How to Record YouTube Audio with Audacity 2025

When it comes to audio recording and editing software, Audacity is a name that frequently comes up in discussions. One of its popular uses is recording audio from YouTube, which has a vast library of music, podcasts, and other soundtracks. Since YouTube doesn’t offer a built-in option to extract audio, many users turn to Audacity for this purpose. In this article, we’ll walk you through how Audacity records YouTube audio. Let’s dive in!

Part 1: What is Audacity

Simply put, Audacity is a free and open source software that primarily focuses on recording audio, editing and converting between different audio formats. It can perform recording live audio, digitizing media recordings and even capturing streaming audio from various online sources in high quality.

Price: Free and open source

Compatibility: Mac, Windows and Linux. Available on the official website for free download.

Part 2: How to Record YouTube Audio with Audacity

It’s very easy to use Audacity to record audio YouTube to MP3. We’ll provide you with detailed how-to steps below:

1. First of all, download the appropriate version of Audacity and install it. Launch the program on your computer.

2. Go to Audio Setup and click on it. A drop down menu will open. Go to Host and change to Windows WASAPI. This ensures high quality audio recording.

3. Then, click on Audio Setup again, and from the menu, go to recording device and choose the loopback version of whatever device you use to listen to audio on your computer.

4. Now, hit the Record button on Audacity and play the YouTube video. You’ll see waveforms being produced on Audacity, which means that the audio recording has begun.

5. Once the recording has completed, click on the square button to stop. To export the recorded Audio. Go to File in the top right corner and then look for Export Audio. Click on it and choose the destination. Once done, click on Export.

Part 3: The Best Audacity Alternative to Record YouTube Audio

You’ve successfully accomplished the process to record audio from YouTube with Audacity. Now we will explore some Audacity alternatives. And we are introducing HitPaw Edimakor, an amazing video editing platform powered by AI that has many additional functions besides video editing. This includes being able to download and recording audio/video from any online source such as YouTube. You can even edit the audio with its AI Audio Editing tools.

Now to record audio from YouTube with Edimakor instead of Audacity, we have two different ways. One is to record audio from YouTube and the second is to directly download audio from YouTube videos.

• Record Audio from YouTube

  • Step 1: Launch HitPaw Edimakor on your computer and click on Create a Video. Next, go to the left vertical menu and look for Record. Then find Application and click on it.

  • Step 2: Next, choose the application that is playing YouTube video from options. In this case, Chrome is selected.

  • Step 3: Start recording. This will capture both the audio and video. Once the recording has ended, click on Stop recording.

  

  • Step 4: Then on the timeline, right click on the video to detach the audio.

  

  • Step 5: Click on the Export button and then it to save the audio file on your computer.

  

• How to Download YouTube Audio

  If you don’t want to record this way, we also have another method whereby you can download the YouTube audio directly.

  • Step 1: Open Edimakor and go to the left tab again, now looking for the Download section.

  • Step 2: Copy and past the YouTube video link. Choose the option of only downloading audio. Hit Download.

  • Step 3: Now click the download button in the right menu bar where you will find the YouTube audio file.

    

Part 4: FAQs on Audacity Record YouTube Audio

• Q1. Can you record computer audio with Audacity?

  A1: Yes, Audacity can easily record computer audio, whether it’s YouTube, Spotify or any other source, Audacity can easily capture the audio thanks to the loopback device feature.

• Q2. Can Audacity record streaming audio?

  A2: Yes, Audacity can also record streaming audio. All you need is few little settings tweaks and you’ll be good to go.

• Q3. How to record YouTube with Audacity on Mac?

  A3: The process of recording YouTube with Audacity is a little bit different as it involves installing another software called as Soundflower, which basically serves the function of loopback audio to the recording device.

• Q4. Can I extract audio from YouTube?

  A4: Yes, you can extract audio from YouTube, but you need a third-party software. You can either go for any online YouTube audio downloader or use Edimakor’s built-in downloader to do it.

Conclusion

To sum up everything, if you need to record audio from YouTube, Audacity is the tool that you can use. As audio recording software, Audacity is open source and free, it’s also available across different OS. And we have listed detailed steps to record audio from YouTube with Audacity. If you want an alternative to Audacity, we recommend using HitPaw Edimakor that can not only get audio from YouTube, but also have other features like advanced video editing and AI tools for content creation.

HitPaw Edimakor (Video Editor)

• Create effortlessly with our AI-powered video editing suite, no experience needed.
• Add auto subtitles and lifelike voiceovers to videos with our AI.
• Convert scripts to videos with our AI script generator.
• Explore a rich library of effects, stickers, videos, audios, music, images, and sounds.