YouTubeForge

YouTube → audio

Download audio from a public YouTube video

This page is for the soundtrack, not the transcript. We request an audio-only stream and let you save MP3 by default, or M4A, Opus, or WAV. Talks without captions can still have audio.

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Download audio
Download video

Works with watch, shorts, youtu.be, and a bare video id. No account.

Your file is downloading

The file will save to your downloads folder.

How to save YouTube audio

  1. Paste the watch URL

    Same links as the transcript tool. The app requests an audio-only stream, not a muxed 1080p file.

  2. Download the file

    Format defaults to MP3. Switch to M4A, Opus, or WAV if you need them. The file comes through /api/audio.

  3. Do the next job

    When the file is ready, jump to transcript, SRT, translation, or a chapter summary without pasting again.

Why this is not a generic “YouTube MP3” clone

  • Audio-only streams

    We prefer adaptive audio (itag 140/251 class) so you are not downloading video pixels.

  • Same family as captions

    After audio, one click to text, SRT, or a summary — one session, several intents.

  • No ffmpeg.wasm on the landing

    The SEO page stays light. Heavy work is the app + a streaming API.

  • Honest failures

    If YouTube only returns a signature-cipher URL we cannot decode, we say so. We do not pretend every video is downloadable.

When audio-only is the right intent

  • Podcast-style watch later

    Save the talk for a phone player that does not need the video.

  • Language listening

    Play the original audio while you read a translated transcript in another tab.

  • No captions

    The video has speech but YouTube never shipped a timedtext track — audio still may work.

Limits

Only public videos we can resolve through InnerTube. Ciphered streams, DRM-ish formats, and region/age walls fail. Use this for content you are allowed to keep a personal copy of. We are not a piracy mirror and we do not host a library of files.

FAQ

Is this YouTube to MP3?

Yes — MP3 is the default download. You can still pick M4A, Opus, or WAV. Use it only for videos you are allowed to keep a personal copy of.

Why did download fail?

The player JSON had no plain audio URL (signature/n-param), or the video is blocked for this network. Try another public video.

How large are the files?

Roughly the audio bitrate times duration (for example ~1 MB per minute at 128 kbps AAC). We stream; we do not buffer the whole file in RAM.

Can I clip a range?

Not on the download yet. Trim exists on the transcript side. For audio, download the full stream.

Is it free?

Yes, with the same ads-around-the-tool model as the rest of YouTubeForge.