YouTube is a brilliant space for personal use such as discovering things and sharing videos. But it doesn't support saving videos/audio for offline enjoyment unless you are a Premium subscriber.
iTunes, now called Music in macOS Catalina or later, is one of the best media players. It's closely tied to the world's largest music store and brings much convenience to you. But it only accepts a few input formats.
If you wish to convert YouTube to iTunes library, you have to download YouTube videos first and then convert them to the formats supported by iTunes. Follow the guides below to pick out the best YouTube to iTunes converter for Mac and Windows.
Generally, iTunes supports MP4, MOV, and M4V video formats. Also, it supports any audio format that can be opened by QuickTime, protected AAC rented or purchased from the iTunes store, and audiobooks downloaded from audible.com.
Video format | Codec |
---|---|
MP4 | MPEG-4, H.264, AAC |
MOV | DV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, AIC |
M4V | H.264, AAC |
If you having trouble transferring YouTube to iTunes in MP4, MOV, or M4V format, the video container may wrap a codec that is not compatible with iTunes. For example, MP4 can be encoded with H.265, H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, H.263, AAC, AC3, etc. But iTunes merely accepts MP4 using MPEG-4 or H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec. Meanwhile, only authorized computers and Apple devices can upload FairPlay copy-protected M4V files.
Audio format | Bitrate |
---|---|
AAC (M4A, M4B, M4P) | Up to 529 kbps |
Apple Lossless | 1411 kbps |
Standard MP3 | Up to 320 kbps |
MP3 Variable Bit Rate | Usually 128 kbps or, sometimes 160 or 192 kbps |
WAV | 1411 kbps |
AA (audible.com spoken word, formats 2, 3, and 4) | 8 to 32 kbps |
AIFF | 1411 kbps |
In the past, iTunes is capable of working with Ogg/Vorbis files by installing XiphQT components. But unfortunately, XiphQT has been discontinued since 2016.
You can convert DRM-free WAV files to other supported formats on Windows version. However, playing DRM-free WAV straightway and transcoding DRM protected WMA on iTunes is impossible.
Video format | Audio format | |
---|---|---|
Best in quality | MOV | Apple Lossless |
Best in compatibility | M4V (best for Apple devices), MP4 (best for cross-platform) | MP3 |
Better quality also means the video or audio has a larger size. WAV, AIFF, and ALAC are uncompressed audio files. ALAC was chosen because it typically takes 40% to 60% less space than WAV or AIFF files.
Among the plethora of YouTube to iTunes converter for Mac and Windows available, Cisdem Video Converter may be the best one in its category. It downloads YouTube music/videos to iTunes with ease and satisfaction of the users. It also provides you with a completely 100% safe and reliable environment to download online videos from Vimeo, Twitter, Dailymotion, Tiktok, etc.
Compared to online YouTube converter to iTunes, this professional software has an intuitive interface that is equipped with an array of features for video editing, merging, compressing, etc. Besides, online YouTube to iTunes converters usually have strict limits on file size and the conversion speed is slow. In contrast, Cisdem Video Converter allows you to convert videos of any size at super fast speed.
Step 1. Launch the Software
Download, install and launch the best YouTube to iTunes converter to your computer. It will bring you to the convert interface by default.
Step 2. Copy URL of YouTube Video
Visit youtube.com. Open a video you need to download, and then copy its link.
Step 3. Download YouTube Music/Videos
Go back to the interface of the Cisdem Video Converter. Click on the topside panel and then paste the copied URL to the download box at the bottom. It spends little time to download YouTube video.
You can download multiple YouTube videos at the same time by clicking "File > Imput URLs..." at the top main menu.
Step 4. Select an Output Format
After the download completes, click the to open the folder in which your downloaded YouTube videos are stored.
To choose your favorite iTunes format, switch to the 1st interface and drag the videos into it. Click the format icon to choose optimized preset from the “Apple Software” category, you will see the “iTunes” option. Click it and select an output format.
Step 5. Convert YouTube to iTunes
Click the in the bottom right corner to convert YouTube songs/movies to iTunes supported format.
