Superpowers for your Mac
- Download Youtube Audio Mp3
- How To Download Youtube Audio Mac
- Youtube Downloader For Mac Free Full Version
Download the entire YouTube playlist and create your audio collection. Convert YouTube to MP3 on macOS, PC and Linux absolutely for free!
- To download YouTube audio online, all you will need to do is visit youtube-mp3.org and then do the following. Step 1: Copy and paste the URL of the YouTube video that you want to convert to MP3 in the text field on that website. Step 2: After that, click on “Convert Video” so start the conversion process. Once the conversion is complete.
- Youtube Audio free download - Free YouTube Downloader, MacX YouTube Downloader, Youtube to MP3 Downloader, and many more programs.
- Here is a list of 2021 top YouTube MP3 downloaders for macOS. Free download the best YouTube MP3 for macOS and save MP3 audio to local Mac easily.
You may hate funny cat videos or game reviews, but the chances are you still use YouTube. A mammoth of video content, YouTube is a go-to spot for many. In fact, the platform has over 1 billion users which is one-third of all internet users. Huge.
Or, maybe your daily companions are Vimeo and Twitch. One way or another, video content is a part of your digital life. The question is how to make the best use of it.
In this article, we compare top YouTube downloaders for Mac and explain how you can legally download video from YouTube (or any other video platform) to watch it anytime and anywhere.
Best YouTube downloaders
Get a huge set of top tools to download videos from Youtube. Most helpful utilities in one pack, give it a go!
Let us warn you in advance, all YouTube download tools reviewed in this article are worth a try. To help you narrow down the choice, here are the nice-to-have:
- Works with all major video streaming platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.
- Allows to save mp4 content and, optionally, convert to different formats.
- Has support for audio output — allowing you to save music from videos.
- Can download playlists or channels in batch.
- Caters for both professional and everyday use.
- Guarantees privacy and does not collect any of your personal information.
For sure, these are not one-size-fits-alls. Maybe batch downloading playlists is totally useless for you. We made sure the reviewed tools satisfy the key needs — like security and integration with video streaming platforms. The rest is up to you.

Quick navigation:
It’s not easy to step into the jungle of video downloaders and instantly pick the right fit. Impossible if you’re new to Mac. There’s help, though.
How to download from YouTube
Whether to capture a few movies for an upcoming flight or save favorite clips to rewatch, many Mac owners want to know how to download a YouTube video. The problem is that it’s complicated to find an efficient free YouTube downloader. Not to mention they could be used for copyright infringement.
To legally save content from YouTube and video streaming services to Mac, as well as download music from videos, you can use third-party apps. As long as you’re not earning money from downloads or breaching any copyright agreements, they are safe to use.
How to save YouTube videos on Mac using native tools
YouTube used to allow direct video downloads. But well...no more. That’s because there’s now a native tool for the job. If you ask YouTube for the best YouTube downloader, it will probably suggest you use YouTube Premium, a native paid subscription service that allows you to save content for offline watching. For the monthly cost of $11.99, you can keep YouTube videos on iPhone and Android devices. Here’s how it works:
- Open the video in your YouTube mobile app.
- Click on the download button below the video player.
- Customize the quality of the output.
- Once the video is downloaded, you’ll see the “download complete” icon below the player.
The app will automatically save YouTube videos you download to the Library or Account tab. Note that a YouTube Premium subscription allows you to save videos only to mobile devices. Thus, if you want to download a YouTube video to Mac, it won't help.
Save YouTube videos on iPhone and iPad
If you want to download video from YouTube on your iOS device, there’s a way to do it with Shortcuts, a native utility that helps solve tasks faster with your iOS apps (by the way, Shortcuts are coming to macOS Monterey! This means shortcuts for video download on Mac could become available in the future). For now, let’s focus on iOS:
- Add the “Download YouTube” shortcut to your Gallery (open this link on your iOS device)
- Open the YouTube video you want to download in the YouTube app > Share button > More > Shortcuts
- On the Run Shortcut screen, tap your shortcut — it will prompt the download process
- Once the video is downloaded, you can choose to save it to camera roll or share.
Unfortunately, many people have been reporting errors with this shortcut method recently. If you, too, can’t get it to work, here’s a workaround: download video on your Mac and then transfer it to iPhone or iPad with AnyTrans. Sounds like an overkill, but AnyTrans actually makes the whole process really smooth.
AnyTrans for iOS is a file transfer and backup app that lets you manage your content across devices. And guess what, it also has a YouTube download feature! So you can literally do it all in one app: 1) download video from YouTube; 2) connect your iPhone or iPad; 3) move the video from Mac to iOS in one click. Works like magic.
Save YouTube videos on Android
One option is to use YouTube Go, an alternative version of YouTube for Android that wastes less network data but also, naturally, works much slower. If you’re ok with spending more time than usual waiting for your download to finish, you can try it out:
- Find YouTube Go on Google Play and download it on your phone
- Search for the video
- Tap on the video you want to download > select quality > Download.
