We’ll be focusing on an online service called Y2Mate here. There are many such services available, but we’ve found many don’t actually work and just plague you with pop-ups. This service works (at the time of writing). We’ve written before about whether it is illegal or morally incorrect to download YouTube video, and it’s definitely in violation of YouTube’s terms and conditions. We advocate nothing, and in this tutorial we’ll be converting only our own YouTube uploads to MP3.
Find the YouTube video URL
Find the video you want to convert on YouTube, then right-click it and choose ‘Copy video URL’. Alternatively, copy the URL directly from the address bar.
Head to a YouTube-to-MP3 converter site
Now head to Y2Mate in your browser. Paste the video URL into the text box using Ctrl + V. Rather than clicking Start, wait for the Download options to appear below. At the bottom you’ll see YouTube to MP3 Converter – tap the New button next to this.
Request an MP3 conversion
On the next page you’ll be offered an MP3 rather than MP4 version of the file. Click Download next to this. The audio file will automatically be downloaded to your computer. Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
