• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

YouTube to MP3 converter?

Chevy-SS

Chevy-SS

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Messages
305
I'm looking for a replacement YouTube to MP3 converter. I convert mainly motivational videos to MP3 and then listen while driving. I had one that I used for years (and donated religiously), but YouTube keeps making it more difficult, so that no longer works.

I HAVE NO PROBLEM PAYING. I just want something that converts quickly and easily, and is not full of malware.

Any recommendations on a program? Or maybe there's a technique I can do myself to extract audio stream right from the vid?

Many thanks!
 
I used YoutubeDL-Material through docker on my Unraid server—it works great. You can download either video or just the audio in various quality options. Since it runs in the browser, there's no need for a local installation. Completely free minus install it via docker/docker compose.
 
Sickb0y said:
I used YoutubeDL-Material through docker on my Unraid server—it works great. You can download either video or just the audio in various quality options. Since it runs in the browser, there's no need for a local installation. Completely free minus install it via docker/docker compose.
Click to expand...

Any chance you can point me to a tutorial on this? Maybe at least tell me how to get the docker up and running? I'm running Win10 Pro and Firefox. I had to look up "docker", and I like the concept.

Thanks
 
Chevy-SS said:
Any chance you can point me to a tutorial on this? Maybe at least tell me how to get the docker up and running? I'm running Win10 Pro and Firefox. I had to look up "docker", and I like the concept.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I’ve never used Docker on Windows—only on Unraid, Synology, and TrueNAS via a Bhyve VM—but it’s pretty straightforward to set up. I’ll help you get it running; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

grab Docker-desktop from here get the Windows - AMD64 client and install it

1745545039959.png


go through the setup and leave everything on default, reboot your computer after installing and launch docker.desktop application

1745545632495.png


on the search box on the very top enter "Youtubedl-material" and download tzahi12345 image (pull) make sure you download tzahi12345 docker

1745545721806.png


click on it and choose PULL
1745545755604.png


next click on Images on the left hand side and run the docker (hit the play button)

1745545863648.png


Before we move on to configuring the Docker container, create a folder on your local drive. For example, I created a youtube folder on my G: drive with two subfolders: audio (for audio-only downloads) and video (for full video downloads), like so:

1745545983723.png




Going back to the previous step — once you hit the play button on the tzahi12345 image, we’ll set up a few optional settings.

you should see this screen

1745545893396.png


copy everything below like mine, minus your host path, might be different depending on your drive letter, so it should look like this


1745546454886.png


If you created your folder on the C: drive, then map the following paths under Volumes:

  • C:\youtube\audio
  • C:\youtube\video
Adjust the drive letter as needed, depending on where your youtube folder is located.

Once the volumes are mapped and the environment variables are set, click Run to start the container.

wait for the docker to boot up , once you see this line then we're ready to access the web UI

1745546534807.png


go on the very top and click the URL link like so, this will open the web UI:

1745546579148.png


Firefox (or Chrome or whatever default browser you have should open the UI)

here's mine
1745546619758.png


That’s it! Now just grab any YouTube link and paste it on the URL box and hit download— for example, I used the new Alien: Earth teaser trailer, but I chose to download only the audio for testing (i checkmark the only audio box in this case)

1745546700612.png


after a few seconds is ready to listen via the web UI or download the mp3 on your local folder, you can also download the mp3 or video from the UI

1745546737420.png



Hope that helps! If you run into any issues, feel free to reach out — I’ll do my best to help you out.
 