If you have a Mac, we recommend AnyDroid, an app that downloads and sends your videos directly to your Android phone. It’s faster and requires minimum effort:
- Open AnyDroid on Mac
- Navigate to Media Downloader > YouTube
- Find the video you want to download > select quality > Download
- Click on Device Manager, connect your Android phone to Mac, and move the video.
So that’s how to save YouTube videos on Mac without software that needs installing (for AnyTrans and AnyDroid, you’ll need a Setapp membership). Now let’s talk about third-party tools that not only answer the question of how to download a YouTube video, they are packed with extra perks like trimming, converting, and sharing your videos flexibly.
How to download YouTube videos with a YouTube downloader
If you download media files often, you don’t want any extra fuss. Ideally, you want to just grab the video from YouTube in one click. With browser extensions, you can! Get an app that supports extensions and craft your ideal workflow. Here are our favorite options:
- Downie, a video downloader with built-in search and browser extensions, capable of saving videos from 1200+ websites. Want to download YouTube videos Mac Chrome? Just pick Chrome from the available extensions and give it a go.
- Folx is the fastest video and torrent downloader with extension support we’ve seen. It can split your downloads in up to 20 streams to speed up the process — so if you have a particularly large file to download, you can get it 20x times faster than usual. In Preferences, you can enable an extension for one of the most popular browsers.
- Pulltube supports extensions for only three browsers — Safari, Chrome, and Firefox — but there’s a lot more to love Pulltube for. We love it for the trimming tool and built-in file converter. If you want to know how to save a YouTube video as a file of any quality and size, look no further.
Save video from YouTube in mp3, mp4, and other formats
Whether it’s native YouTube Premium or a third-party application, most of the tools you use to download content from YouTube will by default save video files in mp4. There are different options to tweak the format:
Retrieve only audio from your video file — it’s possible with apps like Downie and Folx.
Use Downie + Permute to download and convert to different formats — from FLV to MKV to AVI. The two work well together and are both available with Setapp subscription.
If you use AnyTrans or AnyDroid to transfer downloaded videos to your phone, there’s an option to change the format in Media Downloader.
How to save streaming video
Streaming content is a huge chunk of your internet traffic. Think Vimeo, Twitch, YouTube, Dailymotion, and other platforms where you can watch live content. Relying on online streaming stymies your watching experience in many ways – from limited data usage to network issues. Plus Wi-Fi often fails you at the most crucial moments. Therefore, you need a reliable tool that helps you capture YouTube videos.

If you’re wondering how to watch favorite YouTube videos without downloading, try Elmedia Player — it disables ads in YouTube videos. Yes, it’s actually possible! Just open Elmedia > menu > Open Online Video > paste the link > Play.
If you want more than just removing ads from a streaming video — maybe you need to extract music from it, add/remove subtitles, trim the video, or just keep it on your Mac — a downloader like Pulltube will work better here. It works with over 1000 websites, including YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and so on. Its best feature, in our opinion, is the trimming tool. Instead of downloading the whole video, you can just extract a specific scene and save lots of space on your Mac. To start downloading, just drag or paste the video link in Pulltube.
Finally, if you need to capture a live stream that can’t be downloaded, use a screen recording tool like Capto. It lets you record the whole screen, a specific window, or area — save the recording on your Mac, and even edit it if you like.
How to save YouTube videos on Mac FAQ
Any questions left? Hopefully, we’ve covered them in this FAQ.
- How do I download YouTube videos on my Mac for free?>With a Setapp subscription, you can try all the trusted downloaders we’ve mentioned — AnyTrans, AnyDroid, Folx, Pulltube, and Downie – for free with a 7-day trial. We don’t recommend using free online services to download videos, because you can accidentally download malware.
- Can I download a video from YouTube with YouTube Premium?Yes, you can download a video on your mobile device with YouTube Premium. This option doesn’t work on Mac.
- Why do my YouTube videos keep saying an error occurred?It could be that you need to update your browser, clear cache and cookies, or just refresh the page. Check out the most common video download issues below.
- Why are my YouTube videos not downloading?In some work spaces, it’s prohibited to download YouTube videos, so there might be a firewall blocking your downloads. Also, some copyright holders block video downloaders.
Common YouTube video download issues and how to fix them
Got your ideal video downloader, but keep having issues? Well, maybe the downloader itself is not an issue. There are different factors, from your Mac’s performance to YouTube’s geo-restrictions, that might prevent you from downloading videos. Here are the ways to fix them.
How to unblock geo-restricted YouTube content?
Some videos may not be available in your location, but there are still ways to access them. Get a good VPN app that can unblock geo-restricted content.
The absolute best is ClearVPN with its shortcuts. Unlike traditional VPNs that just switch locations, ClearVPN has one-click options to unlock American Netflix, Australian HBO, or Norwegian YouTube — you name it. It’s all geared towards your needs.
You can also use ClearVPN to unlock games, toggle anonymous browsing, change your IP, and all the usual things you can expect from a high-end VPN.
Fix the “video download failed” issue
If your video downloader suddenly freezes and shows the “download failed” error, the first thing to try is to simply quit and reopen the app. Doesn’t work? In this case, check whether there’s a copyright issue involved — make sure you have the copyright holder’s permission to download the video.
Why is YouTube not working?
