YouTube Music Downloader

🎧 Download YouTube audio in the format you need

YouTube Music Downloader is for creators, researchers, and developers with public YouTube Music or YouTube links. It saves audio and returns a download link, title, artist or channel, duration, source link, file details, and other track data. Each file link works without an Apify login or exposed token. No YouTube login, cookies, OAuth, or API key is needed.

Use it to:

• Save a public track with YouTube Music Downloader.
• Turn a public video into MP3 with Video to MP3 Converter.
• Save video audio in another format with Convert Video to Audio.
• Process direct links in a list with URL to MP3 Converter.
• Add available captions with YouTube Transcript Download.
• Export track and file details with YouTube Audio Metadata Export.
• Pick the source country with YouTube Regional Audio Download.

The Actor handles each unique source on its own. If the same video appears more than once, it saves only the first eligible one. A bad or unavailable link does not remove files saved from other links in the run.

📦 Data you get

Each successful download creates one dataset row. It has the source, track, artist or channel, audio format, saved file, and optional caption data. Private, protected, removed, invalid, and unavailable links do not create rows.

The Actor does not expand playlists, albums, searches, radio queues, or artist pages. It does not download video.

🚀 Run the Actor

1. Add one or more direct YouTube Music or YouTube video links.
2. Pick an audio format.
3. Pick an access country if needed.
4. Add a caption language if you want available captions.
5. Start the run, open the dataset, and open each downloadUrl.

🛠️ Input

Field	Type	What it does
urls	array of objects	Adds direct public YouTube Music track, YouTube watch, Shorts, or youtu.be links.
urls[].url	string	Gives one direct public link to process.
format	string	Picks mp3, m4a, webm, flac, wav, vorbis, or alac. The default is mp3.
country	string	Picks the two-letter uppercase ISO country used to get public audio. The default is US.
captionLanguage	string	Asks for available captions in one language, such as en or en-US.

The default input used in Hosted QA is:

{
  "urls": [
    {
      "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw"
    }
  ],
  "format": "mp3",
  "country": "US"
}

📄 Output

Each successful download has this complete shape. A field may be null when YouTube does not show the value.

Field	Type	What it does
submittedUrl	string	Shows the submitted link that made this row.
videoId	string	Gives the YouTube video ID.
sourceUrl	string	Gives the main YouTube watch URL.
title	string	Gives the track or video title.
artistName	string or null	Gives the artist or channel name.
artistUrl	string or null	Gives the artist or channel page.
description	string or null	Gives the source description.
durationSeconds	integer or null	Gives the audio length in seconds.
thumbnailUrl	string or null	Gives the thumbnail image URL.
publishedDate	string or null	Gives the source date in YYYY-MM-DD form.
viewCount	integer or null	Gives the view count when available.
likeCount	integer or null	Gives the like count when available.
commentCount	integer or null	Gives the comment count when available.
audioFormat	string	Gives the saved file format.
audioCodec	string	Gives the saved audio codec.
bitrateKbps	number or null	Gives the bitrate in kilobits per second.
sampleRateHz	integer or null	Gives the sample rate in hertz.
fileName	string	Gives the saved file name and extension.
fileSizeBytes	integer	Gives the saved file size in bytes.
downloadUrl	string	Downloads the file without an Apify login or exposed token.
captions	object or null	Gives the requested captions, or null when none match.
captions.language	string	Gives the caption language code.
captions.text	string	Gives all caption text in one string.
captions.segments	array of objects	Gives the timed caption parts.
captions.segments[].startSeconds	number	Gives the time when a part starts.
captions.segments[].durationSeconds	number	Gives the length of a part.
captions.segments[].text	string	Gives the words in a part.

This is a full row from the current beta build:

{
  "submittedUrl": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "videoId": "jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw",
  "title": "Me at the zoo",
  "artistName": "jawed",
  "artistUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A",
  "description": "Microplastics are accumulating in human brains at an alarming rate\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PT5c1z3LL8\n\n“Nanoplastics and Human Health” with Matthew J Campen, PhD, MSPH\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRBN_4L09Mg\n\n00:00 Intro\n00:05 The cool thing\n00:17 End",
  "durationSeconds": 19,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jNQXAC9IVRw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGFUgWShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLA9eLBatYv9WbkD4BbZ2Im-biSPTw",
  "publishedDate": "2005-04-24",
  "viewCount": 401614105,
  "likeCount": 19244088,
  "commentCount": 10000000,
  "audioFormat": "mp3",
  "audioCodec": "mp3 (mp3float)",
  "bitrateKbps": 48,
  "sampleRateHz": 44100,
  "fileName": "Me at the zoo.mp3",
  "fileSizeBytes": 117028,
  "captions": null,
  "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/UbMyAYGIP6Zr9v66l/records/AUDIO-jNQXAC9IVRw-c3e9279dac82.mp3?signature=19s43qPsmkAJDWIRq2yHd"
}

You can export rows as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML.

💳 Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. The audio event is charged only when a track is saved as a downloadable file. The transcript event is charged only when a requested transcript or subtitle is added to a downloaded track. Invalid, skipped, failed, and no-result links do not create these charged outcomes. Apify platform usage costs may also apply.

🔌 Integrations

Use the Actor with the Apify API, schedules, webhooks, Make, or Zapier. This video shows how to use Apify Actors with integrations:

❓ FAQ

Does the download link need an Apify token?

No. A successful row has a signed downloadUrl that works without an Apify login or exposed token.

Why did a public link produce no file?

The source may be removed, protected, age-gated, blocked in the chosen country, or unavailable. Try a country where the public audio is offered. The Actor does not bypass access controls.

Will one bad URL stop my whole list?

No. Each URL is handled on its own. Files already saved from other links stay in the run.

Are transcripts always available?

No. Add captionLanguage to ask for one. The output includes captions only when YouTube has a match. They may be auto-made and are not promised to be official song lyrics.

Which audio format should I pick?

Use MP3 for broad support. M4A can keep compatible source audio. WebM uses Opus audio. FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, and ALAC can help with editing. A lossless container cannot add quality that is not in the source.

Can I download playlists or videos?

No. Add direct track or video links. The Actor does not expand playlists and does not save video files.

Can I use this instead of YouTube Music's offline download?

This Actor saves audio from direct public links to Apify storage. YouTube Music's offline feature works inside its own app. Download only content you are allowed to use.

📝 Changelog

• 0.1: Initial release.

🆘 Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, file a ticket and I'll fix or implement it in less than 24h 🫡

🔗 Related Actors

• TikTok Audio Downloader — save audio and public data from known TikTok video links.
• YouTube Music Scraper — find songs, albums, artists, playlists, and other YouTube Music data by search or URL.
• SoundCloud MP3 Downloader — get playable links and track data from SoundCloud URLs, profiles, playlists, or searches.
• YouTube Region Restriction Checker — check where a public YouTube video can be watched.
• YouTube Description Extractor — export full descriptions and links from public YouTube videos.

Made with ❤️ by Maxime Dupré