Attachments

  • 1745546421074.png
    1745546421074.png
    86.8 KB · Views: 0
  • 1745545650111.png
    1745545650111.png
    214.4 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Sickb0y said:
I’ve never used Docker on Windows—only on Unraid, Synology, and TrueNAS via a Bhyve VM—but it’s pretty straightforward to set up. I’ll help you get it running; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

grab Docker-desktop from here get the Windows - AMD64 client and install it

View attachment 725836

go through the setup and leave everything on default, reboot your computer after installing and launch docker.desktop application

View attachment 725841

on the search box on the very top enter "Youtubedl-material" and download tzahi12345 image (pull) make sure you download tzahi12345 docker

View attachment 725843

click on it and choose PULL
View attachment 725844

next click on Images on the left hand side and run the docker (hit the play button)

View attachment 725845

Before we move on to configuring the Docker container, create a folder on your local drive. For example, I created a youtube folder on my G: drive with two subfolders: audio (for audio-only downloads) and video (for full video downloads), like so:

View attachment 725847



getting back at the previous step once you hit play on the tzahi12345 image were going to setup a few optional settings

View attachment 725846

copy everything below like mine, minus your host path, might be different depending on your drive letter, so it should look like this


View attachment 725851

if you created your folder under the C: drive
than map
C:\youtube\audio
C:\youtube\video
for Volumes, so change the drive letter depending where you created your youtube folder

once you have the volumes mapped and environment variables setup click RUN

wait for the docker to boot up , once you see this line then we're ready to access the web UI

View attachment 725852

go on the very top and click the URL link like so, this will open the web UI:

View attachment 725853

Firefox (or Chrome or whatever default browser you have should open the UI)

here's mine
View attachment 725854

That’s it! Now just grab any YouTube link — for example, I used the new Alien: Earth teaser trailer, but chose to download only the audio for testing.

View attachment 725855

after a few seconds is ready to listen via the web UI or download the mp3 on your local folder, you can also download the mp3 or video from the UI

View attachment 725856


Hope that helps! If you run into any issues, feel free to reach out — I’ll do my best to help you out.
Click to expand...
Awesome write up!
 
Sickb0y said:
I’ve never used Docker on Windows—only on Unraid, Synology, and TrueNAS via a Bhyve VM—but it’s pretty straightforward to set up. I’ll help you get it running; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

grab Docker-desktop from here get the Windows - AMD64 client and install it......
Click to expand...

Awesome response, thanks very much! 👏

I made it through Step 1. I got Docker installed. I rebooted, then started it and I got this page below. Since I have no clue what I'm doing, I stopped. Does this look right?

Docker Intro Page.jpg
 
Zepher said:
I use JDownloader 2.
https://jdownloader.org/home
It downloads the audio in AAC m4a 128kbit, which is easily converted to MP3 if your player won't play the m4a (MP4 Audio).
these are the Audio options on this Lada Gaga video,
Click to expand...


Thanks, I downloaded this one and installed it. What's the trick to getting it to work?
It looks like it should be fairly simple for what I want.... I'm missing something.

Many thanks!
 
Chevy-SS said:
Thanks, I downloaded this one and installed it. What's the trick to getting it to work?
It looks like it should be fairly simple for what I want.... I'm missing something.

Many thanks!
Click to expand...
You have to put your username for youtube in the settings and then use the extension called Eat This Cookie to grab your login cookie.
When you are logged into youtube, you use Eat This Cookie to export the cookie,

1745648204051.png


And then you paste it in the youtube settings under your Name (this is your email for youtube) where it says Cookies,

jdownloader settings.jpg
 
Stupid question, why can't you just use something web based like CnvMP3 or YTMP3? Seems a lot less convoluted.
 
HeavensCloud said:
Stupid question, why can't you just use something web based like CnvMP3 or YTMP3? Seems a lot less convoluted.
Click to expand...
I've tried numerous sites like those in the past 6 months, with little luck. Plus, most of them have restrictions of all kinds (max 20 mins length, max number of conversions, etc), and many of them are blocked by my VPN as 'suspicious'.

For a lot of years, I used a simple Firefox 'Add-On' that worked perfectly. Once or twice a year, it would hiccup and die (YouTube kept blocking the conversion process), but the author was able to keep repairing the Add-On. Then, about 6 months ago, YouTube killed the Add-On again, and this time the guy gave up.

