2 Ways to Convert YouTube to Apple Music with/without Subscription

Importing YouTube playlists to Apple Music allows you to control and listen to your beloved music seamlessly. Here's a how-to guide to help you achieve this goal.

What's your purpose of converting YouTube to Apple Music?

Purpose one: YouTube provides over 80 million free songs for users to listen to. You want to download these songs from YouTube and add them to Apple Music for offline playback. For this purpose, go with method 1.

Purpose two: To pursuit the flawless and high-fidelity sound of Apple Music, you yearn to migrate from the YouTube platform to Apple Music, while preserving the cherished playlists amassed on YouTube. For this purpose, jump to method 2.

 Cisdem Video Converter

Best YouTube to Apple Music Converter for Mac/Win

• Download YouTube music, playlists, or album to Apple Music
• Also download music from TikTok, Jamendo, SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Deezer, Bandcamp, etc., 1000+ sites supported
• Convert YouTube to MP3, M4A, Apple Lossless, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, or any
• Also convert YouTube to MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM, iTunes, Apple TV, iMovie, iPhone, iPad, etc.
• Extract music from protected DVDs and Blu-rays to Apple Music
• Allow batch downloading and conversion
• Process fast and return high-quality results
• Additional features: combine several tracks into a single composition, trim songs to create ringtones, increase or decrease their volume
• Trustworthy and easy to use

Free Download macOS 10.13 or later    Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7

Method 1: Manually Add YouTube to Apple Music (No Subscription Required)

Method 1 enables you to put any YouTube song on Apple Music. Utilize a video downloader tool to save music from YouTube or YouTube Music to your computer. Once that's done, manually import as many YouTube songs as you like into Apple Music without limits.

Step #1 Figure out what formats Apple Music supports

What is the best format for Apple Music?

Overall, MP3.

M4A, the format in which YouTube delivers raw audio, guarantees the optimal sound quality. However, due to Apple Music's settings, M4A audio with too low a bitrate or too short a duration will be displayed as "Not available", making it impossible to play in Apple Music.

Therefore, in order to enjoy M4A audio on any music player or device smoothly, it is recommended to convert M4A to MP3. The latter owns the highest compatibility, smaller size, and decent quality.

Step #2 Download and convert YouTube to Apple Music format

Cisdem Video Converter is a simple and nifty video processing app. It provides support for downloading audio & video from 1000+ websites and saving them in 600+ formats, including converting YouTube songs to Apple Music format. It can quickly download multiple YouTube songs without compromising their original quality.

As an ultimate and versatile program, Cisdem Video Converter can serve as a media file compressor, editor, combiner, and player. Also, it lets you convert private or encrypted DVDs to digital files.

Free Download macOS 10.13 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7

How to convert YouTube to Apple Music with Video Converter app:

1. Install and launch Cisdem YouTube to Apple Music Converter on your computer. Choose the “Download” feature.
2. Go to youtube.com or music.youtube.com. Find the music you want, copy its URL.
3. Paste the YouTube video or playlist URL into Cisdem’s bottom box. click “+” to analyze. It will take a couple of seconds. You can add multiple YouTube videos and download them at once.
4. Open the format list. It will detect all native formats supported by YouTube in different resolutions and bitrates. Select M4A in the highest bitrate.
5. Click on the "⬇" icon or the "Start" button to get the M4A music off on your computer.

How do you save YouTube to other Apple Music formats like MP3?

1. Once Cisdem Video Converter finishes the downloading part, click the blue checkmark "√" icon to locate the folder where your downloaded YouTube music is saved.
2. Switch to use Cisdem's "Convert" feature. Drag-n-drop downloaded files to the interface.
3. Click on the "convert all tasks to" to view output format options. 
4. Choose your desired formats. If you need,click the gear icon to open "Settings" window to adjust the audio parameters.
   For example, to convert YouTube music to MP3, select "MP3 High Quality" in the "Audio" category. If you want to pick Apple Lossless format, AIFF is a good option.
5. Start making the YouTube to other Apple Music formats.

