How to Download Songs from YouTube on Mac

You can find all kinds of videos and songs of various genres on YouTube. This article outlines how to download music from YouTube on Mac in three ways. You can use a third-party YouTube audio downloader, an online YouTube to MP3 converter, and Safari to download any songs you want to keep to your Mac.

Download Songs from YouTube to Mac via Online Converter

• Price: Free
• Pro: Ideal for users who want a hassle-free experience for offline listening of music, podcasts, or lectures.

AuryLab YouTube Audio Downloader is a straightforward and user-friendly online tool for users who want to quickly convert YouTube videos into high-quality audio files. Without requiring any software installation or account creation, this tool allows you to simply paste the YouTube link, choose your preferred audio quality, and download the audio file directly to your Mac.

AuryLab works entirely within your web browser, making it compatible with any Mac as well as other devices, and supports unlimited free conversions without complicated steps or ads. This makes it a convenient choice for building your audio library from YouTube content while ensuring a fast, reliable download process.

• It extracts and converts video files to audio formats like MP3, M4A, or WAV.
• Users can choose different audio quality, such as 64kbps, 128kbps, 192kbps, 320kbps.
• It balances fast processing with maintaining audio quality without glitches or distortions.

Download Songs from YouTube Free with QuickTime Player

• Price: Free
• Pro: Record the music without any third-party tools.
• Con: It records audio in real-time, so it takes as long as the length of the song.

Downloading songs from YouTube using QuickTime Player on Mac is a simple and free way to capture audio directly from YouTube videos without needing any third-party software. QuickTime Player, which comes pre-installed on all Macs, includes an audio recording function that lets you record music playing from YouTube and save it as an audio file for offline listening. While this method records the sound live, it is legal for personal use with your own recordings and convenient when you want to save tracks without complex software setups. Below are easy-to-follow steps to record YouTube songs using QuickTime Player.

Step 1. Launch QuickTime Player from your Mac's Applications folder.

Step 2. In QuickTime Player, go to the menu bar and click File > New Audio Recording.

Step 3. Choose your computer's internal microphone as the audio input source.

Step 4. Open your web browser and navigate to the YouTube video with the song you want to record.

Step 5. Press the red record button, then immediately start playing the song on YouTube.

Step 6. After the song finishes, click the stop button in QuickTime Player. Go to File > Save, then choose a name and location on your Mac to save the recorded audio file. QuickTime saves recordings as M4A files by default.

Save Music from YouTube to Mac with a Desktop Application

• Price:  Starting from $19.95
• Pro: Allows downloading YouTube videos directly to your computer for offline access.
• Con: May not work well with YouTube platform updates.

Airy is a standalone application for Mac designed to download YouTube videos and audio, handling large music libraries and playlists efficiently. It provides a simple interface where you paste the video URL to download content in various formats. In addition to the app, Airy also offers a browser integration feature, which you can set up as a bookmarklet or extension-like tool to quickly send video links from browsers like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Opera directly to the Airy app for downloading.

Step 1. Download and install Airy from its official website.

Step 2. Copy the YouTube video URL containing the song.

Step 3. Paste the URL into Airy and select MP3 as the output format.

Step 4. Then, it will start the download, and the MP3 file will save locally on your Mac.

Download YouTube Music or Songs Legally with Premium

• Price: $13.99/month
• Pro: The most direct way to download YouTube music.
• Con: The offline download feature is limited to mobile devices (iOS and Android) and is not directly supported on Mac desktop or laptop computers.

Actually, YouTube allows you to download music from YouTube with its Premium subscription. The cost is $13.99 per month. This is the safest and most direct way to download songs from YouTube. According to official sources, YouTube Premium subscribers enjoy ad-free playback, background play, and the ability to download songs or playlists for offline listening, but these downloads work within the YouTube apps on smartphones and tablets, not on Mac computers.

Step 1. Open YouTube on your Mac computer and buy a subscription to Premium.

Step 2. Open the music page that you want to download to your computer. Now, you can see a download button from the main interface, and you can click on it. 

Step 3. After clicking, you can choose the format and quality. Then, go to the default download location to find the saved music files. 

The Bottom Line

These are the two easiest ways to download music from YouTube on Mac. With the four solutions, you can save any songs from YouTube. A significant difference between AuryLab YouTube Video Downloader is that it allows you to save the content in MP3 format for offline listening. It makes video and audio downloading more efficient for you.

Here are some questions that are frequently asked. You can read and find the answer.