YouTube is the world’s top video-viewing website, but when users want to download the audio have to look elsewhere. Several popular applications allow converting YouTube videos to MP3 format.
Users usually download audios to a computer or mobile device to listen to them offline while driving or at home, or burn them to a CD for archiving.
Before using such apps, users have to remember they shouldn’t convert the audio without the copyright owner’s permission to do so. YouTube’s terms of service forbid unauthorized downloading, and they take it seriously.
In June 2012, YouTube parent company Google sent cease letters to several websites threatening legal action if they continued to offer online download and conversion of YouTube videos.
For those don’t want to spend a single penny on video streaming services, here are the best free YouTube MP3 converters.
DVDVideoSoft’s YouTube to MP3 converters are the best of the web
Founded in 2006, UK’s DVDVideoSoft develops free multimedia software for video and audio processing. The company offers more than 50 free software applications such as Free YouTube to MP3 Converter, Free Audio Converter and Free Studio.
Free YouTube to MP3 Converter is a 58.89 MB freeware program that converts audio from YouTube videos to MP3 as well as YouTube videos to other video formats like WMV and AVI. Users can queue up multiple files for conversion, and its interface displays are waiting in line. The app also allows downloading guitar backing tracks and karaoke backing tracks.
Labeled by DVDVideoSoft as the best MP3 audio converter on the net, Free Audio Converter supports all popular audio file formats, including MP3, AAC, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and WMA. The 30.45 MB app features MP3 LAME Encoder presets INSANE and EXTREME that create superior MP3 quality.
Finally, Free Studio is DVDVideoSoft’s freeware set of multimedia programs which includes the MP3 & Audio section. It can extract audio from video files, convert audio files between different formats, rip and burn CDs, and more. Free Studios weighs 58.20 MB.
Other top-notch converter apps are aTube Catcher and YTD
Developed by DsNET Corp., YouTube conversion tool aTube Catcher, which is about 15 MB in size, lets users convert videos to MP3. They have to select the Convert video to MP3 shortcut, which will take them to the same section as Download Videos.
There, users have to choose the MP3 format before dragging the files they want to convert. The process is automatic and without any complicated configuration. The resulting audio file will play on their PC, mobile device or console.
Like with aTube Catcher, YTD can convert videos from YouTube to MP3 files as well as from Facebook, Dailymotion, and several other websites featuring video content. From GreenTree Applications, and formerly known as YouTube Downloader, YTD’s latest version is faster, more stable, and only weighs 7.67 MB.
Source: TechRadar