sources out there.

 

Just soulseek them

 

Or deemix

 

Agree.. So I only use these as guide or back tracks to practice, and do not even convert them...

 

Seems like OP wants to download music from YouTube with as much quality as possible.
People who direct him to other sources like P2P or streaming services etc. do not help at all in that respect.
Recording is time consuming, demands supervision and some setting procedures. And streaming might not be bit perfect.
If you download without any conversion you get the best quality possible. And then you can process the file if you want to improve it, as I explained earlier.
That's the most one can do with YouTube files.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2023

Then again, in this respect, Jdownloader 2 is perfect for the purpose.

 

With youtube I can't have any good quality no matter what I choose with JDownloader (or any youtube downloader site, usualy "320kbps" mp3 are just upscalled 128 or even 96kbps), but I got a better quality when I record as an audio directly from Youtube.

The difference is very obvious when I look at the spectral view in RX, everything ripped/downloaded has nothing above 15-16khz, but with recording it can go at 20khz (not all the time, but it probably depend on the source quality used by the uploader).

 

I go to the Russian site if I want to get good quality. I was separating tracks recently and needed a good source. Most is in flac format

 

I'm even more lazy. I just record audio directly into Reaper and save as FLAC. But when I give a shit, download with yt-dlp -f251 Opus 48k or AAC 44.1k and use that. Convert to FLAC if necessary for chopping up or something.
YT audio quality is so-so. This is the best you can do.

I think Opus files are SRC-ed when source is not 48k and AAC files are original files. Many people still work at 44.1 even for video. Since I work at 48k and 96k, I like it to be 48k at least. Probably the best quality you can get is get a source AAC and convert it yourself with Voxengo's R8Brain.

 

Last edited: Jul 27, 2023