# How to download or record audio from Youtube?



## JohnG (Feb 25, 2021)

I forget how to download / record audio from Youtube. There used to be software called "keepvid" but I was never clear on whether that was legit or even worked. Suggestions welcome.

I'm after some out-of-print records of children's records from the 1960s some of which have been posted on Youtube. The series was called "Tale Spinners for Children" and is unusual in that it uses orchestral recordings as background music -- Rimsky Korsakov, Mendelssohn, etc. played by the "Hollywood Studio Orchestra." Many were released originally by United Artists, but they seem to have been sold on to companies that are no longer in business.

Alternatively, if anyone knows where these recordings could be purchased, I'd be glad to do that instead. The acting is unusually good, but the music is the real draw. 

I don't mind listening online, but that's subject to the titles remaining available.

Thanks, 

John


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## Noeticus (Feb 25, 2021)

"4K Video Downloader" is excellent... www.4kdownload.com

Also, "Icecream Screen Recorder"... https://icecreamapps.com/Screen-Recorder/

The irony is that when you watch something from the web on your computer, it is already on your computer, or else you wouldn't be able to watch it.


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## d.healey (Feb 25, 2021)

I use youtube-dl


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## Monkey Man (Feb 25, 2021)

Hey John,

On Mac I recommend:

ClipGrab (free and great)
MediaHuman YouTube Downloader (not free, but more-versatile)


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## JohnG (Feb 25, 2021)

Thanks guys!


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## b_elliott (Feb 25, 2021)

Don't forget that old workhorse (freebie as well) Audacity.


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## pondinthestream (Feb 25, 2021)

for PC Total Recorder


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## JohnG (Feb 25, 2021)

hmm -- tried ClipGrab and it seemed to work, but can't find any files. Tried a search of the entire computer.


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## Tatiana Gordeeva (Feb 25, 2021)

The fastest and most powerful downloader I know: JDownloader2 (a.k.a. JD2). Works perfectly with YT, Vimeo, anything! 100% Free! I've been using it for years without a hitch.

Another solution sometimes is to capture the full screen with audio. That's what I had to do to create my blob opera Bladderna that I was running live in a website page. I used to use Camtasia Studio for video capture (and their SnagIt! for screen capture) but it didn't work nicely in that case so I switched to Movavi for screen capture of video and the fantastic and free ShareX which imho is even better that SnagIt! for static captures and never looked back!


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## Monkey Man (Feb 25, 2021)

JohnG said:


> hmm -- tried ClipGrab and it seemed to work, but can't find any files. Tried a search of the entire computer.


As I've shown in the pic below, click the "Settings" tab, then the "Target Path" one and browse to or drag your preferred destination folder to the window that appears.

In this case I've chosen a subfolder in my Mac-default Downloads one.

Also, before you specify a new location, have a look at what the app was assigned to out-of-the-box. This will show you where that file you lost was placed. Once you specify a new path, there's no way to determine what the previous setting was, so DO THIS FIRST!







HTH, John.


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## jmauz (Feb 25, 2021)

I usually just record the loopback from my interface into the DAW.


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## PaulieDC (Feb 26, 2021)

jmauz said:


> I usually just record the loopback from my interface into the DAW.


Me too. i use an RME Interface and TotalMixFX software has Loopback. I made a preset, easy peazy.

I guess that really doesn’t help people who use other interfaces.


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## Geoff Grace (Feb 26, 2021)

Rogue Amoeba Audio Hijack:









Audio Hijack - Record any audio on Mac


Record VoIP calls from Skype, web streams from Safari, and much more.




rogueamoeba.com





Records any application's audio.

Best,

Geoff


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## re-peat (Feb 26, 2021)

The annoying thing about those recording apps is that it takes at least as long as the video is, to record and save the audio.

I use *Softorino’s YouTube Converter*. Works really well. You simply paste the YT-link of the audio you're after in Converter and press download. Often a matter of mere seconds, even for videos that last several minutes.

The only trouble with Softorino, I find, is that they’re very obnoxious mail-addicts. Buy something from them and you’re bound to receive at least five mails to congratulate you, to express their undying friendship, another one to say what a wonderful person you are and a few more to inform you of their other products. All deeply tiresome. So, if you try or buy anything from Softorino, best to unsubscribe immediately from their mailing list.

But the software is more than OK, and is also extremely well supported. You can be sure that everytime YouTube is updated, Softorino is only a day or two behind with a matching Converter update.

