Lucky there's a....

February 17, 2009 9:49 AM

can i extract the audio from youtube videos to create an mp3?

is there any way that i can extract the audio from the multitude of videos for the family guy musical pieces to create my own compilation (something similar to what the simpsons have already done)?

also, let's say i could find every single musical number on youtube (or other video sources), how can i make them into iPod friendly a) audio files and b) video files?

posted by alice ayres to media & arts (13 comments total)

In OS X you can use Audio Hijack to encode audio from YouTube into an MP3.
posted by mullingitover at 10:01 AM on February 17

This site allows you to save Youtube videos as mp3s (and also as mp4s or AVIs).
posted by Happy Dave at 10:03 AM on February 17

There are actually a number of sites that give you MP3s from Youtube videos. As for converting videos, PodTube might still work for the Mac, while Ares Tube looks like it's up-to-date for Windows.

Disclaimer: I have used none of these products.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:09 AM on February 17

Here's a nice walkthrough. It says it's for Linux, but ffmpeg binaries can be found for win.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 10:21 AM on February 17

I recently asked this similar question, the answers to which should be helpful to you.
posted by HotToddy at 10:27 AM on February 17

Another method in OS X is to use Soundflower to pass the audio to a recording application, like Audacity. It's easy to use and, unlike Audio Hijack, it's completely free.
posted by 6550 at 11:17 AM on February 17

I use Media Convert for all my converting needs.
posted by Sailormom at 11:26 AM on February 17

Freedownload manager does this and is awesome.
posted by sully75 at 11:26 AM on February 17

The one I use a lot is Zamzar.com is great for online file conversion (Covered by Lifehacker) but another small known feature is downloading youtube videos (or from plenty of different web sites) and converting them to other video formats, image formats (not sure how that works) or several different audio formats. The great part is that you don't have to download any software, just put in the URL and it will email you a download URL usually within 30 minutes (depending on how busy it is).
posted by Deflagro at 1:53 PM on February 17

Sorry, should've checked my links first. Here's the fixed link to Zamzar
posted by Deflagro at 1:54 PM on February 17

Using the instructions linked by Barry B. Palindromer, it's possible to get a bit-for-bit copy of the audio stream from the file without transcoding loss. Once you have the .mp4 file (which you will already be able to play on an iPod), this command line will output the AAC audio stream (which is iPod/iTunes compatible) into its own audio file:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec copy audio.m4a

If you want to get an mp3, you can download the FLV version of the video (which will not work on your iPod) and do this:

ffmpeg -i video.flv -vn -acodec copy audio.mp3

The first method will yield a better sounding audio file.
posted by strangecargo at 2:22 PM on February 17

Get Tube has a preference setting to do this.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:35 PM on February 17

ListenToYouTube.com?
posted by Who_Am_I at 11:14 AM on February 18