Userscripts.org

The script has always provided direct download links from youtube.com and not from third-party sites. YouTube doesn't offer MP3 versions of the videos because it's a video site, not an audio site. There are all kinds of sites that convert the videos to MP3, but they usually include a lot of ads, pop-up windows and require Java JRE. I'm not sure it's a good idea to link to one of these sites.

Another option is to download videos as MP4 and use a software that converts to MP3. VLC is a great example and it's also a brilliant video player. http://chitx2000.hubpages.com/hub/Using-VLC-Med...

Right, it's useful, but don't forget that the site doesn't convert videos instantly: you have to wait until it downloads the video, converts it and then you can download it. You can do the same thing by downloading whatever version of the video you want (480p, 720p etc.) and convert it in VLC. I'll test to see which is faster. There are tons of sites that download YouTube videos and I could simply place a button that links to one of these sites, it would be a lot easier for me, but the user experience wouldn't be great - no more instant downloads.

I've tried video2mp3.net. It's fast, BUT: it requires Java JRE in Firefox (fewer and fewer people install it), there are pop-up ads and the Firefox extension uses a lot of code from my script (an old version) without including some credit. The Firefox extension has many bad reviews:

"This is useless. It sends you to a third party website to convert, with unnecessary waitings and turns."
"does what it says. but compared to competition, its slow, restricted and packed full of ad popups, adware and according to avast, spyware"
"Even though I clicked on "decline" during the installation process when offered "Funmoods", video2mp3 installed "Funmoods" anyway, which hijacked my Firefox browser and wouldn't let go - even after I deleted it in Control Panel! Look up "Funmoods" in google and see why video2mp3 is so terrible."

Here's another way to extract the audio part of the video.

1. download ffmpeg http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html (check the static builds)

2. extract the archive, go to the bin folder

3. open a command line window/terminal and cd to the bin folder

4. type this code:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -f mp3 -ab 192000 -vn music.mp3

(video.mp4 is the name of the downloaded video, make sure to include the full path surrounded by quotes: "c:\users\alex\downloads\YouTube video.mp4"; music.mp3 is the generated audio file)

You can also type this code to extract the AAC audio (it's a lot faster):

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -c:a copy music.m4a