Top 5 Methods to Convert YouTube to FLAC for Offline Listening
YouTube is the largest video website in the world, and there are thousands of music videos posted on the website. It provides users to listen to high-quality music online without any charges. But is it possible to download these videos on YouTube to FLAC audio files, which have smaller sizes and better sound quality compared with MP3 files so that we can enjoy them offline?
Yes, there are a lot of ways to do this, and many people know that using a converter or recorder is the most straightforward solution. Therefore, this article will provide 5 useful YouTube to FLAC converters to help you download and convert YouTube videos to FLAC, including online free tools.
The following methods of downloading and converting YouTube to FLAC are for offline listening only and shall not be used for any commercial purposes.
Part 1. What is FLAC?
FLAC, also known as Free Lossless Audio Codec, is one of the most common audio formats developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation. It is similar to MP3, but the major difference is that FLAC is compressed without any loss in quality and the FLAC files tend to be up to six times larger than MP3 files.
About downloading and converting YouTube videos to FLAC, you should know that for mobile users, YouTube videos can be downloaded directly within the YouTube app, but cannot be converted to FLAC. For desktop users, YouTube videos can neither be downloaded nor converted to FLAC. In short, to get FLAC format from YouTube, a third-party tool is needed that can download YouTube videos and convert them to FLAC.
Part 2. How to Convert YouTube to FLAC on Windows and Mac
Method 1. Best YouTube to FLAC Converter - TunesKit Audio Capture
First of all, let's get familiar with the tool that we are going to use. TunesKit YouTube Audio Converter is a powerful streaming audio recorder that can record audio from any software, YouTube included, into FLAC files or other popular audio formats. With this YouTube to FLAC downloader, the original quality and metadata information of each recorded audio track will be retained in the process of recording.
Now that we know the tool we need, you probably figure out how to achieve YouTube to FLAC. Yes, what we need to do is to record and download the YouTube video to FLAC format. Since the recording tracks have lossless quality, the recording process is somewhat equal to a conversion, except that recording needs more time.
Key Features of TunesKit Audio Capture
- Support recording and downloading audio on Mac and Windows from any programs and websites
- Support converting YouTube to WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, M4A, and M4B
- Preserve streaming music with the original audio quality and ID3 tags
- Support many customization functions and groove the songs even offline
The next part is a guide for using the software to download and convert YouTube video to FLAC, which will be helpful if you want to experience whether it is really good or not.
Step 1Prepare to download music to FLAC
Launch the TunesKit YouTube Audio Converter on your computer. In the main window, you can see a default list of media programs installed on your computer. If not, you can drag the YouTube desktop shortcut or browser that is playing YouTube video into the list.
Then click the Format drop-down arrow at the bottom to set the output audio format to FLAC. Other options, including sample rate and bit rate, can be set according to your personal demand.
Step 2Start Playing and Recording YouTube Audio
Click the browse like Chrome or Safari in it, and find out the video that you want to record audio from on YouTube. Then the best YouTube to FLAC Converter, TunesKit Audio Capture will automatically start recording until there is no sound playing. When it finishes, stop the playback of the YouTube video and click the Stop button at the right bottom, all the recording Youtube FLAC files will be saved in the Capture list.
Step 3Locate downloaded audio
After stopping the download process, the downloaded audio will be saved on this software your PC. You can go to the History part to find the downloaded audio list. Move your mouse to the target audio line and then you can click the Open icon to arrive at the folder saing this audio.
Method 2. TunesKit Video Converter
The second useful YouTube to FLAC converter you can try is TunesKit Video Converter. This is a comprehensive video solution that allows users to convert videos between 250+ video formats without causing any quality loss. Of course, you can also use it to extract audio tracks from video files at 60X faster speed. Thus, converting YouTube videos to FLAC can be an easy job by TunesKit Video Converter. With a few clicks only, you'll be able to get your favorite audio files with lossless quality from any videos on YouTube. Besides FLAC audio format, TunesKit Video Converter also supports many other media formats such as MP3, WAV, MP4, etc. Now check the following simple to learn how to use the tool to convert YouTube videos as FLAC.
Step 1: Use a free online tool to download the YouTube video you want to extract audio from. Then download and launch TunesKit Video Converter on your Windows or Mac computer. Click the second Add Files icon on the top menu bar, or simply drag and drop the YouTube video file to the TunesKit.
Step 2: Click the Format at the bottom left corner and choose the Encoding mode > General Audio > FLAC as the output format.
Step 3: Click the orange Convert button at the lower right corner to start the conversion. A few seconds later, you can click the Converted icon to get the converted FLAC files from YouTube video.
Part 3. Download YouTube to FLAC Online Free
Method 3. LOADER.TO
The good substitute to record YouTube videos to FLAC is using some online tools that don't install any software on your computer at all. LOADER.TO is an online converter that converts YouTube to FLAC online and many other formats of audios. Just follow these steps below and you will get a FLAC file of the target video.
1) Go to the YouTube video page that you want to convert and copy its URL.
2) Access the audio converter website and paste that YouTube URL into the search box.
3) Click the Download button to begin recording the YouTube audio.
4) After conversion, click the Download button on the result page, and it will download the YouTube audio as a FLAC file to your computer.
Method 4. YouTube-FLAC.com
YouTube-FLAC.com is a free online media conversion application, which allows you to record, convert and download nearly any audio or video URL to common formats. Regarded as one of the best YouTube to FLAC converter online, this free and faster online media conversion application allows you to download videos from YT to FLAC or other formats, so you can listen to your favorite YouTube music offline on your device.
1) Paste your YouTube URL at Video URL and press Continue.
2) Select the format as FLAC and the options for the conversion. The default options are for most videos a good setting.
3) Press the Download button at the bottom to start the conversion.
4) This may take several minutes. After the conversion is finished you can download the converted file.
Method 5. ukc.com.np
Another YouTube to FLAC online converter introduced here is ukc.com.np. This tool allows you to easily download YouTube videos and save it as FLAC format for free. But when downloading YouTube videos with it, you'll meet many ads, which put your computer in a risk of virus, and make a bad using experience. If you don't mind, you can follow the quick steps below.
1) Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to convert.
2) Browse the UKC website and paste the YouTube URL into the search bar.
3) Now click the blue Download Now button and it will start the conversion. Once it's done, you'll find the converted FLAC audio file on your computer.
Part 5. FAQs about Download and Convert YouTube to FLAC
Q1: How do I convert YouTube audio to MP3?
To convert YouTube audio to MP3, you can try TunesKit Audio Capture. This software can convert YouTube audio or video to MP3 without any audio quality loss.
Q2: Can you upload FLAC on YouTube?
Yes, YouTube supports users to upload FLAC and other formats of audio.
Q3: How to convert the YouTube playlists to FLAC?
If you want to download and convert YouTube playlists, you can try TunesKit Audio Capture which supports recording songs losslessly in bulk. Or you can try the YouTube to FLAC online converter mentioned above.
Conclusion
The five options we provided have their own different advantages. TunesKit Audio Capture provides higher efficiency and better sound quality, while these online YouTube FLAC converters cannot give you a pile of YouTube FLAC files with good audio quality even though they are free of charge. Which one to choose is determined by your own needs.