Top 8 Best YouTube to MP3 Converters for Mac (incl. Long Videos)

Peter William
August 22, 2023 Preview 31.3K Preview 0
share it facebook share it Twitter

YouTube is a hub of official music videos that lets you enjoy sublime music worldwide. It also covers millions of audio-only uploads, audiobooks, talk shows, etc. for your listening.

You may desire to download and convert YouTube videos to MP3, so that you can play YouTube audio offline on portable devices, such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, MP3 players with the headset. Here introduces the best YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac, with professional software and online tools included.

 

How We Evaluate the Best YouTube to MP3 Downloader for Mac

To help you get the top YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac, we have undertaken efforts in 3 aspects: criterion confirmation, testing, and analysis. Below, we will unveil the process.

1st, confirm the selection criteria

To begin with, we need to identify what makes a good YouTube video to MP3 converter. We should consider 5 criteria: ease of use, performance, quality, batch processing capabilities, supported file formats, and safety.

2nd, make real-world tests

Tested offline apps number 12
Tested online converters number 27
Tested YouTube videos number 50+
Tested YouTube type YouTube Shorts, playlist, single movie & music video on YouTube
Tested YouTube duration Convert YouTube more than 20 min, 60 min or 2h, also include videos under 5 min

3rd, analyze the test content and start writing

Based on the tests, we picked out the best tools to convert YouTube to MP3 on Mac and wrote this report. It took us 2 weeks to complete it.

 

Best Offline YouTube to MP3 Converter for Mac Review

Top 1 - Cisdem Video Converter

There is a host of YouTube converter programs on the market. Cisdem Video Converter is considered the best in its category. It's a robust and stable video toolbox for Mac with a wide array of features.

The software can download and convert YouTube videos to MP3, M4A, FLAC, AAC, MP4, MKV, AVI, MPEG, WMV, and other lossless or lossy formats with no degradation. It allows simultaneous downloads. Thanks to h.264 and h.265 hardware decode/encode, AMD VCE/VCN hardware acceleration, it can convert multiple files quickly.

Also, it ensures that you can download MP3s from social video sharing sites like Facebook, Vimeo, Bandcamp, Vlive, Dailymotion, Twitch, Vevo, Bing, Wistia, Veoh, and so on.

For further control, head to "Advanced Settings" to change output audio parameters, like quality, codec, sample rate, channel, etc. It’s not mandatory. The defaults are great for novices.

Besides converting and downloading media files, it supports extracting audio or video from music DVDs as well.

Pros:

  1. Download videos from YouTube or any website
  2. Convert YouTube songs to MP3 or any format
  3. Capable of saving MP3 from large, long, 1080p, 4k, 8k, or any YouTube
  4. Convert 1, 2, 3, or any number of YouTube links to MP3
  5. Keep original audio quality
  6. Combine MP3s into one individual file
  7. Digitize a DVD
  8. 100% safe with no virus

Cons:

  1. Incompatible with old version Mac

How to convert YouTube to MP3 on Mac with high quality:

  1. Download the free trial of Cisdem

    After you have installed this best YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac, launch it.

    Free Download macOS 10.12 or later

  2. Switch to the “Download” interface
    Click the third icon at the top of the middle to get an interface for video download.go to download interface
  3. Copy YouTube link
    Visit the YouTube website. Search up the video (no matter how long) you want to download and copy the URL.copy video url
  4. Download YouTube videos on Mac
    Paste the video link into Cisdem’s URL input box at the bottom. Click “+” to analyze, then click “⬇” to download the video.paste url
  5. Convert long YouTube videos to MP3 on Mac
    When YouTube downloads are complete, click the “√” tick icon to find the downloaded videos and drag them to the “Convert” interface.tick icon Click the format icon to open the dropdown menu, and navigate to “General Audio” > “MP3 Audio”.
    Press the conversion icon at the bottom to start the process.convert to mp3

 

Top 2 – MediaHuman YouTube to MP3 Converter

Matching its name, MediaHuman is a lightweight and simple YouTube to MP3 app for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, etc. It facilitates effortless downloading of YouTube playlists and channels.