_


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## lux (Feb 26, 2021)

https://www.mediahuman.com/youtube-to-mp3-converter/


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## Monkey Man (Feb 26, 2021)

Yup, I mentioned MediaHuman YouTube Downloader earlier 'cause it does the same thing, Lux, but also handles video from YT and other sites and downloads SoundCloud clips at 320kpbs.

My #1 suggestion was ClipGrab 'though. No SPAM. No fee and it offers 3 audio options as shown in the drop-down menu:


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## Gil (Feb 26, 2021)

Hello,
You can try this online tool:
https://loader.to
Regards,
Gil.


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## Crowe (Feb 26, 2021)

Another vote for JDownloader. Useful for a lot of other download-related stuff too.


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## Morning Coffee (Feb 26, 2021)

I found some items on archive.org. 

I believe that most items on the website come under public domain or creative common type licenses. Some of these titles seem to be downloadable in various individual music file formats (mp3, flac, ogg vorbis etc) or as complete zip files with music and thumbnail pictures etc



Internet Archive Search: Tale Spinners for Children


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## ChrisSiuMusic (Feb 26, 2021)

I like Clipconverter. https://www.clipconverter.cc/2/


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## Crowe (Feb 26, 2021)

I'm actually very surprised how there's been no grumbling about piracy yet. Interesting.


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## Tatiana Gordeeva (Feb 26, 2021)

Shiirai said:


> I'm actually very surprised how there's been no grumbling about piracy yet. Interesting.


Even more funny is that no one even dared to reply to your post, so far!



DISCLAIMER: the following has _nothing to do_ with this specific thread or people here. Just my little personal (a)musings (like the title of this forum implies) brought up to the surface by the ongoing discussion.

Since I recently started my very modest YouTube channel I already noticed a few things, things that I already held facts as music/audio is concerned.

Rules don't seem to apply to video the same way that we expect them to be applied to our music/audio which boils down to the same adage as usual: _Do as I say, not as I do. _People (myself included sometimes) usually hold other people to higher (moral) standards than they hold themselves to, therefore we expect people to follow rules that were not ready to follow ourselves.

We also tend to compartmentalize our moral rules. Even the RIAA does! They write:

Common examples of online copyright infringement:

You download an app on your smartphone that allows you to ‘strip’ the audio from any YouTube music video and permanently keep that audio in your music collection.
No mention of the video creator's rights 

Everybody knows how Orwell's pig-in-charge once wrote on the doors of the barn:

_All animals are equal... but some are more equal than others._

Well, the World is full of little piglets and creators must learn to live with it!

--- You have reached the end of this rant. ---

P.S. If you wonder... Even my cricket sounds were downloaded legally


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## Rory (Feb 26, 2021)

@JohnG uses MacOS. This is just a matter of recording your computer system's audio. A recent free app called BlackHole handles this very well, and has effectively replaced the now obsolete Soundflower. This is a link to BlackHole: https://existential.audio/blackhole/ This is the BlackHole GitHub page: https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole


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## JohnG (Feb 27, 2021)

Interesting points about copyright. Ironically, the youtube videos themselves almost certainly are violating copyright. I doubt there's any way to obtain permission to post the recordings.

Maybe one could make a fair use argument that making a duplicate doesn't affect anyone's economics -- you are not preventing a commercial sale -- given that these recordings are, practically speaking, "stranded." The company that bought them appears to have gone out of business, and they don't show up for sale in any searches.

Would love to buy them new, as I indicated in my first post. I remember them from childhood and maybe kids today would still enjoy them.

I think though that I won't make copies after all, just because. Nevertheless, thanks everyone for the suggestions.


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## Tatiana Gordeeva (Feb 27, 2021)

JohnG said:


> Interesting points about copyright. Ironically, the youtube videos themselves almost certainly are violating copyright. I doubt there's any way to obtain permission to post the recordings.
> 
> Maybe one could make a fair use argument that making a duplicate doesn't affect anyone's economics -- you are not preventing a commercial sale -- given that these recordings are, practically speaking, "stranded."


I absolute l agree with you John. To reiterate: my comments above were triggered by, and not directed at, the present thread and people in it. Actually one user rightfully mentioned _Internet Archive _as a potential source for your videos. They are themselves (in the name of libraries everywhere) in the middle of a battle with publishers, for all readers' right to access books legally electronically.

