4 Ways to Download Music from YouTube to Mac [2023 Guide]

Chloe LEE
August 16, 2023 Preview 262 Preview 0
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Primarily known as a video platform, YouTube also hosts the world’s largest music catalog with over 100 million songs and music videos. Listening to YouTube music online is convenient, but sometimes we want to save our favorite songs and playlists for offline, ad-free listening. While YouTube doesn’t allow music downloads on Mac, this article provides 4 solutions to help you easily download music from YouTube to your Mac. You’ll be able to save YouTube songs to your own library for offline playback on Mac, or transfer to other devices and enjoy anywhere.    

1. Download Music from YouTube to Mac Effortlessly

iFunia YouTube Downloader is a reliable and versatile software designed to download online videos and music from YouTube and similar sites. Whether you want to download high-definition music videos or an entire playlist and full albums, it can easily do it for you.

Main features of the best YouTube music downloader for Mac:

  • Download YouTube videos, playlists, albums, shorts and podcasts in bulk
  • Download YouTube songs to M4A, MP3 and more formats
  • Download music videos to MP4, WebM in highest resolution, including 4K and 8K
  • Extract the audio from YouTube videos
  • Offer different sound quality options
  • Also download and convert music from SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Mixcloud, TikTok, Instagram and many more sites.

Free Download macOS 10.11 or later

How to download music from YouTube to Mac easily:

Step 1. Download and launch iFunia YouTube Downloader on your Mac.

Step 2. Copy and paste the URL of a YouTube music video into the box and press Enter. You can add unlimited clips by repeating this step.

paste URL of youtube music

Step 3. Click the “Format” drop-down list to choose your preferred output format. To download only audio, select M4A with the highest sound quality from the list.

download-music-from-youtube-on-mac

Step 4. Click the Download download icon button to initiate the YouTube music download to Mac.

Tips:

1. After the download is completed, quickly locate the downloaded files by clicking the Check icon.

locate-downloaded-file

2. You can directly add the downloaded YouTube music files to iTunes/Apple Music library. So you can seamlessly transfer YouTube music to iPhone and other portable devices for enjoyment on the go.   

Pros:

  1. Multi-threaded download
  2. Download the whole or fraction of YouTube playlists
  3. Download long mix music videos without limit
  4. Support YouTube and other 1,000+ websites  
  5. Super easy to use

Cons:

  1. Free to download 3 YouTube songs only

Free Download macOS 10.11 or later

2. Download Music from Youtube to Mac for Free Online

There are some free websites options for downloading YouTube videos and audio without installing any program on your Mac. This section introduces two capable YouTube music download sites, each with their own advantages and limitations.

#1. Y2down.cc

Y2down is a web-based service that can download video and music from YouTube. It allows you to download a music video as 1080P MP4, and also download audio to MP3, M4A files. The downside is that you can only download one song at a time. And beware of the ad pop ups each time you click Download button.

To download with Y2down:

  1. Go to y2down.cc, paste the URL of the YouTube music video you want to download.
  2. Select a format and quality from the options provided in the list.
  3. Press the “Download” to start downloading through a third-party server.
  4. When the progress bar is full, click the Download button below to save the music file to your Mac.   

download music from youtube to mac online 1

Pros:

  1. Download both the video and audio from YouTube
  2. Support for various output formats

Cons:

  1. No playlist support or batch download
  2. No sound quality options
  3. Annoying pop-up ads

#2. Savemp3.net

As its name suggests, Savemp3.net is a website to convert YouTube music and videos to MP3 files. This free YouTube music downloader allows you to download an entire YouTube playlist or album with a single URL. It also offers selecting MP3 bitrates of 128, 256 or 320kbps. The extra feature is trimming the video by moving the markers or inserting number of seconds.

