YouTube Music Extractor

A Python tool to download music from YouTube/YouTube Music with proper metadata and album art, featuring parallel processing for albums and playlists.

Features

• 🎵 Download music from YouTube or YouTube Music URLs
• 📀 Support for both single tracks and full albums/playlists
• 🚀 Parallel processing for faster album downloads
• 🎧 Convert to high-quality M4A format with 256k bitrate
• 🏷️ Extract and embed metadata (title, artist, album, genre, track numbers)
• 🖼️ Process album artwork to perfect 1:1 aspect ratio (500x500px)
• 📁 Organized folder structure for albums and single tracks
• 🧹 Automatic cleanup of temporary files
• 🎮 Optimize for VLC and other media players

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Dependencies listed in requirements.txt

Installation

Option 1: Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/Captain-Vikram/YTMusic_To_M4A
cd YTMusic_To_M4A

Option 2: Install as Package

pip install -e .

Set up Virtual Environment (Recommended)

python -m venv .venv
# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Basic Usage

python main.py

As Installed Package

yt-music-extractor

The script will prompt you for a YouTube/YouTube Music URL and then:

1. Analyze the URL to determine if it's a single track or album/playlist
2. Download the best audio quality using yt-dlp
3. Convert to M4A format with AAC codec (256k bitrate)
4. Process cover art (crop to square, resize to 500x500px)
5. Embed metadata and cover art into audio files
6. Organize files into appropriate folders
7. Clean up temporary files

Examples

Single Track

Enter the YouTube URL: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Creates: Single - Song Title/Song Title.m4a

Album/Playlist

Enter the YouTube URL: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_xyz

Creates: Album Title/Track 1.m4a, Album Title/Track 2.m4a, etc.

Features in Detail

Parallel Processing

• Albums and playlists are processed using ThreadPoolExecutor
• Up to 4 concurrent downloads (configurable in config.py)
• Real-time progress tracking

Metadata Handling

• Title: Song title from YouTube
• Artist: Channel name or extracted artist
• Album: Playlist/album title or song title for singles
• Genre: "YouTube Music" (default)
• Track Numbers: Automatic numbering for album tracks
• Cover Art: Embedded as MP4Cover format

File Organization

Project Root/
├── Album Title/
│   ├── Track 1.m4a
│   ├── Track 2.m4a
│   ├── cover.jpg
│   └── Track 1.jpg (external cover for VLC)
└── Single - Song Title/
    ├── Song Title.m4a
    └── cover.jpg

Image Processing

• Automatically crops images to 1:1 aspect ratio
• Resizes to 500x500px for optimal compatibility
• Converts to JPEG format (95% quality)
• Creates both embedded and external cover art

Configuration

Modify settings in config.py:

# Audio quality
AUDIO_BITRATE = "256k"

# Image processing
IMAGE_TARGET_SIZE = 500
IMAGE_QUALITY = 95

# Threading
MAX_WORKERS = 4

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Missing audio files: Check if the URL is accessible and not geo-blocked
2. Conversion errors: Ensure FFmpeg is installed and accessible
3. Metadata errors: Some files may not support M4A metadata format

Debug Mode

Add verbose logging by modifying the yt-dlp options in the script.

Dependencies

• yt-dlp: YouTube download functionality
• moviepy: Audio conversion and processing
• mutagen: Audio metadata handling
• Pillow: Image processing and manipulation
• requests: HTTP requests for thumbnail downloads

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.

Acknowledgments

• yt-dlp for robust YouTube download functionality
• MoviePy for audio conversion capabilities
• Mutagen for comprehensive metadata handling
• Pillow for advanced image processing

Changelog

v1.0.3 (Latest)

✨ Major Enhancements

• Quality Detection: Real-time audio quality verification and reporting
• Smart File Handling: Robust filename matching prevents conversion errors
• Parallel Processing: Faster album downloads with concurrent track processing
• VLC Optimization: Perfect album artwork and external cover files

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Enhanced M4A file detection (no unnecessary re-conversion)
• Improved metadata embedding with better error handling
• Smart cleanup system that preserves project files
• Cross-platform filename sanitization
• Optional format analysis before download

🎵 Audio Quality Features

• Support for up to 320kbps AAC downloads
• Intelligent format selection prioritizes highest quality
• Real-time quality reporting during download
• Optional pre-download format analysis

📁 Better Organization

• Clean folder structure for singles and albums
• Automatic cleanup preserves only final M4A files
• External cover art files for perfect VLC compatibility
• Smart handling of existing M4A files (no re-processing)

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed filename mismatch issues during conversion
• Resolved metadata embedding errors
• Improved error handling for network issues
• Better handling of special characters in filenames

v1.0.2

• 🐛 Fixed bug in metadata handling
• 📖 Updated documentation

v1.0.1

• 🚀 Initial PyPI release
• 📦 Fixed packaging issues
• All features from v1.0.0 included

v1.0.0

• 🚀 Added parallel processing for albums and playlists
• 📁 Improved file organization with dedicated folders
• 🖼️ Enhanced image processing with 1:1 aspect ratio cropping
• 🧹 Automatic cleanup of temporary files
• 📊 Better error handling and progress tracking
• 🎮 VLC-optimized output with external cover art files