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How to Convert YouTube to MP3 Using Command Prompt in Windows 11

Editorial Staff
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Want to grab the audio from your favorite YouTube videos? No need to mess with shady online converters full of pop-up ads. You can actually do it all from your Command Prompt in Windows 11—safe, simple, and fun!

TLDR

To convert YouTube videos to MP3 using Command Prompt in Windows 11, you’ll need a tool called yt-dlp. It’s a powerful open-source downloader. You’ll also need FFmpeg to help convert video to audio formats like MP3. Once it’s set up, you can grab a link, run a command, and voilà—MP3 magic!

What You’ll Need

Let’s start with the basics. You’ll only need three things:

Don’t worry, we’ll walk through everything step-by-step.

Step 1: Get yt-dlp

yt-dlp is a fork of the now-deprecated youtube-dl. It’s faster, better, and constantly updated.

  1. Open your browser.
  2. Go to yt-dlp Releases on GitHub.
  3. Download the file yt-dlp.exe.
  4. Place it somewhere easy, like your Desktop or a dedicated “Downloads” folder.

Done? Great!

Step 2: Get FFmpeg

FFmpeg helps convert video to audio. Without it, yt-dlp won’t be able to create MP3 files.

  1. Visit FFmpeg’s official site.
  2. Choose the Windows version.
  3. Download the Static build ZIP file.
  4. Unzip it to a folder—again, keep this simple, like C:\ffmpeg.

Important: Inside the unzipped folder, go to bin. You’ll see ffmpeg.exe there. That’s the hero of our story.

Step 3: Add FFmpeg to Your PATH

This makes sure your system knows where FFmpeg is. One-time setup—promise!

  1. Press Win + S and search for Environment Variables.
  2. Click on “Edit the system environment variables.”
  3. In the window, click the Environment Variables button.
  4. Under System Variables, find Path and click Edit.
  5. Click New and paste the path to your FFmpeg’s bin folder, e.g., C:\ffmpeg\bin.
  6. Click all the OK buttons to close everything.

FFmpeg is now ready to turn your favorite music videos into MP3 files!

Step 4: Open Command Prompt

Now the fun begins. Fire up the CMD.

  1. Press Win + R and type cmd.
  2. Hit Enter.
  3. Navigate to the folder where you saved yt-dlp.exe using the cd command. For example:
cd C:\Users\YourName\Desktop

Replace YourName with your actual Windows username.

Step 5: Time to Convert!

Let’s say you found a YouTube video you love. Copy its link.

Now, use this command in the Command Prompt:

yt-dlp.exe -x --audio-format mp3 "PASTE_YOUTUBE_LINK_HERE"

What it does:

Paste your link between the quotes and press Enter.

The magic begins. You’ll see messages like Downloading webpage and Extracting audio. After a minute or two, voilà—your MP3 will be saved in the same folder as yt-dlp.exe!

Bonus: Change the Output Folder

Want your MP3s to go somewhere else? Just add this to the command:

yt-dlp.exe -x --audio-format mp3 -o "C:\MyMP3s\%(title)s.%(ext)s" "PASTE_YOUTUBE_LINK_HERE"

This tells it to save your audio in C:\MyMP3s with the video title as the file name.

Make sure the folder exists before you run the command, or it’ll complain!

More Cool Features

yt-dlp can do a lot more! Here are some fun things to try:

yt-dlp.exe -x --audio-format mp3 "PASTE_PLAYLIST_LINK_HERE"
  • Download a specific audio quality?
    • yt-dlp.exe -f bestaudio "PASTE_YOUTUBE_LINK_HERE"

    Want to keep your tools up to date? Just run this:

    yt-dlp.exe -U

    It automatically checks for newer versions and updates itself. Handy, right?

    Tips and Trouble?

    Why This Is Better Than Online Tools

    Online sites are full of sketchy ads and trackers. Plus, they often limit quality or don’t work at all.

    With yt-dlp + FFmpeg, you get:

    And it’s totally free and open-source. That’s always a win!

    Wrap Up

    Now you know how to convert YouTube to MP3 using nothing but the humble Command Prompt in Windows 11. Not scary, right? Actually kind of fun.

    So go ahead and build your MP3 library. Next time someone asks how you did that, you can just wink and say, “CMD magic.”

    Happy downloading!

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