Best method to extract highest quality mp3 from YouTube?

[siratfus]

There are many add-ons in firefox and Chrome that allows us to download directly to MP3. I guess the add-on program does some automatic conversion. Does the quality of the audio degrade when you do this? I'm wondering if it's just in my head, but I notice the sound is different when I go back and hear it through the actual youtube video versus hearing the converted MP3.

Some addons allow you to download to M4A and AAC, should I choose any of those over MP3? Lastly, I also read something about demuxing? Would that give the best audio? Download the youtube video mp4, then demux audio from it?

A. Download directly to MP3
B. Download directly to M4A
C. Download directly to AAC
D. Download highest MP4, then demux

What is best? Please advise, thank you.

[Speed Daemon]

I've heard some truly awful audio on YouTube! In that respect, you're totally beholden to the uploader's skills, or lack thereof. I'm assuming that you're talking about the use of non-copyright clips, for personal use.

I'm still seeing YouTube videos in oddball formats like RealAudio and VC1, so you might be mindful of that. I'd download the whole video stream to a file, and then use MediaInfo to see what the payload is. If you can get AVCHD video, you can rip and save the AAC audio stream as-is, or convert to MP3. I try to avoid transcoding audio, because that can introduce unwanted artifacts, especially at low bit rates. So if the video has an AAC stream, yes I'd save directly to AAC. If the audio stream is AC3, MPEG-2 Layer 2, or some other audio format that isn't used for audio-only, then transcode to your favorite file format and hope for the best.

[sneaker]

I'm still seeing YouTube videos in oddball formats like RealAudio and VC1
[...]
If the audio stream is AC3, MPEG-2 Layer 2

Youtube never delivered videos using any such format. You can use youtube-dl to see what streams are available for a given video. The highest-bitrate Opus stream is probably the highest quality audio you can get from Youtube. (I don't know what AAC encoder they use. Depending on that it might be better to either download AAC directly from them or to convert the Opus to AAC in case your player does not know Opus.)

[Speed Daemon]

Youtube never delivered videos using any such format.

Sorry to disagree, but I did see a VC1 video as recently as this week. I've also seen some Flash (.flv) as well.

Perhaps your browser / OS are set up differently, so you don't get the full gamut of available video formats. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean that others do not get them.

[El Heggunte]

Sorry to disagree, but I did see a VC1 video as recently as this week. I've also seen some Flash (.flv) as well.

Perhaps your browser / OS are set up differently, so you don't get the full gamut of available video formats. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean that others do not get them.

Well, the old YouTube really supported FLVs with VP6 + MP3, IF I remember correctly.

As for VC-1 stuff on YouTube... would you mind showing us the evidences

Does the latest Flash Player support VC-1 in MP4?

And what is the VC-1 encoder used by YouTube?

[manono]

Sorry to disagree, but I did see a VC1 video as recently as this week.

The next time you come across a link with one maybe you can post it here.

As for the original question, I agree that the video (or audio, if possible) should be downloaded in the highest YouTube quality possible. If you then have to have MP3 audio, you can convert it, but with the understanding the quality will be further degraded.

[bulgom]

.
"Complete YouTube Saver (CYS)" * add-on for "Firefox" allows """uncompressed .wav CD quality""" downloading... here between many quotes, since I doubt the senders often upload excellent quality audio, "along with" (included in) their videos...

So, what does "Wav CD quality" mean in that case?.. A recode by "YouTube" (or by the add-on) on-the-fly? to uncompressed .wav, OK, but: if done from a 128 kbs audio stream, or other medium / lousy bitrate (?), quality's wasted already.

Anyway, I'd still try to download the very best quality available (even if it's some fake, as I wonder above), and convert it myself to .mp3 (instead of downloading in .mp3 format), using the highest possible settings:

"High (quality = slowest encode)", "320 kbs", and even "Stereo" instead of "Joint stereo" or else, "CBR" instead of "VBR" — & I know that "CBR" means more storage space wasted (endless debates again on this)...

Even in that case, there WILL BE more or less quality loss (lossless: no!), of course.

"CYS" big list of formats & qualities also provides .aac @ 250 or 256 kbs — and even high quality .mp3 (if I remember right), but I'd rather trust my own .mp3 recode, from .wav...

* Just tested again, while typing... Looks like the "Wav CD quality" is not available anymore (either a problem with the add-on itself, or "YouTube" modified their protocol again — & in that case, wait for an update of the add-on).

