5 Ways to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 on Windows in High Quality

YouTube is a huge source of music, podcasts and other audio content in addition to videos. Sometimes you may want to extract the audio from a YouTube video and save it as an MP3 file for offline listening anytime, anywhere. For Windows users, there are many downloader software and online tools to get the audio tracks - but which are the best and safest ones? In this guide, we'll explore 5 awsome ways to easily convert YouTube videos to MP3 on your Windows computer.

 

Way 1. Convert YouTube Video to MP3 on Windows with a Professional Converter

For Windows laptop and PC users, there's no better way than to use a dedicated YouTube to MP3 converter software. Through numerous strict tests, the one we highly recommend is Cisdem Video Converter.

This powerful YouTube converter can download YouTube videos, music, and live in audio-only formats at original quality, and convert the downloaded audio to various formats including MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, M4A and more, no additional tools or plugins needed.

What's more, Cisdem Video Converter is an all-in-one tool that allows you to download audio/video from many other sites such as SoundCloud, Vimeo, Mixcloud, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

How to convert YouTube video to mp3 on PC via Cisdem Video Converter

Step 1. Download and install the program

Free download and install Cisdem YouTube to MP3 converter for Windows.

Free Download

Double-click to launch it after installing, move to the download interface by clicking the middle tab  at the top of the window.

Step 2. Copy and paste the URL

Head to YouTube, find the video containing the audio you want and copy the URL.

Go back to the program, paste the URL into the bottom box and hit“Enter” to analyze it. You can repeat the copy-n-paste process to add more videos to the download queue.

Step 3. Download YouTube videos directly

When all videos are added, you can click the Format box to choose an audio-only download format at the end of list. The higher the Kbps, the better the quality.

Click the down arrow or the "Start" button to begin downloading them quickly.

Once the download is finished, click the check icon  to the locate the downloaded files in folder instantly.

Step 4. Convert YouTube to MP3 on Windows

Drag and drop the downloaded YouTube audio to the first interface of Cisdem.

Click the drop-down icon of “Convert all tasks to” box at the bottom left to open the format list. Then click “Audio > MP3" and determine a quality level.

Finally, click the Start button again to convert YouTube to MP3 on your computer.

Before conversion, you can click the edit symbol to trim the audio, adjust volume and add fade-in/out effects if necessary.

Notes:

1. It's necessary to know that YouTube uses AAC (.m4a) or Opus (.webm) audio codecs for video and music streaming, which provide better sound quality than MP3 format with smaller size. That's why Cisdem doesn't offer MP3 as direct YouTube download format.

2. Converting from YouTube original format to MP3 may result in some loss of quality. In Step 4, choose the Medium or High Quality option to better preserve the sound quality and keep a good bitrate up to 320K. Advanced users can also click the "Setting" button to adjust the sample rate, audio channel, encoder and more settings.

 

Way 2. Convert YouTube Video to MP3 on Windows with a Recorder

Audacity is a cross-platform audio editor and recorder that can record any computer playback and export to audio formats including MP3, WAV, AIFF, AU and OGG. It’s a reliable tool to record YouTube video to MP3 on windows without paying. You can also use it to preview the recorded file, trim the audio, and enhance the sound if necessary.

The interface may look complex with many buttons for beginners, so we offered a detailed guide below.

Steps on how to record YouTube video to MP3 on Windows with Audacity:

1. Download and install the right version of Audacity on your computer.
2. Open it, click “Audio Setup” button to adjust the settings before recording.
3. Select "Windows WASAPI" in the Host section , and select Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio) in the Recording Device.
   
4. Click the red“record” button to start to record audios.
5. Move to YouTube and play the video you want. Then, wait patiently for recording.
6. After the playback is over, go back to Audacity and click “stop” button.
7. Play the recorded audio and cut unnecessary part.
8. Click "File > Export Audio" in the top menu bar.
9. Select a suitable destination and file name in the popped-up windows.
10. In the popped-up window, specify a destination folder and file name, and select MP3 as the output format. Advanced users can adjust audio options like channels, sample rate, bitrate quality, etc.
11. Finally, click on "Export" to save the YouTube MP3 file on your computer.

 

Way 3. Convert YouTube Video to MP3 on Windows with an Extension

If you long for a way to convert YouTube video to MP3 on Windows without installing software, it is recommended to use a browser extension.

Addoncrop YouTube Downloader is third-party extension that works on over 10 browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and more. It can help you download YouTube video to MP3 without leaving the page, but it limits length/size of the video. It can also be used to download YouTube videos, save subtitles and thumbnails.

