How to Download YouTube Music on Mac: 3 Easy Ways

YouTube is home to a vast collection of official music videos (over 70 million), live performances, covers, remixes, and more. It allows you to access a huge music library via data connection or Wi-Fi. But what if you want to play and manage YouTube music offline? This article will outline how to download music from YouTube on Mac for playback in QuickTime, the Apple Music app, or on a portable device.

 Cisdem VideoPaw

Best YouTube Music Downloader App for Mac

• Download music from YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and other 10000+ sites
• Download YouTube music videos in available resolutions, including 1080p and 4K
• Extract audio from YouTube music video
• Quickly download albums, playlists, and multiple singles in one go
• Convert files to MP4, MP3, WAV, MKV, or other 600+ formats
• Download multiple items simultaneously
• Retain the source quality
• More features: compress, trim, merge, record media files; rip DVDs and Blu-rays

Free Download macOS 10.15 or later Free Download Windows 10 or later

Download Music with YouTube Premium: What to Know

YouTube music download on Mac

Premium users can download song from YouTube to Mac, but you can only play it inside YouTube, which is more like a cache. The downloaded music is stored locally in the BLOB folder on your Mac. A music video will be split into multiple files, they are not in MP4 or MP3 format and have no actual extension. In addition, once Premium expires, the downloads will automatically disappear in YouTube.

Website download vs app download

• Only mobile users can install the YouTube app, while Mac users are restricted to the web version.
• Only Chrome offers a download button. Safari, Firefox, Opera and other browsers are unable to download YouTube songs with Premium accounts.
• Music videos you download on your Mac can't be synced to the YouTube app.

YouTube Premium vs YouTube Music Premium

Summary: YouTube Premium doesn't actually allow you to permanently download music videos or audio to your Mac. Plus, it requires an ongoing subscription and the price is quite steep. If you're just looking to watch videos without ads, then consider subscribing to Premium, otherwise I strongly recommend using the YouTube music downloader to get satisfying music videos from YouTube.

Save YouTube Music to Your Mac with Desktop Downloader

To download music from YouTube on Mac with original quality, a dedicated YouTube music downloader can make the process easier. Cisdem VideoPaw lets you save music videos or extract their audio, with options for different output formats.

It’s also useful when you want to download several songs or playlists without saving each track individually. You can then keep the music files on your Mac for offline playback or turn YouTube songs into M4R ringtones for iPhone.

Free Download macOS 10.15 or later

How to download YouTube music on Mac with VideoPaw:

Step 1. Open the Video Downloader section

Launch the software to open the Home dashboard. Click the Video Downloader card directly from the main panel.

Step 2. Paste and configure your music links

Copy the URL of the YouTube music video from your browser's address bar. Paste it into Downloader's large input field, then click "Import" to parse.

Tip:

• Select output as video or audio: Click the dropdown below the input box. Select Video if you want the full video with audio. or Audio if you only want the raw soundtrack.

• Batch processing: You can add multiple music links to handle all in bulk. Press Enter inside the input box to start a new line and paste your next URL.

Step 3. Start downloading YouTube music on Mac

Click the Format dropdown menu next to your music to choose your preferred native stream quality. The formats provided by YouTube are usually MP4, WebM, m4a(mp4a) or webm(opus). Then, click the “Download” button to save the files to your Mac.

Tip: This tool includes an integrated music player. Once downloaded, simply click the play button in the thumbnail to play and preview your music within the tool.

Step 4. (Optional) Convert YouTube music to your preferred formats

If you want to convert files to other formats compatible with your iPhone, iPad, and the like. Go to the Video Converter interface, and drag-n-drop the downloaded YouTube music to it. Choose the target format, click the “Convert” button for a fast conversion.

Free Online YouTube Music Downloaders for Mac

Also want to download YouTube music on Mac for free without installing tools? Try these two online downloaders. Note that they may have limitations in download quality, supported formats, or others.

#1 Loader.to

Loader.to is a website with the ability to download music from YouTube on Mac. Besides YouTube, it can also easily fetch clips from Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Vimeo, etc. (total 10 sites). It's able to download up to 20 videos from one YouTube music playlist at a time. You can change the Playlist Start and Playlist End options. Although it provides a batch download button, when you click on it, nothing happens.

Step 1. Navigate to the https://loader.to/.

Step 2. Copy the URL of the YouTube music video that you desire to download, and paste the copied link into the space provided.

Step 3. Choose the output format as MP3, MP4, OGG, etc.

Step 4. Click the blue “Download” button to analyze the URL.

Step 5. Hit the final “Download” button to download YouTube music Mac online and wait for some time.

#2 Y2Mate

Y2Mate is an online YouTube music downloader for Mac that supports MP4 video downloads up to 1080p and MP3 downloads at 128, 256, or 320 kbps. But clicking the download button often brings up pop-up ads. The site also uses a mirror domain instead of the original Y2mate.com address.

Step 1. Visit https://v39.www-y2mate.com/.

Step 2. Get hold of the URL of the YouTube music video, and paste the link over the space.

Step 3. Click on the “Start” button to fetch the video from the URL.

Step 4. Hit the "Download" button adjacent to the option you want to pick.

Use Browser Extension to Download YouTube Music on Mac

There are 3 ways to install browser plugins: through the official extensions store, developer mode, or user script. Given YouTube's policy restrictions and security concerns, I've ruled out the first two.

So, I'll introduce a user script that downloads YouTube songs on most browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. But this free YouTube music downloader for Mac can't grab videos other than YouTube and only supports MP3 or MP4 as output.

Step 1. Install a userscript manager called Tampermonkey to your browser.

• Just enter the user script manager + browser, e.g. tampermonkey chrome, in the search engine to find its installation address.
• Safari users will need to install Tampermonkey from the App Store.
• Brave users should install Violentmonkey.

Step 2. Install the YouTube song downloader for Mac at greasyfork.org.

Step 3. Open the song you wish to get from youtube.com.

Step 4. Select the output format and quality, then download the YouTube song.

FAQs

Can I download an entire YouTube music playlist on a Mac?

You can, but there’s a limit. The YouTube Music app supports playlist downloads on mobile devices, but you can’t directly download playlists from its website on Mac. To save an entire playlist as local files, you’ll need a third-party tool.

YouTube playlist to MP3 | YouTube playlist to MP4

Why does my downloaded YouTube music have no sound?

This issue usually occurs when downloading YouTube music videos in 1080p or higher, as the audio and video streams may be separate. Some online downloaders fail to merge them, resulting in a video with no sound. Choose “Audio + Video” instead of “Video Only” to ensure the video includes sound.

Why can’t I find YouTube music downloader extensions in the Chrome Web Store or Mac App Store?

Both stores restrict extensions that download from YouTube. Some third-party extensions, such as Addoncrop, may still be installed manually, while Firefox has its own selection of downloader add-ons. However, availability varies, and changes to YouTube may cause these extensions to stop working.