Audio Extractor

Extract pure audio from videos and download audio content. Supports format conversion, metadata embedding, and batch playlist processing.

Prerequisites

• Executor: Must use the remotion executor (provides yt-dlp, ffmpeg, deno)

• JS Runtime: deno is required for YouTube extraction (yt-dlp 2025+ default). The remotion executor includes deno.

• ffmpeg: Required for audio format conversion and metadata embedding. Included in remotion executor.

Limitations

Issue Detail

YouTube rate limiting Server IPs are frequently rate-limited by YouTube. If you get "This content isn't available, try again later", wait ~1 hour or ask the user to upload the audio file directly.

YouTube JS runtime yt-dlp requires deno for YouTube. Without it: No supported JavaScript runtime could be found .

Geo-restrictions Some content may be region-locked. Use --geo-bypass flag.

Authentication Some platforms require cookies. Use --cookies-from-browser or --cookies cookies.txt .

Fallback strategy: If YouTube download fails, suggest the user upload the audio file directly or provide a direct audio URL.

Quick Start

Extract audio (best quality, original format)

yt-dlp -x "URL"

Extract as MP3

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "URL"

MP3 with metadata and cover art

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail "URL"

Audio Formats

Format Selection

Format Command Use Case

MP3 --audio-format mp3

Universal compatibility

M4A/AAC --audio-format m4a

Apple devices, good quality/size

FLAC --audio-format flac

Lossless, archival

WAV --audio-format wav

Uncompressed, editing

OPUS --audio-format opus

Best quality/size ratio

Vorbis --audio-format vorbis

Open source, OGG container

Best --audio-format best

Keep original (no conversion)

Quality Control

VBR quality (0=best, 10=worst)

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0 "URL"

Specific bitrate

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 320K "URL" yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 192K "URL"

FLAC (lossless - quality setting ignored)

yt-dlp -x --audio-format flac "URL"

Metadata Embedding

Embed All Metadata

Metadata + thumbnail as cover art

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata
--embed-thumbnail
"URL"

What Gets Embedded

• Title

• Artist/Uploader

• Album (playlist name if applicable)

• Track number (playlist index)

• Upload date

• Description

• Thumbnail as cover art

Custom Metadata

Override artist

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata
--parse-metadata "uploader:%(artist)s"
"URL"

Set album name

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata
--parse-metadata "playlist:%(album)s"
"URL"

Playlist/Batch Processing

Download Full Playlist as Audio

Basic playlist extraction

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 "PLAYLIST_URL"

With numbering and organization

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail
-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
"PLAYLIST_URL"

Skip already downloaded

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--download-archive downloaded.txt
"PLAYLIST_URL"

Selective Download

First 10 tracks

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 -I 1:10 "PLAYLIST_URL"

Specific tracks

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 -I 1,5,10 "PLAYLIST_URL"

Last 5 tracks

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 -I -5: "PLAYLIST_URL"

Output Naming

Template Variables

Variable Description Example

%(title)s

Track title Song Name

%(uploader)s

Artist/Channel Artist Name

%(playlist)s

Album/Playlist My Playlist

%(playlist_index)s

Track number 1

%(upload_date)s

Release date 20231215

%(ext)s

Extension mp3

Common Patterns

Artist - Title

yt-dlp -x -o "%(uploader)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

Album folder with track numbers

yt-dlp -x -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s" "PLAYLIST_URL"

Date-organized

yt-dlp -x -o "%(upload_date>%Y-%m)s/%(title)s.%(ext)s" "URL"

Platform-Specific

YouTube Music / YouTube

Standard extraction

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail "URL"

For music videos, prefer audio stream

yt-dlp -f "bestaudio" -x --audio-format mp3 "URL"

SoundCloud

Direct audio (often already MP3)

yt-dlp -x "https://soundcloud.com/artist/track"

Playlist/album

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
-o "%(uploader)s - %(album)s/%(playlist_index)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
"https://soundcloud.com/artist/sets/album"

Bandcamp

Full album with metadata

yt-dlp -x --audio-format flac
--embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail
-o "%(album)s/%(track_number)02d - %(track)s.%(ext)s"
"https://artist.bandcamp.com/album/name"

Podcasts

Single episode

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --embed-metadata "EPISODE_URL"

Full podcast feed (RSS)

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
-o "%(playlist)s/%(upload_date)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
--download-archive podcasts.txt
"RSS_FEED_URL"

Apple Podcasts

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata
"https://podcasts.apple.com/..."

Bilibili

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--cookies-from-browser chrome
"https://bilibili.com/video/BV..."

Advanced Options

Parallel Downloads

Faster playlist downloads

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--concurrent-fragments 4
"PLAYLIST_URL"

Post-Processing

Normalize audio volume

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-af loudnorm"
"URL"

Trim silence

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--postprocessor-args "ffmpeg:-af silenceremove=1:0:-50dB"
"URL"

Split by Chapters

Split video into separate audio files by chapter

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--split-chapters
-o "chapter:%(section_title)s.%(ext)s"
"URL"

Complete Examples

Extract audio from YouTube playlist as high-quality MP3:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --audio-quality 0
--embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail
-o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)02d - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
--download-archive downloaded.txt
"https://youtube.com/playlist?list=..."

Download podcast episode:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3
--embed-metadata
-o "%(uploader)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"
"https://podcasts.apple.com/..."

Extract FLAC from Bandcamp album:

yt-dlp -x --audio-format flac
--embed-metadata --embed-thumbnail
-o "%(album)s/%(track_number)02d - %(track)s.%(ext)s"
"https://artist.bandcamp.com/album/..."

Extract audio from local video file:

ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame -q:a 0 audio.mp3

Troubleshooting

Issue Solution

"ffmpeg not found" Install ffmpeg: brew install ffmpeg / apt install ffmpeg

No cover art Add --embed-thumbnail (requires ffmpeg)

Wrong metadata Use --parse-metadata to remap fields

Poor quality Use --audio-quality 0 or lossless format