How to convert YouTube to MP3 on PC using Chrome extension:

1. Open https://addoncrop.com/v26/youtube-downloader/ in Google Chrome.
2. Tap on “Add to Chrome” and then follow the prompts to install premise extension Foxified. Then allow relative permissions to install the YT downloader extension following the instructions.
   
3. Move to YouTube website, play any video that you want.
4. Click the “MP3 Converter” icon that looks like a music symbol.
   
5. On the expanding panel, you can choose to change the audio bitrate or trim the MP3 file. Note: YouTube offers a maximum bitrate of 256 kbps to YouTube Premium subscribers. So even if you set the bitrate to 320 kbps it doesn't help to improve the quality.
6. Finally, click on “Download” button.

How to convert YouTube music to MP3 on Windows using Firefox add-on:

1. Open Addoncrop YouTube Download through the Firefox search engine.
2. Click “Add to Firefox” to install Tampermonkey add-on.
3. Then, return to install the YouTube to MP3 Downloader userscript via Tampermonkey.
4. Open the video containing the music you desire to download on YouTube.
5. Same as on Chrome. Click the “MP3 Converter” icon under the YouTube video.
6. Press the blue “Download” button. It needs some time to request download.

 

Way 4. Convert YouTube Video to MP3 on Windows with Online Converters

Online converters is another easy way to convert YouTube music to MP3 on Windows. There are a wealth of online YouTube video to MP3 converters for you to choose from, but many contain viruses and limit size or length of YouTube video. After testing, we have selected 2 totally free online converters that work well without size or length limitations.

YTmp3

As the name indicates, YTmp3 is created to change YouTube video to MP3. It can help to convert YouTube videos quickly without registeration, but it doesn’t provide quality options and the download speed is a bit slow.

1. Visit https://ytmp3.nu/en31/ on your PC.
2. Go to YouTube, copy the URL of a video you like.
   
3. Go back to the page of YTmp3, paste the copied link into the empty box for adding YouTube video URL.
4. Make sure the output format button is “MP3”, hit on “Convert” button and then wait for parsing out the video and converting YouTube video to MP3 online.
5. After finishing, tap on “Download” button to save it on your PC.

OnlineVideoConverter.pro

Onlinevideoconverter is a useful online YouTube to MP3 converter that contains less ads. Like YTmp3, it can only save MP3 file in lower bitrate level. You can also use it to download YouTube to MP4 in up to 720p HD.

1. Navigate to onlinevideoconverter.pro website.
2. Enter the YouTube video URL into the designated field, and click Convert.
3. Click the Download button of MP3 format.
4. Wait for the tool to finish converting, then the video will be automatically saved to the downloads folder of your browser.

If the sites don’t work, you can find more options here: Top Online YouTube to MP3 Converters.

 

Way 5. Download YouTube to MP3 in Command Prompt

The command-line tool yt-dlp is a powerful way to download and convert YouTube videos to MP3 on Windows. It can download and convert YouTube videos and playlists to MP3 smoothly. However, it's more of a geek way compared to other tools, and you have to tell it what to do with accurate command options.

How to convert YouTube to MP3 with yt-dlp on Windows:

Step 1. Install yt-dlp on Windows OS.

1. Download the latest yt-dlp.exe for Windows from the official GitHub page.
2. Add yt-dlp to your system path so that you can use it from any directory.

1. Search “edit the system environment variables” in the search box and hit the option to open the System Properties window. Click the “Environment Variables...” button.
2. Double-click the Path in the System variables field to edit it.
3. Click New, then type or paste the path where yt-dlp.exe is located. Click OK to apply changes.

Step 2. Download YouTube to MP3 via command line.

1. Type “cmd” in the search box and open Command Prompt.
2. Run cd command to specify the download location, like cd desktop.
3. Run yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "URL" to download and convert YouTube video to MP3. Replace the URL with the actual URL of your wanted YouTube video.

Tips:

1. You can add multiple URLs to the command line and yt-dlp should download them one by one.

2. Use --audio-quality to specify the MP3 audio quality level, such as --audio-quality 256K

 

Conclusion

Hope you have found the most suitable way for you to download and convert YouTube video to MP3 on Windows. For fast and high-quality conversion, a professional YouTube video to MP3 converter or command-line tool is always the top choice, especially for long YouTube video over 2 hours.

Web-based tools are convenient, but they can struggle with large files and transcode YouTube to MP3 with quality loss. On the contrary, dedicated software like Cisdem Video Converter offers more hassle-free experience with enhanced functions, high-bitrate results and more stable performance.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have more questions!