Step #3 Add YouTube songs to Apple Music

If you are running macOS Catalina or above, open the Music app. If you are running Windows PC, macOS Mojave or before, open iTunes. Windows doesn’t come with iTunes, you should download and install it first.

Both applications are functionally equivalent in terms of menus and upload capabilities. Take Apple Music, for example, and see how it imports YouTube songs. There are two ways.

Way one: Add from “File”:

1. Initiate the Music app.
2. Select “File” in the Apple menu at the top of the screen, then choose “Import”.
3. Locate the downloaded YouTube file or folder, click “Open”. If you add the entire folder, all the files can be imported to the library immediately.

Way two: Add by drag&drop:

1. In the Music app, go to the “Song” tab under “Library”.
2. Directly drag and drop YouTube music to the interface.

Note: YouTube music will be copied to the Music app. You can find the copy by right-clicking the file and selecting "Show in Finder". If you don't want to create duplicate files, consider deleting the Cisdem Video Converter folder in which the YouTube downloads are stored.

Method 2: Automatically Sync YouTube to Apple Music (Subscription Needed)

Method 2 solves your issue! This method requires you to buy Apple Music Premium account and use TuneMyMusic.

Step #1 Subscribe to Apple Music

Before migrating YouTube to Apple Music, you’ll need to open an Apple Music membership account. Prices vary between plans, but they all come with the first month free.

Step #2 Turn on iCloud music library

1. Launch Music app. Navigate to "Account" and sign into your Apple ID that is linked to your Apple Music subscription.
2. Go to “Music” > “Preferences”.
3. Under the “General” tab, check "Sync Library".

Step #3 Sync YouTube to Apple Music

TuneMyMusic is a straightforward online platform that helps you to migrate music from one source to another within a single interface. You can transfer YouTube or YouTube Music to Apple Music, Apple Music playlist to YouTube, Deezer to Spotify, Amazon Music to TIDAL, and more.

How to transfer YouTube to Apple Music online free via TuneMyMusic:

1. Open https://www.tunemymusic.com/ in your browser.
2. Click “Let’s start”.
3. Choose a source platform - YouTube or YouTube Music.
4. Select the YouTube playlist. There are two ways. Way one: Copy-n-paste the playlist link, then click “Load from URL”.
   Way two: Log in your YouTube account, you will see your YouTube music library, showing your liked videos and “Save” playlists. Choose the option you want to sync.
5. Click “Choose Destination”.
6. Choose the destination platform - Apple Music and connect to your Apple ID.
7. Click “Start Transfer”. Wait for the process to complete.

Upon successful migration from YouTube to Apple Music, what problems might you face?

TuneMyMusic is not a perfect tool. Based on my test and complaints from other users, I have summarized the following problems:

1. Only sync up to 500 tracks. If you have thousands of tracks, pay $4.5 per month to become premium.
2. Can't transfer songs that aren't yet available on Apple Music.
3. Unable to transfer songs or albums not available in your country or region.
4. Lose some tracks. Fail to sync all of them.
5. Import some random songs which don’t contain in original YouTube playlist.
6. Playlists are migrated in the incorrect order.

If the synchronization result is not good, you can try another online platform - Soundiiz, pay for TuneMyMusic's premium service, or download YouTube songs with video downloader app and manually add them to Apple Music.

Why do people move from YouTube to Apple Music

• For easy playback on computer

YouTube Music does not support the desktop version. Whereas Apple Music can be played through iTunes or Music app.

• For better sound quality

Professionals and audiophiles prefer using Apple Music, as it offers high-res lossless audio, while YouTube does not. Still, the regular listener might not realize the difference.

• Get a long-time free trial

Apple provides 6 months free to new Apple Music users who purchase Apple devices such as iPhone, iWatch, AirPods, HomePod mini, Beats headphones, etc.

Final Words

The above discusses how to convert YouTube to Apple Music, 2 methods for 2 different purposes. In method 2, it says some people have moved to Apple Music, but that doesn't mean YouTube isn't popular anymore. YouTube still occupies an irreplaceable position with its wide range of music, the provision of visual images, and free of charge. So, downloading and saving YouTube is in high demand.