Forum Discussion
Question about youtube music download on Windows 11
Hi all,
New to Windows 11 and has a dumb question. I have an active youtube premium subscription. How can I save a local copy of youtube music on my computer? I don't find a way to this.
I tried a few online music download services but they no longer work. Is any any good Windows desktop app i can use for youtube music download in 2026? I can see a lot of people have the same issue across the web.
11 Replies
- DavdIron Contributor
AllCliipDown
- HarperClarkIron Contributor
Recording system audio while playing a YouTube video is one of the oldest methods for youtube music download. It works by capturing whatever sound your computer outputs in real time, meaning no specialized downloader app is needed. Tools like OBS Studio can tap into your system's audio stream and record it as you play the video.
Steps for YouTube Music Download:
Install a recording tool — Download OBS Studio for free on Windows, macOS, or Linux.
In OBS, set the recording input to "Stereo Mix" (Windows) or use a loopback device on Mac/Linux. In OBS, add an "Audio Output Capture" source.
Test levels — Play a few seconds of the video and check that audio levels are registering in the app before committing to a full recording.
Hit record — Start recording in your app, then play the YouTube video from the beginning at full quality.
Stop and trim — Once the video ends, stop the recording and trim any silence from the start and end of the track.
Export — Save the file in your preferred format, such as MP3 or WAV.
Cons
- Real-time only — you must play the video at normal speed from start to finish, so downloading a 10-minute song takes at least 10 minutes.
- Quality loss — recording system audio introduces an extra encoding step, meaning the output is never quite as clean as a direct download.
- Captures everything — any notification sounds, system beeps, or other audio playing on your computer will be mixed into the recording.
- AmiracobCopper Contributor
Let me walk you through using YouTubeSnoop as a YouTube music download tool. YouTubeSnoop is a command-line tool designed specifically for people who want to download music from YouTube. The YouTube music download tool is available as a Python package on PyPI, meaning you install it using Python's package manager (pip) rather than downloading a traditional installer. This makes it lightweight but requires you to have Python set up on your computer.
Installation:
bash
pip install youtubesnoop
Basic usage:
bash
youtubesnoop [YouTube URL]
For single tracks, it downloads as FLAC files. For playlist URLs, it creates a folder structure with {artist} /{year} - {album Title} and names each track as {track number}, {title} ,flac.
Important note: If you encounter "403 Forbidden" errors, upgrade the ytdlp dependency that YouTubeSnoop uses: pip install --upgrade youtubesnoop or pipx upgrade ytdlp.
- HarperClarkIron Contributor
Recording system audio while playing a YouTube video is one of the oldest methods for youtube music download. It works by capturing whatever sound your computer outputs in real time, meaning no specialized downloader app is needed. Tools like OBS Studio can tap into your system's audio stream and record it as you play the video.
- DaxxonFosterIron Contributor
I just remembered you can use YT-DLG to youtube music download—it’s a pretty good tool.
How to Download Music from YouTube
Step 1: Download and extract the program files.
Step 2: Run the software
Step 3: Paste the music link.
Step 4: Select Audio MP3 as the output format.
Finally, click Download to start the task.
It’s a compact tool suitable for basic audio downloads—a simple, lightweight program. If you can get used to it, it works just fine
Cons:Does not support music library management or automatic downloads
- JosephKimIron Contributor
Parabolic, a modern open-source GUI front-end for yt-dlllp that lets you download content from YouTube and over 1,000 other sites in both video and audio forms. It's available natively on Linux (GNOME/GTK 4) and Windows (WinUI 3), putting the raw power of yt-dlllp behind a friendly, polished interface without requiring any command-line knowledge.
For youtube music download, click "Add Download," paste the YouTube URL into the Media URL field, and click Validate. From there you can change the file type to save audio only. You can choose from formats for a small, easy-to-play file, or FLAC if you want higher-quality sound and you can also grab the metadata so that the track title and artist name display correctly in your music library.
Parabolic youtube music downloader also supports simultaneous downloading of multiple files, with a maximum number of concurrent downloads configurable in the settings. For batch music downloads, you can paste an entire playlist URL and choose "Download all," making it easy to grab a full album or playlist at once.
Overall, it's a clean, capable, and completely free tool for anyone on Linux or Windows who wants a no-fuss way to save YouTube music offline.
- ZonceyCopper Contributor
You -Get is a completely free, open-source command-line tool written in Python. Unlike the other YouTube music downloader you wanted to avoid, You-Get is not built on the same codebase—it's an independent project that has been around for years.
How to install and use You-Get if as YouTube music downloader
Step 1: Install Python
Step 2: Install FF mpeg
- Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator
- Please execute this command: winget install ff mpeg peg
- After the installation is complete, please close PowerShell and then reopen it.
Step 3: Install You -Get
Step 4: Download music from YouTube
- Navigate to the folder where you want to save your files using cd [folder path]
- Download a video as an audio file using: you-get [YouTube URL]
- The tool downloads the highest quality version available by default
- XollomIron Contributor
Tartube is an open-source program that you can use as a YouTube music downloader to download songs and videos, as well as organize your downloaded music library.
Instructions: Download and install the software from the official website, add music channels to the database, configure your automatic download preferences, and use the built-in batch tool to download songs. The built-in engine will automatically process the tasks and save the files.
Pros: Organizes downloaded songs into a database; automatically downloads new content from subscribed channels; supports large-scale batch processing; a feature-rich YouTube music downloader.
Cons: The software is somewhat difficult to use, and the interface is not very intuitive; delays may occur when syncing large music libraries or performing multiple downloads simultaneously.
You can use it to build and maintain a well-organized offline music library. You can also manage a large music collection and download tracks.
- MadisonGreenIron Contributor
MediaHuman YouTube Music Downloader. It is a simple desktop app for Windows 11 that focuses on downloading YouTube music. It is easier than command-line tools and is useful when you want a clean youtube music download utility without using risky online converter websites.
1. Open YouTube (or any supported site) in your browser and copy the link from the address bar.
2. Run YouTube Music Downloader and click the Paste Link button on the toolbar. The video will be added to the list and the app will automatically fetch its details.
3. Click the middle button on the toolbar to select your output format and settings. You can switch between video and audio-only download mode; in audio mode, the app will extract and save just the soundtrack.
4. By default, the app saves videos to the Movies folder and audio to the Music folder, in a subfolder called "Downloaded by MediaHuman." To change this, open Preferences and switch to the Video output or Audio output tab.
5. To download a single video clip, click the Start button next to it, or use Start All on the toolbar to download everything at once.
- FreyansCopper Contributor
When you use the subscription privileges of YouTube's premium services to download music through the official music application, the files downloaded are not the regular music files that you can access or move. YouTube Music stores the downloaded content in an encrypted and digitally rights-managed format, and only the YouTube Music application can play these files.
About the YouTube music download. ytpdl can be used to cache the audio in playlists for offline listening. You can run it via the command line, and it will directly generate MP 3 files on your computer.
How to use it for YouTube music download:
- Ensure you have Node,js installed on your computer
- Run: npm install - g ytpdl
- Run: ytpdl <playlist_ id> --filter audio --quality highestaudio