Although YouTube is primarily a video platform, it hosts a large library of music as well, all available to listen at a moment’s notice. Still, it is not perfect. YouTube obviously requires internet connection to access, and you cannot do anything with these songs other than listen to them. Want to set it as your ringtone? As your alarm? Nope, not possible. These are some of the reasons why people might want to download audio from YouTube to Mac.
YouTube itself doesn’t provide such an option, but it is still easy to do and doesn’t require any specialized computer knowledge. That is because there are many third-party services that make the simple and effortless. We’ve compiled a list of these; all you need to do now is to read this list and choose the option that is the best for you.
Download audio from YouTube to Mac using a website
The easiest way to download audio from YouTube to Mac is to use a website. That is because websites work on all operating systems so you do not need to search for a specialized Mac program. Also, installing a program might be unnecessary if you don’t plan on doing this regularly.
We will not list all of these websites; there’s simply too many of them. We will only list the best YouTube audio downloader sites so that you don’t have to waste your time learning about the rest of them.
OnlyMP3
In our opinion, OnlyMP3 is the best website for downloading audio from YouTube to Mac. It is very easy to use: just open the website, paste the link to the video as prompted, and click “Convert”. It will take the website a few moments to convert the YouTube video to an mp3 file, and then, you will be able to download it or save it to your DropBox.
It also provides a neat shortcut feature. When you have a YouTube video open, click on the URL bar and replace “youtube” with “youtubemz”, and press Enter.
Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6jqvuINd0 -> https://www.youtubemz.com/watch?v=6O6jqvuINd0
This will immediately open OnlyMP3 and begin the conversion process. This is very convenient because you can just browse YouTube, listen to anything that catches your interest, and then quickly download songs that you like. You don’t have to keep OnlyMP3 open in a separate tab or indeed even remember the name of the website. All you have to remember is this shortcut, and it’s pretty easy to remember. Simply think, “mz” stands for “music”.
Y2Mate
Y2Mate is another website that you can use to download audio from YouTube to Mac. Although it looks very similar to OnlyMP3 visually, they are not identical. Y2Mate provides more options when it comes to downloading audio; you can choose between quality and file size. OnlyMP3, on the other hand, simply provides you with the highest quality file.
You might think this is not important; after all, most songs take only a moment to download on a modern internet connection. But this feature is essential if you’re downloading audiobooks, lectures, or anything similarly long. Even the lowest quality option is good enough for listening to voice, and it will allow you to download them quicker as well as save space on your device.
Y2Mate has another advantage over OnlyMP3, also related to audiobooks. While OnlyMP3 doesn’t allow its users to convert videos longer than 6 hours, Y2Mate has no such restriction. Please note, however, that such videos will take a while to convert.
You can use Y2Mate by visiting their website or using a shortcut. This time, you have to replace “youtube” with “youtubepi”, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O6jqvuINd0 -> https://www.youtubepi.com/watch?v=6O6jqvuINd0
Please note that this shortcut will provide you with download options for video by default; you will need to click on the “audio” tab to see audio-only download options.
SnapSave
SnapSave is primarily a website for downloading YouTube videos, but it has an option to download only audio as well. That said, it is objectively worse than both OnlyMP3 and Y2Mate. It lacks the convenience of OnlyMP3: there’s no shortcut option, so you can use it only by visiting its website. It lacks the functionality of Y2Mate, too: SnapSave doesn’t let you select audio quality.
Still, it is perfectly usable. Although you shouldn’t use it as your main tool to download audio from YouTube to Mac, it will work, passably, if your preferred site is down or otherwise inaccessible.
Download audio from YouTube to Mac using a dedicated program
Using a program to download audio from YouTube to Mac is not as convenient as using a website in most cases. Even though it’s just one extra program, it still clutters your Mac, and it’s not like such a program will be of any use while you’re offline.
The main reason to use a program and not a website is not convenience, however. It’s functionality. There are programs for downloading content from YouTube that can do things that no website can do.
4K YouTube to MP3
4K YouTube to MP3 is a very capable program, even though it has no reason to put “4K” in its name. Indeed, it has certain features that will appeal to music lovers, like the ability to automatically download an entire playlist or a channel. A built-in music player will allow you to listen to audio right after downloading.
Unfortunately, 4K YouTube to MP3 is not a free program. There’s a free version of it, yes, but it is very limited; it lacks most features and can download only 30 videos a day. It can automatically download playlists, but will only download the first 10 entries.
Three ways to purchase 4K YouTube to MP3 are available, a $10/year subscription, a $15 lifetime license, and a $45 lifetime commercial license. You can do so on its website. Free version can be downloaded from there as well.
Youtube-DL
Youtube-DL is another capable program. It also can automatically download playlists and channels, and even apply filters while doing so. It’s possible to only download videos that have a certain amount of likes, for example. Although not specifically designed to download audio, it does provide an audio-only option and can convert this audio into many different formats, including MP3 and OGG.
Unfortunately, there is a catch. Youtube-DL may be a free program, but it doesn’t have a graphical interface. You have to use this program via a command-line interface (CLI). It is not a user-friendly program by any means, and so we cannot recommend it to readers that lack technical knowledge. Those still wishing to give it a try will find its GitHub page to be a good place to start.
Clipgrab
Clipgrab, on the other hand, is fundamentally different from the two programs listed above. Unlike them, it doesn’t provide any advanced features. Indeed, the program is similar to downloader websites in terms of functionality. Generally speaking, this means that there’s little reason to download it, since you can use any website on our list instead, but it has a niche use.
Those that want to use a program, but have don’t need complex functions should head to its website and get Clipgrab from there.
Conclusion
When it comes to downloading music from YouTube, OnlyMP3 is the best option; however, Y2Mate is better if you’re downloading audiobooks.
Music lovers who want to download entire playlists at once would likely prefer to pay $15 for 4K YouTube to MP3. Those unwilling to pay will instead have to learn user-unfriendly Youtube-DL.
You may also benefit from reading one of our other guides. For example, installing BlueStacks on Mac will allow you to run Android software and games. You can also install Windows 10 on Mac.
