Guide: Downloading YouTube Videos as MP3 Using yt-dlp

• Install yt-dlp
• Download a Video as MP3
• FAQ

Install yt-dlp

First, you’ll need to install yt-dlp, a fork of the popular YouTube-dl program that includes additional features and fixes.

• On Windows, use the provided installer at this link.

• On macOS, use Homebrew by running brew install yt-dlp.

• On Linux, use your distribution’s package manager to install yt-dlp, or download it directly from the releases page.

Download a Video as MP3

After installing yt-dlp, you can download YouTube videos as MP3 files with a simple command.

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 [URL]

• -x instructs yt-dlp to extract the audio from the video.
• --audio-format mp3 sets the output format to MP3.
• [URL] is the YouTube video URL you wish to download.

FAQ

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• Q: Can I download entire playlists or channels as MP3?

  --yes-playlist downloads an entire playlist as MP3 files. --yes-all downloads all available videos from a channel as MP3 files.

• Q: Can I specify a start and end time for the MP3?

  --embed-subs embeds subtitles into the MP3 file. Use --write-info-json to generate a JSON file with metadata about the download.

• Q: Can I limit the download speed?

  -r limits the frame rate of https://www.mp3yt.info/ the video. --no-mtime disables updating the file modification time.

• Q: The downloaded MP3 file is too large. Can I reduce its size?

  -f chooses the video quality. Use a lower quality setting to reduce the file size. --audio-quality sets the audio quality. For MP3, use a value from 0 (lowest) to 9 (highest).