True, install ffmpeg binaries somewhere handy and in path. While we're here the ffmpeg suite of tools are well worth learning, since they're real swiss army knives for dealing with video/audio files.

For example, extracting an audio stream from a video file:

Run "ffprobe" to find out what format it is (and some video files, can have multiple audio streams, like a commentary track or whatnot, so it will list those as well)

ffprobe 'my_video_file.mp4'

And you'll get some details of that file, look for the audio stream, like this:

Code:

  Stream #0:1[0x2](und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 127 kb/s (default)

If your file only has one audio stream, then don't worry about the stream numbers. This file is in AAC format.

Then extract it with "ffmpeg" itself:

ffmpeg -i 'my_video_file.mp4' -vn -acodec copy 'ripped-audio.aac'

The parameters mean:

-i 'my_video_file.mp4
specifies the input file(s) (for instance, merging audio and video, but that's another story)

-vn
-v specifies what to do with the video, -vn means 'no video'

-acodec copy
-a specifies the destiny of the audio, -acodec is for specifying the audio codec, so "-acodec copy" means just copy the audio to the output, no encoding or transcoding done

and finally the destination file name.

 

I don't see why people insist on downloading in MP3 format. With the native WebM format, you get a much smaller file, better sound quality, avoid re-encoding and - in some cases of certain downloaders - you can avoid resampling from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz. WebM format can be played in foobar2000, Winamp (with in_ffsox.dll), etc. It can also be opened in Audacity or other audio editors if necessary.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 17, 2024

I certainly hope people don't transcode to .mp3, doing that is a massacre on quality for sure.

All proper tools will fetch the best possible format, or let you decide what to do with it. If whatever tool one does to get audio from (online) video doesn't offer it, it's a bad tool.

 

if you want to use a newer tool use https://cobalt.tools/
it helps for other kind of websites too but not for playlists, if you want to playlists, i suggest to use yt-dlp and some sort of gui version to it

 

hi,looking to download audio from youtube videos.
i have looked through responses,just checking any latest apps or ways of doing this?
i was using 4k youtube to mp3,but it seems to not be working

 

-ITubeGo Musify Music Downloader

-MP3Studio YouTube Downloader
I use this one, you copy the link for the video and a small popup windows appears asking if you want to download the video and/or convert in mp3 or something else. It literally works with 2 moves: copy link, click YES.
You can choose the folder, you can download playlists.
The DEMO version gives you 3-4 downloads for testing

 

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

This is still the only one I use, just run yt-dlp -kx --audio-format wav <URL> and be done with it.

 

thanks for reply. the itube one is not free either is it?

 

JDownloader if you need a GUI.
YT-DLP for CLI.

 

I wouldn't use a 4k version of any video it will only burn more of your bandwidth,you don't care about the video quality, only the audio. if you use firefox, "Easy Youtube Video Downloader" will download in 320kb mp3.

Youtube frequently (3 to 6 months, sometimes longer,sometimes shorter) changes their code, forcing developers to patch their plugins. The developer of EYVD, constantly patches, when the code fails he usually has a fix in 48 hours. Make a donation for the premium, it allows him to keep patching the code. I usually donate 10$ every 3 or 4 months, cheap for all the mp3's and videos I have been able to accumulate.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/easy-youtube-video-download/

 

Last edited: Jul 22, 2024 at 5:12 PM

https://invidious.fdn.fr/

You can view and download (video or audio only)

 

By Click Downloader