Here are a few things to try if you can’t play video in YouTube:
- Check your network connection. Even if it looks like you’re connected, there might be a problem that’s hard to spot. Tools like NetSpot and WiFi Explorer will help scan your network environment and identify possible issues. You can then use one of these tools to try and fix the issue or simply connect to a different network.
- Play the video in Elmedia Player. Elmedia can play YouTube videos without ads on Mac — and this is a great way to check if the video is even available. So if you can play video in Elmedia, there’s a YouTube issue. If not, probably the video is just unavailable.
- Restart your Mac — sometimes it helps, for no reason.
Downloading from YouTube is very slow — what to do?
First of all, it should be said that if you download large files (like a high-resolution movie), it’s ok that it takes much time to download it. If you want to get the best speed possible, Folx to the rescue.
If you notice that your downloader works much slower than before, there could be a problem with your Mac performance. CleanMyMac X is a wonderful tool to diagnose such problems. Just run a Smart Scan to see whether there’s some kind of malware or performance issue that you can fix. Or, maybe your Mac is just very cluttered and needs a cleanup to free up storage space.
It’s ok if you have a hard time choosing your favorite. Some of the apps complement each other – like you could use Folx to capture large videos and transfer them with AnyTrans. With Setapp subscription, you can try every mentioned YouTube downloader (as well as other apps such as WiFi Explorer, ClearVPN, and CleanMyMac X) for free, and choose what suits your flow. Or, don’t choose. Your Mac deserves all of them.
YouTube is one of the premiere online video sharing site across the planet, for it caters massive amount of videos with varying types. And a huge portion of these videos is composed of music videos and sound tracks. It is a lucky thing that you can not only find videos that suit your taste but also enjoy music through these clips, so there’s also a solid need of saving music from YouTube to Mac and Windows. This article will concentrate how to get YouTube MP3 on Mac and sync the audio to iTunes for playing it on iPhone, iPad, iPod and other players.
However, to rip an audio from an online video may be confusing for Mac users due to various reasons. Especially when upgrading to Mac OS X El Capitan, some apps are turn to useless. Then, it is important to choose an application which can save YouTube to MP3 for Mac perfectly. If you haven’t chosen one yet, here are some of the best options that you can have a look.

I. Shareware to Turn YouTube to MP3 on Mac (Pro solution)
Since some users worry about the stability issue, you can consider using a shareware that is built especially for devices running on Mac OS. This program is called Apowersoft Audio Recorder for Mac. By using this tool, grabbing YouTube to MP3 for Mac will not be a concern at all. Moreover, this sophisticated software has varieties of highlights such as the ability to record audio on Mac 1:1, convert the whole YouTube video or a certain part of it, tag ID3 information for recorded audio automatically and output audio to MP3, M4R, ACC and others.
Here are the steps in grabbing YouTube MP3 using Apowersoft Audio Recorder for Mac:
- Download and install the software.
- Now launch it and modify the output settings that you prefer for your audio.
- Open a YouTube video which contains your wanted audio.
- Click the red “Record” icon to start recording YouTube MP3 for Mac.
- Once done, simple click “Stop” button, you can then check your recorded MP3 in the output folder.
II. Web-based Mac YouTube MP3 Converter (Free solution)
One of the best way to extract MP3 from a video is a by using an online app. Unlike other programs, these applications do not require any software downloads and installation for it to work. They also do not eat a lot of your computer’s memory and make your computer works slow. Some of these tools are shown below.
Video to MP3
The first in the list for Mac users is the Apowersoft Free Video to MP3, a great tool perfectly designed to meet audio ripping needs of people. It also comes with other useful function that allows use to search YouTube music video or convert local YouTube audio files. To use it, here are the things you should remember:
- Open the Video to MP3 main page.
- Go to YouTube and look for the music video that you want to process, and copy the video’s URL and paste the copied URL on the convert box provided on the online application.
- Click on the “Convert” button to start the process, and the setting will be display. Select the output format, configure bitrate, channel or others, then click “Download” button.
- Wait for few moments and your newly ripped MP3 audio will now be available.
You can find the audio file in the browser download folder. Then, you can enjoy it on Mac or transfer it to portable devices for playing on the go.
ListentoYouTube
Another tool which is able to convert YouTube to MP3 for Mac OS X El Capitan is none other than ListentoYouTube. This is a magnificent converter that can easily rip any online music that you prefer. It is also free and won’t require you to sign up on the site. The better thing is, ListentoYouTube has no limitation and lets you rip as many audio clips as you want. Below are way to run this awesome app:
Copy the YouTube URL, then open ListentoYouTube. Enter the URL into the blank bar and click “Go”. The app will analyse the video and provide you a download link once done. The rest thing is to click the download link, select a destination folder to save the MP3.
Download Youtube Audio Mp3
Conclusion
How To Download Youtube Audio Mac
Above introduced ways have proven to be useful, you can choose one according to your need. The online YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac work fine for they can rip MP3 from a YouTube video at any time with no need of installation. However, the shareware is more stable and advanced for it not only can record YouTube MP3 on Mac but only can manage, convert and edit audio clips easily. Try it yourself, and decide which one suits you.