The purpose of this post is to describe the easiest way to convert YouTube videos to an MP3 format for non technical people. This is the only guide you will ever need, because it is simple and gives you options that fits your technical style, even if you have none. The three options presented in this post are:
- YouTube converter from your browser
- YouTube converting software for Windows
- YouTube online conversion
Therefore, choose what is best for you so you can listen to the most music without stressing about technical issues.
Video to MP3 conversion
Why is this process useful? An application or software that changes the YouTube .FLV to MP3 is useful because if you want to store a large quantity of music on an mp3player, iPhone, or other cell phones, you can. You can create your own folders, sub folders and play lists and organize your music anyway you like. These are free MP3 files, just as if you purchased it.
Basically you can get all the free music you ever want from YouTube. I do not even buy music anymore. Why would you if you can download legal mp3s from YouTube?
When I listen to music I only sometimes care about he video images, more often I prefer pure sound. This is also useful if you want pure audio files to memorize dialogues in a foreign language.
OK, Lets look at the specifics of these three ways of getting you augmenting your music collection.
Browser conversion steps:
I personally like to do everything with browser plug-in, extensions or add-on. Here are examples of the two best add-on to your browser. I recommend you to download the and install the add-on here:
- Firefox YouTube to MP3
- Chrome YouTube to MP3
- You can also find similar ones for different browsers and you can try different add-ons.
Most applications give you two choices, standard quality and high quality. I always choose high, there is no reason not to.
To illustrate how simple this process is, the following images are the steps I use in my Firefox Browser. It is no more complicated than a YouTube downloader add-on if you have ever used on.
You can choose low quality compression with a smaller file size or high quality compression with a marginally larger file size. I do not think file space is an issue with today's hard drive and storage space.
The next step is download the file, the whole process will be under a minute.
The whole process of changing one file to another will be less than a minute.
YouTube to MP3 software
Here is a simple program to allow you to convert file en masse. That is, you can convert an whole folder, even one thousand videos in a press of a button. It is the most efficient way, if you are really into music and want to upgrade your collection. Where can you get it?
- Video to MP3 program <- download it here for free and change scores videos in a flash. It is an open source program called Guerilla.
Once unzipped and you run the program you will see a screen like this the following. The rest is obvious.
The above is the recommended method for people with a large music collection.
If you want know how to download files from YouTube use something like NetVideoHunter. You can download a hundred or more at a time if you want. The use the above tool to do the rest.
Online file conversion if good for a song or two
Here are three websites you can convert files directly. Just paste the url into a website which specializes in this type of conversion. I do no like it because I have to copy and paste, but it can be useful if your browser does not support an add-on or you do not to install software to your computer.
- video2mp3.net
- listentoyoutube.com
- vidtomp3.com
You can search others they are all basically the same. Just set the default location of where you want to download your songs to on your computer so it is no chaotically mixed in with other files.
More about online video file formats and MP3 files
What you do not need to know about FLV and MP3 but is interesting anyway.
MP3 is the most common audio format. It was developed in 1993 by the the Fraunhofer Institute, Bell labs and other sound engineers, and it is here to stay. It is really MPEG-1 part 3. Now there even exists MPEG-2 and MPEG-2.5. It uses a form of lossy data compression. The reason it is used is it is so small compared to other formats. Quality is based on the bit rate. However the basis of the lossy compression algorithm is that audio sound lost do to compression is below human noticeable levels. Sound waves below the threshold of human hearing are the ones that are altered. This is what makes it so effective and long-standing. Few Audio artifacts exist in the sound.
Are there alternatives? Yes, such as lossless audio codecs and encoders like, MP2, mp3PRO and AAC, but MP3 is the industry standard and the quality is increasing each year.
FLV the video format of choice. Similar to MPEG three-layered compression FLV or Flash video is high quality, small size without any noticeable difference to the user. The Flash Video format is found on video recording and sharing websites like YouTube, Google Video, Hulu, Metcalfe, MySpace(remember this) etc.
It was developed by Macromedia which Adobe too over and now owes. Flash often has embedded SWF files. It is encoded with codecs following the VP6 or Sorenson Spark compression formats for videos.
Online option of conversion
I have thought of creating my own online version of an MP3 convertor, however, I think it is better I simply create this resource page. The purpose of this site is more for languages rather than music for entertainment, so I will work on applications directly related to this. Let me know what you think of this guide and if you have any questions changing, downloading or using any of the tools method.
If you are looking for an audio player or a recorder I would recommend VLC media players and Audacity free audio editor and recorder. They are both rich in codecs and output options.
Leave a reply to YouTube to MP3 – Simple Conversion guide