[pandy]

Best quality is offered from source video format - usually this is highest possible format i.e. format of video uploaded by owner.
Use decent YT downloader (i can recommend Complete YouTube Saver as plugin and youtube-dl ) and select best video format available for video - audio track associated with video will offer highest quality.

YT not offer anything above AAC and Vorbis - so any wav or mp3 is after transcoding.

[sneaker]

YT not offer anything above AAC and Vorbis - so any wav or mp3 is after transcoding.

This is not true.
1. YT offers something above AAC and Vorbis: Opus!
2. You can get MP3 encoded by Youtube, it's embedded in the FLV version. So you have to demux but not transcode. (AAC, Vorbis and Opus can be downloaded directly without video via DASH)

Sorry to disagree, but I did see a VC1 video as recently as this week.

No, you didn't. In Youtube-DL you will see "avc1", maybe that confused you. "avc1" = H.264/AVC.

[pandy]

YT not offer anything above AAC and Vorbis - so any wav or mp3 is after transcoding.

This is not true.
1. YT offers something above AAC and Vorbis: Opus!
2. You can get MP3 encoded by Youtube, it's embedded in the FLV version. So you have to demux but not transcode. (AAC, Vorbis and Opus can be downloaded directly without video via DASH).

Link please...

[sneaker]

Link to what? Use youtube-dl and you will see all available streams, e.g.:
youtube-dl.exe -F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoCl9KcItWY
That will show:

[youtube] qoCl9KcItWY: Downloading webpage
[youtube] qoCl9KcItWY: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] qoCl9KcItWY: Extracting video information
[youtube] qoCl9KcItWY: Downloading DASH manifest
[youtube] qoCl9KcItWY: Downloading DASH manifest
[info] Available formats for qoCl9KcItWY:
format code  extension  resolution note
249          webm       audio only DASH audio , opus @ 50k
250          webm       audio only DASH audio , opus @ 70k
251          webm       audio only DASH audio , opus @160k
171          webm       audio only DASH audio  116k , vorbis@128k (44100Hz), 1.95MiB
140          m4a        audio only DASH audio  128k , m4a_dash container, aac  @128k (44100Hz), 2.24MiB
278          webm       256x144    DASH video  100k , webm container, vp9, 13fps, video only, 1.54MiB
160          mp4        256x144    DASH video  110k , avc1.4d400c, 13fps, video only, 1.91MiB
133          mp4        426x240    DASH video  250k , avc1.4d4015, 25fps, video only, 4.32MiB
242          webm       426x240    DASH video  276k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 3.82MiB
243          webm       640x360    DASH video  505k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 7.01MiB
134          mp4        640x360    DASH video  623k , avc1.4d401e, 25fps, video only, 8.69MiB
244          webm       854x480    DASH video  913k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 12.57MiB
135          mp4        854x480    DASH video 1140k , avc1.4d401e, 25fps, video only, 16.45MiB
247          webm       1280x720   DASH video 1983k , vp9, 25fps, video only, 25.08MiB
136          mp4        1280x720   DASH video 2232k , avc1.4d401f, 25fps, video only, 29.97MiB
17           3gp        176x144    
36           3gp        320x240    
5            flv        400x240    
43           webm       640x360    
18           mp4        640x360    
22           mp4        1280x720   (best)

You can download the 160k Opus stream for example by using the stream number from the list above:
youtube-dl.exe -f 251 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoCl9KcItWY

If you download the flv (#5) you can extract the embedded mp3 audio using flv extract or ffmpeg.

[pandy]

Link to what?

Format codes - can't find on YT.

You can download the 160k Opus stream for example by using the stream number from the list above:

True, my fault, sorry.

If you download the flv (#5) you can extract the embedded mp3 audio using

True but it will not match required by OP highest quality.

[Cunbum]

The best method i know is http://www.convert2mp3.cc

[Alex_ander]

I use Complete Youtube Saver plugin and first download '1080 mp4' if available. It is usually offered (by the plugin which muxes it) with 128 kbps AAC, while 720p version comes with 192 AAC. I then select this particular stream (in the list it is marked as AAC best 192), since most other versions like 'CD quality' are most likely ffmpeg re-encodings from whatever downloaded audio streams. Then I use My MP4 Box GUI to demux video and mux it with the new audio (or encode both streams for DVD etc.)

[iplayball]

I've tried different types of software and websites that say they convert youtube videos to mp3, while some work, they either stop working after a while or do a low budget slow job. One software that I've found is 4K Video Downloader!! It's awesome and extracts and converts to mp3 in one shot. And it gives you the option to extract in the highest audio quality available. I like it because it's super easy to use and real smooth!! Try it out:

https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-videodownloader?r=free_license