Your MP3 file will be downloaded, along with the artist's name and track title. And it is possible to alter YouTube Music cover art or artwork. MediaHuman integrates with iTunes and the Apple Music App, thus you can export downloaded audio directly to them.

Pros:

  1. Support various websites, not limited to YouTube
  2. Fetch several tracks concurrently
  3. Download 4k YouTube music to MP3
  4. Multilingual UI: 37 different languages

Cons:

  1. A bit slow to parse the YouTube URL
  2. When converting more than 3 tracks at once, it got stuck
  3. Only download YouTube to 3 formats: MP3, M4A, OGG

How to convert YouTube video to MP3 on Mac with MediaHuman:

  1. Open the YouTube video and copy the link to the clipboard.
  2. On MediaHuman’s toolbar, click the “Paste link” button to parse the link.
  3. Click “Start all”.
  4. Press the “Locate” icon to find the downloaded MP3. Optionally, change MP3 to AAC or OGG from “Preferences”.mediahuman

 

Top 3 – iTubeGo YouTube Downloader

Does iTubeGo have what it takes to be among the best YouTube to MP3 converters for Mac? Absolutely! It will be fine for queuing multiple YouTube music or movies and saving them in excellent audio quality. Plus, it covers many popular websites and 20 formats.

You can configure the speed from 128KBps to 8MBps, or convert all files at Turbo-fast speed. It can be useful if you do not want to allocate all your resources to iTubeGo due to bandwidth issues.

Pros:

  1. Multiple downloads support
  2. Long lists of sites support
  3. 8MBps download speed or above
  4. Include a built-in YouTube cutter to cut music from YouTube

Cons:

  1. Certain compatible sites can't actually download
  2. Have to conduct research to select other Mac-friendly formats
  3. Even after you close the app, the CPU remains at 100%

How to convert YouTube music to MP3 on Mac via iTubeGo:

  1. Head to YouTube and look for the video you need to save as MP3. Copy its URL.
  2. On the iTubeGo interface, choose the converted format – MP3.
  3. Also, go to “Preference” to set the MP3 quality. You can pick the highest - 320kbps.
  4. Click “Paste URL” to insert the copied URL. Wait until analyzing and downloading are done.itubego

 

Top 4 - Airy YouTube Downloader

Airy, by Eltima Software, is a high-grade software to turn YouTube videos into MP3 on Mac. It is able to convert YouTube 4K and 8K UHD videos to MP3, MP4, FLV, 3GP, etc. Music enthusiasts can extract audio from YouTube videos while preserving metadata such as titles and cover art.

The app offers premium services for downloading in bulk, grabbing entire playlists and your favorite channels. Plus, you can access age-restricted or private content after logging in, and videos are automatically downloaded in sequence.

Pros:

  1. Download playlists or multiple files to MP3
  2. Inbuilt browser support
  3. Can pick the quality level
  4. Available in over 20+ languages

Cons:

  1. Only work with YouTube
  2. Offer few output formats
  3. Audio files only download as 256Kbps MP3s

How to convert a YouTube video to MP3 on Mac using Airy:

  1. Copy the YouTube URL from the address bar to the clipboard.
  2. Attach the URL to Airy’s own search bar, and the program will auto-preload the video.
  3. Choose MP3 format and quality.
  4. Hit “Download” and track the progress.airy

 

Best Online YouTube to MP3 Converter for Mac Review

Online converters are full of unsatisfying advertising and pop-up banners. If you click it by accident, you may enter into a troublesome. There are 4 not bad free online YouTube to MP3 converters for Mac that I want to recommend to you with a brief review. Now, pay attention to the best YouTube converter online.

Top 5 - ClipConverter.cc

Clip Converter is a well-known free online service to convert YouTube to MP3 on Mac.

It allows you to record, convert, and download audio or video URL from YouTube, Facebook Instagram, etc. to the common formats.

You can download and convert YouTube video more than 20 min to MP3, more output formats supported, like M4A, AAC, and MP4, 3GP, AVI, etc.

Once the conversion completes, you need to download the converted MP3 file.

Pros:

  1. Specify the start and end time of your YouTube video
  2. Support piles of sites like YouTube and Facebook
  3. Available in 21 languages e.g. English, French, Spanish, etc.