Honestly, I would PAY YouTube a reasonable fee to download the vids as MP3's. I checked into this, and they actually do offer a download service. But it's crazy expensive and they place time limitations on the 'ownership' of the downloads, making the whole process extremely unpleasant.
 
Sickb0y said:
I’ve never used Docker on Windows—only on Unraid, Synology, and TrueNAS via a Bhyve VM—but it’s pretty straightforward to set up. I’ll help you get it running; it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.
grab Docker-desktop from here get the Windows - AMD64 client and install it
.........................................................................
Hope that helps! If you run into any issues, feel free to reach out — I’ll do my best to help you out.
Click to expand...

Oh my goodness, this actually worked! I am in shock. Your writeup and instructions were absolutely perfect. Nice job!
I owe you a beer. Heck, I owe you a case of beer. I can't thank you enough............... 👏

In the future, do I need to start the Docker each time? Or do I just go to the web page in my browser?

Damn, I'm blown away. You deserve an award! 👍👍👍
 
Chevy-SS said:
Oh my goodness, this actually worked! I am in shock. Your writeup and instructions were absolutely perfect. Nice job!
I owe you a beer. Heck, I owe you a case of beer. I can't thank you enough............... 👏

In the future, do I need to start the Docker each time? Or do I just go to the web page in my browser?

Damn, I'm blown away. You deserve an award! 👍👍👍
Click to expand...

Nice I'm glad it work! yeah so go under settings (the gear icon on the top) click it and go under General and check mark the box "Start Docker Desktop when you sign in your computer"

1745777090203.png
 
Sickb0y said:
Nice I'm glad it work! ...............
Click to expand...

I have not been able to get it to work since the first time. I keep getting error messages like this shown below here.]
I deleted the container and started over a couple of times, but no luck.
Docker13.jpg


Any idea what's wrong? Maybe this container log has a clue? Thanks
Docker12.jpg
 
Chevy-SS said:
Any chance you can point me to a tutorial on this? Maybe at least tell me how to get the docker up and running? I'm running Win10 Pro and Firefox. I had to look up "docker", and I like the concept.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I am not a fan of using docker in windows. If you can grab a cheap linux box, that would be smoother imho.
 
Chevy-SS said:
I have not been able to get it to work since the first time. I keep getting error messages like this shown below here.] Tubidy Mp3
I deleted the container and started over a couple of times, but no luck.

Any idea what's wrong? Maybe this container log has a clue? Thanks
Click to expand...

Chevy-SS I think that's error because ur connection got Limit / Blocked from YouTube.. Try using with VPN or Cookies.txt file sir..
 
1.1.2.3.5... said:
I am not a fan of using docker in windows. If you can grab a cheap linux box, that would be smoother imho.
Click to expand...

I'm not a guru like many of you guys. Why don't you like Dockers on Windows?

I do actually have an old office computer, with Windows 7. Could I reformat that SSD and then install Linux? I wouldn't mind trying Linux.

Thanks
 
Chevy-SS said:
I'm not a guru like many of you guys. Why don't you like Dockers on Windows?

I do actually have an old office computer, with Windows 7. Could I reformat that SSD and then install Linux? I wouldn't mind trying Linux.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Docker is really made for Linux and due to popularity it made its way to windows. The best way to run in windows is with hyper-v and wsl2 along with docker desktop.

I guess that all feels very dependent on the configuration for things to work. But the whole point of docker is to easily allow you to avoid configuration dependencies as much as possible.

Thus, i am bothered by how I feel the Windows solution sort of defeats the purpose. My preference would be for windows to make their down OCI container software stack as apposed to making a linux solution work on Windows.

Imagine if Microsoft made their own container tools that just ran linux or windows dockers through hyper-v right out of the box. If they added gpu pass through and nested virtualization that would make windows way more interesting to develop on.
 
craigdavid97 said:
Chevy-SS I think that's error because ur connection got Limit / Blocked from YouTube.. Try using with VPN or Cookies.txt file sir..
Click to expand...

