How to Download Music from a YouTube Video

Posted on July 13th, 2009 by Marck

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YouTube is a great place to watch streaming video, but you may come across some music video clips that you want to save on your computer. While YouTube doesn’t allow you to download the video directly from the site, you can use certain third-party programs that have been developed to download streaming video. Here are some tips and tricks to show you how.

How Conversion Works

Streaming video is usually encoded as Flash Video (FLV). Usually, a video stream cannot be downloaded the conventional way, like right-clicking on the video and saving the video as a file. To get around the limitations of downloading videos, converting tools use special codes and scripts to download videos from a source (or a group of sources) as they stream into your computer. The bitstream is then converted into a data file that can be used and recognized by your computer.

Converters and downloaders do not download videos perfecly all the time: in some instances, the downloader tool may not be able to establish a link between the video and the downloader, even if the video streams to your computer just fine. The speed of your connection, and the speed of the video stream, also affects how fast the download proceeds.

Converter Tools

There are two kinds of tools that you may use to download music from YouTube videos:

Site downloaders. Sites like Vixy and KeepVid may be used to download YouTube videos. You simply copy the URL of the YouTube video (not the embedded link) and convert the sound of the FLV to MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, or MP4. The file is then sent to you via e-mail or through a download link.
Downloader tools. Some tools can be downloaded onto your computer and assist you in downloading the video directly. Instead of an e-mailed file or a download link, the stream is downloaded and compiled to your hard drive directly. Downloader tools are effective and efficient because you don’t need to run the risk of spyware.

Before downloading a videom or extracting music from YouTube videos, make sure that you’re not violating any copyright or distribution laws in your jurisdiction. Converters may be used only for personal viewing of streaming video; do not use copyrighted video for distribution or for sale.