YouTube is the most popular video hosting service and the second most visited website in the world. As of early 2024, the platform has more than 2.7 billion monthly users. Every day, people around the world watch one billion hours of video. Next year, YouTube celebrates its 20th anniversary.
In 2015, a new music streaming service, YouTube Music, was launched, which later completely replaced Google Play Music. This service was finally closed in December 2020. YouTube Music is available in a free and paid version. The paid version, YouTube Music Premium, allows you to listen to music without ads and in the background, along with the ability to download to a mobile device.
The free tier plays songs in their music video version where possible. In premium mode, official album tracks are played, unless the user searches for the video version. YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium subscribers can switch to audio-only playback mode, which can run in the background while the app is not in use. The free tier allows you to use the audio mode with background playback only when playing podcasts and songs from the user’s personal library. YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium have individual and family plans. The family plan allows you to share access to subscription features among six family members. According to YouTube’s vice president of product management, Adam Smith, YouTube Premium helps support the community of creators and artists by providing them with an additional source of income from subscriptions. According to him, in 2015, many doubted the possibility of a subscription becoming successful on the video hosting site. However, as of February 2024, the number of YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscribers exceeded 100 million people in more than 100 countries and regions. In its 2023 report, Google said its subscription services (YouTube Premium, Music, YouTube TV and Google One) brought in $15 billion in revenue for the year. It is important to note that the most viewed videos on YouTube are music videos, many of which have several billion views.
However, not all users know how to download music from YouTube. If you are going to save a song you like and listen to music offline, then this guide is for you. Read carefully and remember these simple steps!
How to save music to Android?
If you want to download YouTube songs quickly and legally, then the easiest way is a paid subscription, which we talked about above. But free download can be useful also in those countries and regions where it is impossible to subscribe to YouTube Music Premium. So, there are also ways to do this without Premium subscription.
- First of all, you can use third-party applications to download YouTube music. There are many apps in Google Play that allow you to download YouTube videos and audio from YouTube.
- In order to download audio from YouTube for free, you can use online services. You need to copy the link to the video from YouTube, paste it into the required field on the site and select the desired audio format (for example, MP3 format). After that, the click the Download button.
How to save music from YouTube to iPhone?
In general, the way to download audio to an iPhone is not too different from the methods described for Android. However, the difficulty is that YouTube music download apps are often not available in the App Store due to Apple restrictions.
- To get around the restrictions, many iPhone owners use file managers that allow you to download files from the Internet. You can use the built-in browser to go to sites that offer video downloads, such as SaveFrom.net or YTMP3, paste the link to the video and download it.
- Another way to download music is to use an online video and music converter. They will help you convert downloaded videos from YouTube to mp3 format. Just a couple of seconds and the audio file with your favorite music is already stored on your phone. Using these tools, you can not only convert YouTube videos to music, but also convert any other video and audio formats.
- If you have a laptop, you can use download programs like 4K Video Downloader or YTD Video Downloader to download the audio to your desktop, and then transfer the file to your iPhone via iTunes or a cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive. This method is a little longer and more complicated than the previous ones, but it allows you to save an mp3 file on several devices at once.
To download music for offline listening on your laptop or PC, use all the tips described above. Of course, you do not need any third-party applications, since the easiest way is to use online services. Among the most popular and convenient services and YouTube music downloader are: YouTubeMP3, Video Grabber, FLVto, ClipGrab, Offliberty, Any Video Converter, aTube Catcher, Freemake. They stand out for their simple and clear functionality, which is available to any user for free. Some browsers offer built-in software to download audio or video files from various video hosting sites.
Among the applications for downloading content from YouTube, which are available for Android, iPhone, Windows, and MacOS, the most famous is MP3Juices. This is an online service that allows you to convert audio files to MP3 format. The platform offers a simple and intuitive interface, which is complemented by high download speeds from a large number of sources. Despite its many advantages, sometimes the quality of downloaded files can be quite low. If sound quality is very important to you, then you should look for other online services that are suitable for your operating system. Fortunately, there is a huge variety for every taste. However, be careful and remember that not all sites are safe. Some of them can harm your device. For this reason, it is important to install and use antivirus protection not only on your laptop, but also on your phone.
Please note that downloading music from YouTube may violate copyright laws, so make sure you have the right to do so. It is important to remember that distributing copyrighted material without permission is illegal and unethical. In many parts of the world, downloading and using other people’s music, even for personal use, is prohibited. In fact, it is a serious violation of Google’s terms of use. In addition, distributing downloaded files for profit is illegal and punishable. Copyrights should not be forgotten either.
There are many ways to support your favorite artists. It doesn’t have to be going to a concert or buying a CD, as it used to be. Buying music through paid platforms like YouTube Music, Apple Music, SoundCloud or Spotify is the best way to know that they will continue to make the music you enjoy. Such paid services offer their users no advertising, high-quality sound, offline access, personalized recommendations based on their preferences, the ability to create their own playlists and albums, organizing their favorite tracks by genre, mood, etc., the ability to use an expanded library, which includes not only exclusive tracks and rare albums, but also podcasts, and sometimes even audio books.
We hope we have convinced you by listing all the advantages of paid subscriptions. Of course, sometimes the monthly fee can be quite high. However, services often offer a discount when signing up for an annual subscription, which is much more profitable when recalculated per month.
How to save music from YouTube with a premium subscription?
If you are going to download songs from YouTube legally, we have prepared a guide on how to download YT audio and video with a paid subscription. A subscription allows you to listen to offline music and watch offline videos, but they are not stored on your device.
So, simple steps on how to save a video:
- Open the YouTube app. Make sure you are logged in to your account that has a Premium subscription activated. If you do not have the app on your phone, download its official version.
- Find the video or music track you want to save. Use the search to find the video you want to download.
- Open the video. Tap the video you want to save.
- Tap the Download button. This button is located directly below the video. If you do not have it, make sure you have a Premium subscription activated. If necessary, renew your subscription and refresh the video page.
- Select quality. After tapping the Download, you will be offered a choice of quality. This can be, for example, 720p or 360p.
- Download. Immediately after selecting the quality, the video will start downloading. You will be able to see the download progress.
- After the download is complete, you can find the downloaded videos in the Library section, in the Downloaded subsection. You will be able to listen to them offline.
To download songs from the YouTube Music app with a premium subscription, follow these steps:
- Open the YouTube Music app. Please note that YouTube and YouTube Music are two different applications that overlap with each other. In this case, you need one subscription that covers both applications.
- Find the track or playlist you want to download.
- Tap the three dots (menu) next to the track or playlist name.
- Select the “Download” option.
- Wait for the download to complete.
- You can then listen to songs offline in the Music Library section.
It is important to remember that to watch downloaded content without internet access, you need to be in the YouTube app. You will not be able to move downloaded files to other apps or devices. Also, saved videos will only be available for offline playback for 30 days. After that, you will need to connect to the Internet to continue using them.
YouTube offers its paid subscription users a feature that allows you to combine videos into playlists. You can create playlists and save entire playlists for offline listening, which can be convenient if you want to listen to several tracks.
Among other benefits of a paid subscription, YouTube offers its users other features that make watching videos and listening to content more convenient and enjoyable. First of all, there is no advertising. You can watch videos without any interruptions for advertising. In addition to downloading, you will also have access to background playback. You can listen to videos even when your device screen is off or you are using other applications. You will also have limited access to exclusive content. You can access original shows and movies that are only available to subscribers.
Whichever of the suggested methods and ways described above you choose, we believe that you will continue to enjoy your favorite tracks and videos. And do not forget to thank your favorite artists and video creators in the comments. It’s always free!
