How to Convert YouTube Music to MP3 on Mac

Grace

July 23, 2024

YouTube Music users may consider downloading songs for offline playback on their Macbook computers, especially during travel or when there’s no internet connection. However, the YouTube Music download feature is only available to Premium users on mobile devices. Downloaded tracks can only be played within the YouTube Music app on the device where the downloads are made, and transferring to your Mac is not supported.

Fortunately, there are alternative methods that allow you to convert music from YouTube to MP3, making it possible to play them offline on your Mac. Keep reading to find out how.

Contents

1. Download YouTube Music to MP3 with Free Online Tools
2. Download Music from YouTube to MP3 with VLC Media Player
3. Convert YouTube Music to MP3 with a Smart Downloader-Most Efficient
4. In Conclusion

Option 1. Download YouTube Music to MP3 with Free Online Tools

To download your favorite YouTube songs on your Mac, there are some online tools to help. Although most of them are free, you need to go through multiple advertisements during the downloading process. Furthermore, they usually download only individual songs one by one and cannot batch-convert full playlists or albums.

Pros and Cons of Free YouTube Online Downloader

LOADER.TO MP3 Downloader

Loader.to MP3 Downloader is an online downloader to convert YouTube videos and audio with easy steps. However, unlike video downloading on Loader.to, users cannot adjust the audio quality; they can only choose the download audio types such as MP3, M4A, FLAC, etc.

It is worth mentioning that this online tool works well on converting single songs, but fails to perform when downloading playlists.

Use these steps to download YouTube songs with Loader.to:

1. Go to music.youtube.com on your Mac.
2. To copy the URL of a YouTube song, select the three dots>Share>Copy link.
3. Visit en.loader.to and paste the copied song link into the box under the URL. 
4. Choose MP3 as the download format and click the “Download” button. 
5. Wait for the song to be loaded and click the Download button with a downloading icon. The song will be downloaded to your Mac.

Option 2. Download YouTube Music to MP3 with VLC Media Player

VLC is commonly known as a free and open-source media player that supports playing most multimedia files. Surprisingly, you can also use it to download YouTube Music content on your Mac. However, most downloads with VLC are in MP4 format, especially if you are using the free version of YouTube Music. After downloading, you can transfer the MP4 files to MP3 with the VLC media player.

Pros and Cons of Downloading YouTube Songs with VLC

Below is the step-by-step guide on how to download YouTube Music songs with VLC. You’ll need to use the web browser as well.

Step 1. Get Media Information on the YouTube Song with VLC

1. Go to music.youtube.com on your Mac. To copy the URL of a YouTube song, select the three dots>Share>Copy link.

2. Launch the VLC Player and select File > Open Network from the top menu.

3. Paste the copied link to the box and click Open at the bottom right.

4. When the song is playing on VLC, select Windows > Media Information from the top menu.

5. Copy the link under Location.

Step 2. Download the Song with a Browser

1. Open the web browser on your Mac and paste the copied location link to the address box.
2. Click the three dots at the lower right of the video and select Download. The song will be downloaded to your Mac in MP4 format.

Step 3. Convert MP4 to MP3 with VLC

1. From the VLC Media Player menu, click File > Convert / Stream.

2. Drag and drop your downloaded YouTube MP4 file to the VLC, select Audio-MP3 under Choose Profile, and click Save as File under Choose Destination.
3. Click the Browe button to choose a destination and rename your converted MP3 file. Then Click the Save button to start converting. When you name your MP3 file, remember to add .mp3 to the end.

Option 3. The Most Efficient Way to Convert YouTube Music to MP3

For the most efficient way to download YouTube Music songs to MP3 on Mac, use a dedicated YouTube Music Downloader – Pazu YouTube Music Converter. This tool comes with a built-in YouTube Music web player, making it simple to browse, search, and download your desired songs, albums, or playlists with just one click.

Pazu YouTube Music Converter is made for both Free and Premium YouTube Music users. You can convert YouTube Music content into various formats such as MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and AIFF with ease on your Mac or Windows computer. These converted files can be transferred to any compatible device for offline listening.

Pros and Cons of Pazu YouTube Music Converter 

To download YouTube Music songs, albums, and playlists with or without a YouTube Music Premium subscription, Pazu YouTube Music Converter is all you need. Here are the detailed steps to download YouTube Music to MP3 using Pazu YouTube Music Converter:

1. Run Pazu YouTube Music Converter 

To get started, download, install and run Pazu YouTube Music Converter on your Mac or Windows, which features a built-in YouTube Music web player.

After installation, launch the YouTube Music to MP3 Converter. If you have already purchased a license, click the key icon to register the converter. Otherwise, continue using the trial version.

You don’t need to sign in to your YouTube Music account.

2. Customize the Output Settings

Click on Settings (the gear icon) in the upper right corner to customize the output format, quality, folder, file name, language, and more. Select MP3 as the output format.

3. Add songs

Browse or use the search function to find the songs, albums, or playlists you want to convert to MP3, then click the red Add to List icon to load the songs.

All songs in the playlist/album will be selected by default. You can uncheck the songs you don’t want to get.

4. Download Music from YouTube Music

Click the Convert button and the program starts converting the YouTube Music songs.

5. Locate the Converted Songs

After the conversion process is complete, click on the clock icon in the upper right corner to access the converted YouTube Music songs. To locate the the converted YouTube Music songs:

• You can either click the folder icon to open the output folder where the songs are saved;
  or
• Directly go to the output folder you customized in the previous step.

In Conclusion

YouTube Music only allows Premium users to download content on mobile devices. If you want to listen to YouTube Music offline on your Mac, you can convert the songs to MP3 with a free online downloader, with the VLC media player, and the most recommended option – with the Pazu YouTube Music Converter. It can batch download YouTube Music to MP3 at a fast speed with both Free and Premium subscriptions.

To get started, download and install the Pazu YouTube Music Converter now.