To download YouTube music to MP3 on Mac:

  1. Visit savemp3.net and paste the URL of a single video or playlist from YouTube.  
  2. Click on the download arrow icon to start downloading the MP3 file to Mac.
  3. You can change the sound quality manually from the Settings in the top header menu. To trim the video, click the scissors icon.   

download music from youtube online 2

Pros:

  1. Can detect an entire YouTube playlist/channel
  2. Support different quality options up to 320kbps
  3. Offer audio trimming capability

Cons:

  1. Can’t download music videos
  2. Limited to MP3 format only

3. Download YouTube Music with a Browser Extension

Addoncrop YouTube Video Downloader is a free browser extension that combines the features of a YouTube videos downloader and a YouTube to MP3 converter. It allows you to download music from YouTube to Mac in either MP4 or MP3 formats. You can use this extension tool in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and here is a guide for Chrome users:

  1. Visit addoncrop.com and install YouTube Video Downloader following its instructions.
  2. Browse to any YouTube video video you wish to download. The extension will show a download bar under every YouTube video.
  3. Click on the first button to save the music video, or the second button to download the MP3 audio file. Alternatively, you can click the extension icon in the browser toolbar for quick access.    

download music from youtube to mac free with browser extension on chrome

Pros:

  1. Download YouTube videos up to 1080P definition
  2. Wide selection of MP3 qualities ranging from 64 kbps to 320 kbps
  3. Options to also download thumbnails and subtitles

Cons:

  1. Lack playlist support
  2. Can’t bulk download multiple songs
  3. Can’t handle 4K resolution music videos

4. Download Music from YouTube to Mac via Terminal

Terminal is a command-line interface included in your macOS system. With the help of a command-line program called yt-dlp, you can download YouTube music with a simple Terminal command on Mac. yt-dlp, a widely used fork of the now inactive project youtube-dl, lets you download YouTube music videos, playlists and extracting audio with simple terminal commands.

To get started: (the italicized lines are commands that you can copy and paste)

Step 1. Install yt-dlp through Homebrew, a software that can easily install command line utilities you need on macOS.

Open Terminal, paste this command line and press Enter to install Homebew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Once it’s done, install yt-dlp via Homebrew: brew install yt-dlp

Step 2. Use yt-dlp to download music from YouTube to Mac.

First, navigate to the folder where you want to save the downloads (e.g. desktop) with cd desktop.

Then you can download music from YouTube with the following basic commands:

  • Single music video: yt-dlp URL
  • Full playlist: yt-dlp playlist-URL
  • Download part of the playlist with “-I” command, for example: yt-dlp -I 1-10 playlist-URL
  • Audio with the specified format: yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 URL 

yt-dlp download music from youtube to mac via terminal

Tip: To extract audio, install FFmpeg via brew install ffmpeg. And more advanced usages of yt-dlp can be found online.

Pros:

  1. Free and fast download
  2. Support downloads from over a thousand sites

Cons:

  1. A bit complex for beginners, need to remember the command line options
  2. Require dependencies for advanced usage, such as FFmpeg     

Comparison of YouTube Music Downloaders for Mac

  iFunia YouTube Downloader Y2down.cc Savemp3.net Browser extension  yt-dlp
Download YouTube music audio

(original quality)

(128 kbps)

(MP3)

(MP3)

(with FFmpeg)

Download YouTube music video ×
Download playlists in one go × ×
Multi-thread download × × × ×
Support for many websites × ×

Conclusion

While YouTube itself doesn’t provide desktop music downloads, this guide has demonstrated 4 methods for easily downloading music from YouTube to Mac. Web-based converters work well for individual songs, but a dedicated download program offers more advanced features for playlists and bulk downloads.  

Now you can go browse YouTube for your favorite tunes and start filling your library via one of these tools!

More Questions about YouTube Music Download on Mac

1. Why cant I download YouTube music on Mac with YouTube Music Premium?

First, there is no desktop YouTube Music app for Mac. YouTube Music Premium only allows downloading songs for offline play on mobile devices. Also, since you don’t really own the downloaded music files, they can’t be transferred to desktop either. A a third-party downloader is need to download music tracks from YouTube to Mac.

2. Which method is the fastest for downloading music from YouTube?

The fastest option is determined by your network speed and program features. Online converters are handy for single songs, while dedicated download software like iFunia YT Downloader can be more efficient for downloading playlists in bulk.  

3. Can the music quality be affected during the download?

Yes, the music sound quality can diminish slightly - especially when you’re converting a video to a lossy audio format like MP3. Most tools recommended above offer options to select your desired audio quality. To preserve a best quality, just choose the highest available option when downloading music.  

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Chloe LEE

Chloe LEE is good at explaining and solving complex technology problems to her readers. Since joining iFunia Studio, she has focused on writing articles about video and DVD software, and how-to tutorials.

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