Step 6. Transfer YouTube videos or songs to iTunes
Now, open iTunes on your computer, click “File > Add to Library” at the top menu to transfer the just converted videos to iTunes.
Freemake Video Downloader is a great tool, which supports a wide range of websites to grab videos from YouTube, Twitch, LiveLeak, Vimeo, Facebook, Wistia, Vevo, Dailymotion, Break, etc. You can download music, playlist, channels in MP4, WebM, 3GP, FLV, PSP, MP3, Android, etc., let alone YouTube to iTunes.
However, you should figure it out that the current version of Freemake Video Downloader is only available on Windows. Plus, it is not a completely free program that allows you to convert YouTube video to iTunes for free only once, and the free converted video has watermarks. You can choose to pay for the clear video. But, if your budget is limited, you can look for a totally free YouTube to iTunes converter.
Next in line is ClipGrab, a tool which can handle not just YouTube downloads, but also a good deal of other sites, like Dailymotion, Clipfish, Collegehumor, Sevenload, Tudou MyVideo, MySpass, and Vimeo. It can also convert YouTube videos to WMV, MP3, MPEG4, OGG, VMW, M4V, FLV. This YouTube to iTunes converter for Mac/PC is not so well as the previous two, but it supports multiple platforms.
Flvto.biz will take any YouTube videos to MP4, AVI, and MP3. This online YouTube to iTunes converter for Mac and PC is open-and-shut, new users can master it in seconds. It claims to be able to convert Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, Spotify, etc. to MP3. But in fact, it’s a false advertisement. The added link will be invalid.
YouTubeConvert.cc is a YouTube to iTunes converter free online, which lets you download and convert YouTube videos to MP4, AVI, OGG, MP3, WAV, and more. The website has been revamped this year. There are no more output quality options, but the format has increased.
To convert YouTube songs to iTunes, Downvids.net should be on the list. It can download YouTube videos, channels and playlist. This best YouTube to iTunes converter free online also works with several other platforms including Vimeo, Instagram, Facebook, and private Facebook videos.
2conv.com is another popular YouTube downloader that is designed to grab link in MP3, MP4, MP4 HD, AVI, and AVI HD. But output HD videos require more storage in device memory. The process for initiating downloads is quite simple. As same as other online YouTube to iTunes converters, you need to:
Be sure not to click the “DOWNLOAD CONVERTER” button. It will lead you to download a piece of useless software.
Media.io is also an excellent online YouTube to iTunes converter that can download YouTube to plenty of video and audio formats such as MP4, WOV, MKV, MP3, etc. Unlike other online YouTube to iTunes converter, it allows you to edit the file quality including video/audio encoder, resolution, frame rate and bitrate. All in all, it can safely provide high-quality videos without ads for you.
However, it only supports converting files under 100 MB for free. In my experience, it wasn't a pleasant experience, as it took about ten minutes to convert a 38 MB file. Of course, this could also be caused by my poor internet connection.
Tools | Websites | Edition | Formats | Overall Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cisdem Video Converter | 1000+ | √ | 300+ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Freemake Video Downloader | 1000+ | × | 20+ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
ClipGrab | 9+ | × | 5+ | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Flvto.biz | Only YouTube | × | 5 | ![]() ![]() |
YouTubeConvert.cc | 4 | × | 9 | ![]() ![]() |
Downvids.net | 4 | × | 10 | ![]() ![]() |
2conv.com | Only YouTube | × | 5 | ![]() ![]() |
Media.io video converter | Work with Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox | × | 1000+ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
We’ve covered the 8 best YouTube to iTunes converter for Mac, Windows, and online here. Some of them can convert YouTube to iTunes for free. They're all different in terms of function, performance, and technology applied.
Although our list is far from exhaustive, at the very least, I hope you’re now clutching the converter you desired all along. As for me, I will keep holding Cisdem Video Converter. Its user-friendliness, power, versatility, and excellent customer support make it the user's first choice.
Know of other more easy-to-use YouTube to iTunes converters? Know of a special option we missed? Share in the comments!
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.