These questions are especially crucial for all creators of videos, books... and music  and have probably been debated since the invention of wax cylinder recordings. Or maybe cave people argued about who painted buffalos first, the girl in Lascaux or the guy in the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave


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## jbuhler (Feb 27, 2021)

JohnG said:


> Interesting points about copyright. Ironically, the youtube videos themselves almost certainly are violating copyright. I doubt there's any way to obtain permission to post the recordings.
> 
> Maybe one could make a fair use argument that making a duplicate doesn't affect anyone's economics -- you are not preventing a commercial sale -- given that these recordings are, practically speaking, "stranded." The company that bought them appears to have gone out of business, and they don't show up for sale in any searches.
> 
> ...


I would say ethically there is a big difference between pirating/ripping done to avoid paying for something otherwise available commercially and pirating/ripping for archival or usage purposes of things you own or to obtain something that is not otherwise commercially available. Unpublished film scores are a thing that many here have obtained that often falls in the latter category too. It’s really hard to see how the media music business works as efficiently as it does without this not quite legal circulation of unpublished scores. 

The Librarian of Congress regularly reauthorizes the breaking of digital locks and other copying of difficult to obtain materials for teaching and research within narrow bounds of the academy. Nevertheless it is almost impossible to do a public critical video essay on a movie, tv series, game or piece of music that is not open to take down or having the audio stripped or replaced. They aren’t always taken down, which makes the rules seem even more capricious.


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## Monkey Man (Feb 27, 2021)

The music uploaded to SoundCloud, at least everything I've seen, is free to listen to.

Peeps who upload their stuff to it are fully-aware of this, hence, I see no issue in downloading said material.

I say this because the paid app I mentioned previously handles SoundCloud as well as YouTube and I said as much.


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## jononotbono (Feb 27, 2021)

4k Downloader is so easy. I mean it’s shockingly easy I have no idea how it’s legal. You just copy the web address and caninstantly download a YouTube video and the audio (or either audio or video of both)

Or you could record audio using Audio Hijack. That thing is one of the reasons to own a Mac!


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## Markrs (Feb 27, 2021)

If you want to create a loopback on Windows to capture the audio from a stream then Voicemeeter Banana works well and is free.





__





VB-Audio VoiceMeeter Banana


VoiceMeeter Banana, the Advanced Virtual Audio Mixer by V.Burel




vb-audio.com


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## jononotbono (Feb 27, 2021)

Rory said:


> @JohnG uses MacOS. This is just a matter of recording your computer system's audio. A recent free app called BlackHole handles this very well, and has effectively replaced the now obsolete Soundflower. This is a link to BlackHole: https://existential.audio/blackhole/ This is the BlackHole GitHub page: https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole


Audio Hijack is much better. But yeah, it’s not free.


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## Polkasound (Feb 28, 2021)

[I speak not as an expert but just as someone who has had to look into this in the past.]

When someone submits their copyrighted music to YouTube or SoundCloud, they are authorizing those distributors to stream their music. Unless the copyright holder specifically allows the music to also be made downloadable on those services, it is forbidden for anyone to record the music while it is streaming.

Services like YouTube pay a royalty to the copyright holder when their music is streamed. If you record the music as it streams and then play the copy you've recorded, you will: 1) Violate the terms of the streaming service 2) Violate the copyright by making an unauthorized copy of the music 3) Deny the copyright holder their due royalties.

From YouTube:

_The following restrictions apply to your use of the Service. You are not allowed to:_

_access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service or any Content except: (a) as expressly authorized by the Service; or (b) with prior written permission from YouTube and, if applicable, the respective rights holders;_
_circumvent, disable, fraudulently engage with, or otherwise interfere with any part of the Service (or attempt to do any of these things), including security-related features or features that (a) prevent or restrict the copying or other use of Content or (b) limit the use of the Service or Content;_
The reason I'm posting this is because there are all kinds of YouTube ripping apps out there, and that inadvertently gives people the impression that ripping music from YouTube must be OK.

Buzz Killington


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## jononotbono (Feb 28, 2021)

Polkasound said:


> ripping music from YouTube must be OK.


I'm allowed to rip my own videos though yeah? 😂


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## Tatiana Gordeeva (Feb 28, 2021)

> The reason I'm posting this is because there are all kinds of YouTube ripping apps out there, and that inadvertently gives people the impression that ripping music from YouTube must be OK.


Absolutely true. And as I wrote before:
_People tend to compartmentalize their moral rules._


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## Manaberry (Feb 28, 2021)

Add "pp" right before ".com".

It redirects you to a website to download the video/audio.


