🎶 Download YouTube Audio as MP3 Using Python

Want to download audio from YouTube and save it as MP3 automatically using Python? This Python script makes it easy — just paste a YouTube URL, and it will:

• Download the best available audio stream 🎧
• Convert it to MP3 format 🔊
• Automatically remove invalid filename characters 🧹
• Show real-time download progress 📊

Perfect for creating offline playlists, podcast archiving, speech datasets, or extracting background music for editing.

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🧩 Step 1: Install Required Modules

This script uses three Python libraries:

• pytubefix — download YouTube videos/audio.
• moviepy — convert downloaded audio to MP3.
• re & os — for handling paths and cleaning filenames.

Install dependencies using pip:

pip install pytubefix moviepy==1.0.3

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🔗 Step 2: Add the YouTube URL

Replace raw_url in the script with any YouTube link — the script automatically removes extra tracking parameters.

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💻 Step 3: Python Script

Create a file named: youtube_to_mp3.py and paste this code 👇

# Code by: Atul Kushwaha | ChatGPT

import os
import re
import ssl
from pytubefix import YouTube
from pytubefix.cli import on_progress
from moviepy.editor import AudioFileClip

# --- Fix SSL Errors (Sometimes Required) ---
ssl._create_default_https_context = ssl._create_unverified_context

# --- Clean Filename Function ---
def clean_filename(name):
    return re.sub(r'[\\/*?:"<>|]', "_", name)

# --- Input URL ---
raw_url = "https://youtu.be/_a2Ijlm-74M?si=YmK5Nz5bzPl1G19e"
raw_url = raw_url.split("?")[0]

# --- Create YouTube Object ---
yt = YouTube(raw_url, on_progress_callback=on_progress)
safe_title = clean_filename(yt.title)

print("\n🎬 Title:", yt.title)
print("👤 Author:", yt.author)
print(f"⏱ Length: {yt.length // 60} min {yt.length % 60} sec\n")

# --- Get Best Available Audio Stream ---
audio_stream = yt.streams.filter(only_audio=True).order_by("abr").desc().first()

if not audio_stream:
    print("❌ No audio stream found!")
    exit()

temp_filename = f"{safe_title}_temp.mp4"
mp3_filename = f"{safe_title}.mp3"

# --- Download Audio ---
try:
    audio_stream.download(filename=temp_filename)
    print(f"📥 Downloaded audio stream as: {temp_filename}")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"❌ Audio download failed: {e}")
    exit()

# --- Convert to MP3 ---
print("\n🎶 Converting to MP3...")

try:
    audio = AudioFileClip(temp_filename)
    audio.write_audiofile(mp3_filename)
    audio.close()

    # Remove temp file
    os.remove(temp_filename)

    print(f"✅ MP3 saved as: {mp3_filename}")
    print("🧹 Temporary file removed.")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"❌ MP3 conversion failed: {e}")

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⚙️ Step 4: Run the Script

Run this in your terminal:

python youtube_to_mp3.py

The script will download the audio, convert it to MP3, and save it with a clean filename in the same folder.

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🧠 How It Works

• Fetches YouTube metadata (title, author, duration).
• Chooses the best available audio bitrate stream automatically.
• Downloads audio as .mp4 for compatibility.
• Converts it to MP3 using MoviePy.
• Deletes temporary files after processing.

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💡 Use Cases

• Offline music playlist creation 🎵
• Podcast voice extraction 🎙️
• Sound datasets for machine learning 🤖
• Background sound collection for editing 🎬

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🎯 Project Summary

• Language: Python
• Libraries: pytubefix, moviepy
• Output: High-quality .mp3 file

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