I am using Firefox. There is an add-on available called "cookies.txt". If I install that add-on, is there anything else I would have to do?
EDIT: or is there a Cookies setting in Firefox itself that may be causing me the error messages?

I used the Docker today, and it worked for one test conversion this morning. This afternoon, I tried another test, and I got the same error message as above. So I think I am close to getting this to work.

Thanks for any help you (or ANYONE) might offer...............
 
Last edited:
I have used This in the past with good results!
Also their 4K Video Downloader Plus alows you to just download the audio to a *.mp3 file (or other audio file type)
 
Chevy-SS said:
I'm looking for a replacement YouTube to MP3 converter. I convert mainly motivational videos to MP3 and then listen while driving. I had one that I used for years (and donated religiously), but YouTube keeps making it more difficult, so that no longer works.

I HAVE NO PROBLEM PAYING. I just want something that converts quickly and easily, and is not full of malware.

Any recommendations on a program? Or maybe there's a technique I can do myself to extract audio stream right from the vid?

Many thanks!
Click to expand...
One open source program will do this job perfectly - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

Example:
yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt -x --audio-format mp3 <youtube_URL>
Result will be a mp3 file extracted directly from Youtube.

Extract your session cookies first, if you have an error stating you are not logged in to YouTube.
 
Last edited:
pioruns said:
One open source program will do this job perfectly - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

Example:
yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt -x --audio-format mp3 <youtube_URL>
Result will be a mp3 file extracted directly from Youtube.

Extract your session cookies first, if you have an error stating you are not logged in to YouTube.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am actually getting the Docker program to work, about half the time. But it is often giving me an error message, and referencing cookies. I do not understand cookies very well. Can you kindly explain your sentence, "Extract your session cookies first, if you have an error stating you are not logged in to YouTube". What does that mean exactly, and how would I do it?? I have a feeling that it is a cookie issue that is preventing Docker from not working consistently.

Many thanks.............. (y)
 
Chevy-SS said:
Thanks. I am actually getting the Docker program to work, about half the time. But it is often giving me an error message, and referencing cookies. I do not understand cookies very well. Can you kindly explain your sentence, "Extract your session cookies first, if you have an error stating you are not logged in to YouTube". What does that mean exactly, and how would I do it?? I have a feeling that it is a cookie issue that is preventing Docker from not working consistently.

Many thanks.............. (y)
Click to expand...
Here: 😃

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ#how-do-i-pass-cookies-to-yt-dlp
 
I found https://cnvmp3.com/ a web-based converter that is free from ads unlike y2mate or ytmp3 who are not to be believed. It was very easy to use it for me, I've downloaded a large base of songs and got no problems at all. With yt-dlp my youtube channel got banned...
 
Chevy-SS said:
This is helpful, but I just don't understand cookies. Is there any chance you could point to me to BASIC explanation, or maybe just write out a couple of sentences as to what is going on with these cookies?

Also, the poster above (post #29) mentions his youtube channel got banned, and I have seen similar comments from others. How to avoid this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Sorry, but which part of this FAQ you did not understand? Where are you stuck? They have clear instructions how to extract cookies from Chrome or Firefox. I extracted mine to a txt file and then made aliases:

alias yt-audio='yt-dlp -f bestaudio -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 196 --cookies ~/SyncThing-Shared/cookies.txt'
alias yt-dlp='yt-dlp --cookies ~/SyncThing-Shared/cookies.txt'

One command will extract full video+audio or audio only, of a clip or even entire channel with hundreds of clips. I still have thousands of videos downloaded to my storage for watching later, including materials Google have removed since. And no ads.
But make no mistake, Google is very actively fighting this tool! As others have mentioned in the thread already. It's becoming very popular.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top