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## Markrs (Feb 28, 2021)

Manaberry said:


> Add "pp" right before ".com".
> 
> It redirects you to a website to download the video/audio.


Just tried that and works, nice little easy way to grab some audio.


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## Polkasound (Feb 28, 2021)

jononotbono said:


> I'm allowed to rip my own videos though yeah?


If you own the rights to _both_ the song and the recording of it, then you are an authorized distributor of both and can do what you want. But if you only own rights to one or the other, then you have to abide by the restrictions of how the other right was licensed for use.

Two examples:

If you wrote a song and a band recorded a cover of it and uploaded it to YouTube, you can't rip it from YouTube because you don't own any distribution rights to their recording of your song.

If you recorded a cover of someone else's song, licensed it only for streaming, and uploaded it to YouTube, you're not authorized to rip the song from YouTube because you did not license your cover for downloads, which pays the copyright holder of the song a higher mechanical royalty than streaming. But from a practical standpoint, it's fine because you already possess the music that was uploaded, so the song is not actually being redistributed.

[EDIT: I should clarify that my examples apply to uploaded music. I am not involved at all with video sync licensing, so my advice may not apply across the board to all scenarios.]


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## d.healey (Feb 28, 2021)

You know, whenever you "stream" something you're actually downloading it to your system in tiny pieces... in the old days it would download it as the complete file, but now it deletes the pieces as it goes.


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## Rory (Mar 1, 2021)

jononotbono said:


> Audio Hijack is much better. But yeah, it’s not free.





Rory said:


> @JohnG uses MacOS. This is just a matter of recording your computer system's audio. A recent free app called BlackHole handles this very well, and has effectively replaced the now obsolete Soundflower. This is a link to BlackHole: https://existential.audio/blackhole/ This is the BlackHole GitHub page: https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole


For the task he describes, Audio Hijack is not "better". BlackHole will do what he wants just as well, and it costs nothing.


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## Will Blackburn (Mar 1, 2021)

This one is awesome









MediaHuman YouTube Downloader - feature-rich app to download online videos and playlists.


Nice looking application with a lot of features that will help you to download any YouTube video or the entire playlist and channel. Available for macOS, Windows and Ubuntu Linux.




www.mediahuman.com


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## d.healey (Mar 1, 2021)

Rory said:


> For the task he describes, Audio Hijack is not "better". BlackHole will do what he wants just as well, and it costs nothing.


Both are pretty poor solutions. They require you to play the whole thing and sit there ready to press start/stop to manage the process.

youtube-dl (and some of the other solutions mentioned) will download an entire playlist with a single command without any manual intervention required, and they don't require you to play each video start to end.


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## Rory (Mar 1, 2021)

d.healey said:


> youtube-dl (and some of the other solutions mentioned) will download an entire playlist with a single command without any manual intervention required, and they don't require you to play each video start to end.


The original post asks about both recording and downloading. Yes, if one wants to download audio/playlists fast, this won't do it. Have you identified a downloader that you're confident isn't an exercise in malware or tracking? These kinds of apps are often marketed in a way that gives me little confidence in the legitimacy of the software.


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## d.healey (Mar 1, 2021)

Rory said:


> The original post asks about both recording and downloading. Yes, if one wants to download audio/playlists fast, this won't do it. Have you identified a downloader that you're confident isn't an exercise in malware or tracking? These kinds of apps are often marketed in a way that gives me little confidence in the legitimacy of the software.


You're right, I missed the recording bit in the original post. Youtube-dl is the tool I use, no malware there as far as I know but I haven't examined the source code, but it has 4200 forks so at least some of the source has been examined by others and I haven't seen any malware issues reported.


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## bvaughn0402 (Mar 1, 2021)

Shiirai said:


> I'm actually very surprised how there's been no grumbling about piracy yet. Interesting.


I dream of the day that someone pirates my music ...


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## Monkey Man (Mar 1, 2021)

Rory said:


> Yes, if one wants to download audio/playlists fast, this won't do it. Have you identified a downloader that you're confident isn't an exercise in malware or tracking?


AFAIK all the apps, both Mac and PC, that've been mentioned so far are malware-and-SPAM-free.


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## MOMA (Mar 5, 2021)

Funny. Clipgrab never seem to work for me. Always something wrong with the source. Any solid solution is highly welcomed!

*MOMA*
Stockholm, Sweden


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## Monkey Man (Mar 5, 2021)

You have to stay up-to-date.

YouTube apparently keeps making changes, and ClipGrab updates usually follow these with fixes within a few days.


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