Cons:

  1. Slow conversion speed (even if the movie trailer is small, it will take tens of minutes to end)
  2. No wider formats support, only with less than 8 media format options
  3. Not applicable to videos containing music

How does it work?

  1. Copy & enter the YouTube URL into the input box on ClipConverter.cc’s homepage.
  2. Hit “Continue” next to the box.
  3. Select MP3 as the conversion format.
  4. If needed, tweak the audio volume, channels, bitrate, etc.
  5. Start ripping YouTube audio to MP3 on Mac.clipconverter.cc

 

Top 6 - Anything2mp3.cc

Anything2MP3.cc is a popular online YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac that enables you to download and convert tracks in high quality without hassle.

Apart from YouTube, it can download videos from Vimeo, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Google Videos, etc. as well.

The tool delivers 4 major audio formats including MP3, AAC, OGG, and WMA, and 4 bitrates ranging from 96k to 320k.

Pros:

  1. Fast conversion speed
  2. Can choose bitrates

Cons:

  1. Only an audio converter, no video outputs
  2. The website is prone to ads

How does it work?

  1. Copy and add the link into the text box on the Anything2MP3.cc site.
  2. Click “DOWNLOAD FILE FROM URL”.
  3. Choose output audio format and bitrate.
  4. Click “CONVERT FILE”.anything2mp3.cc

 

Top 7 - MP3IFY.com

MP3ify is a one-stop tool specially designed to search YouTube videos, download YouTube, play/preview video, and share videos to Facebook.

You are able to download and convert YouTube to MP3 on Mac or save it to Dropbox. There is also an option to download the MP4 file.

With the help of MP3ify, you will find immediately target videos to download by typing keyword.

Pros:

  1. Pretty intuitive and clean interface
  2. Straightly search for related YouTube videos

Cons:

  1. Can't download MP3 audio from sites other than YouTube
  2. Merely save YouTube as MP3 and MP4

How does it work?

  1. Visit MP3IFY.com in a browser. Search the YouTube video by keyword or URL.
  2. Hit “Play” to preview the YouTube.
  3. Hit “I like this” or “I dislike this” for audio quality.
  4. Click “mp3ify” in the “Download” column. If the video more than 10 min, you have to log in with MP3IFY account.
  5. At last, download the MP3 file.MP3IFY.com

 

Top 8 - Y2Mate.is

Y2Mate.is, having been around 10+ years, is an old web-based YouTube to MP3 converter for Mac.

It has undergone several revisions and has become what it is now. It's able to save YouTube as 48k to 160k MP3, and they are in various sizes. The smaller the size, the worse the quality.

Besides MP3, it empowers you to convert YouTube to MP4 on Mac as well, but which merely download all videos to 1080p or lower.

Pros:

  1. Quickly grab the URL by inserting "pi" after "youtube" in the address bar
  2. Work on most browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.

Cons:

  1. Can’t download many YouTube audio in queue
  2. No 320kbps option, up to 160kpbs

How does it work?

  1. Get hold of the URL from YouTube.
  2. Navigate to the Y2Mate.is site and place the link over the space provided. The webpage will begin automatic link parsing.
  3. Switch to the audio output option.
  4. Choose one output based on quality and file size.
  5. Convert and download it.Y2Mate.is

 

Conclusion

The above-mentioned are the best YouTube to MP3 converter Mac for both offline and online platforms, with third-party software taking precedence over the web-based one. Aside from being safer, offline app offers high-quality audio and versatile features, such as more output options, batch converting, editing, or others, ensuring a better user experience.

avatar
Peter William
share it facebook share it Twitter

Peter has always had great enthusiasm for writing, programming and web development. He likes writing about software and technology, his works are featured on some tech blogs or forums like Tom's Hardware, CNET, etc.

share it facebook share it Twitter
Comments (0) Leave a Reply

Name *

Comment *

Hot Articles

How to Rip DVD for Plex with the Best Settings Easily 8 Best YouTube to iTunes Converters for Mac and Windows How to Convert WAV to MP3 on Mac: 5 Easiest Ways
Home > Top 8 Best YouTube to MP3 Converters for Mac (incl. Long Videos)