How to convert YouTube videos losslessly (w/Portable & Free Tools)

[FukenGruven]

Tools Required: (Portable & Stealth)

• AvantiPortable
• YouTubeHDPortable (if new version is released, simply re-run installer to update)
• FLVExtractPortable (requires .NET framework)
• YAMBPortable (contains latest MP4box, eac3to, and tagger.)

Note: the applications above were all designed by me using PortableApps.comFormat.. so i can personally vouch for safety.

Optional: (Portable & Stealth)

• YTDPortable (provides fast, multiple simultaneous downloads)
• Pazera Video Converters Suite 1.8 (this is also a very good, free, video/audio converter.. a bit large in size though.)

Note: all applications listed above are portable & stealth. (leaves no trash behind after usage.)

Synopsis: i download YouTube videos alot.. mainly documentaries which i convert losslessly to audio for listening at night night which helps me go to sleep :)

1. Download desired YouTube video.

2. Start YAMBPortable.

3. Load video.

4. Extract raw formats losslessly.

(.aac is natively supported by Windows.. if you don't care about size.. you can use .aac for listening.)

(for those concerned about conserving HD space.. continue with tutorial for converting to MP3)

5. Start AvantiPortable.

6. Converting raw audio stream to desired format w/AvantiPortable.

7. How to deal with .FLV formats using FLVExtractPortable.

8. FLVExtractPortable in action.

9. How to convert .FLV to .MP4 losslessly with YAMBPortable.

10. How to load raw streams into YAMBPortable.

11. Finished product.. .MP4 file which we losslessly converted from .FLV :)

Note: YAMB is a versatile, light-weight application capable of many conversions, muxing, demuxing, and other useful features not shown here. I highly recommend adding YAMB to your video toolbox.

YAMB is quirky, and just a GUI which hasn't been updated in a while, and is known to throw random, harmless errors.. just ignore them.. everything will work fine :)

Edited October 31, 2013 by FukenGruven

[november_ra1n]

I wish you will never leave portablexapps even if you make one portable a day..However nothing is forever and i know its time consuming making those portable hard job.

[FukenGruven]

I wish you will never leave portablexapps even if you make one portable a day..However nothing is forever and i know its time consuming making those portable hard job.

Honestly.. time was a factor but wasn't the main factor...

i didn't find it challenging anymore.. it became too repetitious..

Here.. i can actually socialize and share at my own leisure :)

[Pirri]

When I want a video in mp4 format I use "Internet Download Manager". With IDM you can choose which format to download. 95% of videos I've downloaded from Youtube let me choose to download in mp4. The point is: IDM it isn't portable (maybe there's a version out there I missed) and the tools do you use are portable. Anyway, I appreciate your share with us. The tools do you show aren't known to me until now.

Many thanks and best regards.

[FukenGruven]

When I want a video in mp4 format I use "Internet Download Manager". With IDM you can choose which format to download. 95% of videos I've downloaded from Youtube let me choose to download in mp4. The point is: IDM it isn't portable (maybe there's a version out there I missed) and the tools do you use are portable. Anyway, I appreciate your share with us. The tools do you show aren't known to me until now.

Many thanks and best regards.

thank you... i have made IDM portable but trashed it because it was too messy..

IDM is great for people who are not into Portable or Stealth applications.

Also.. keep in mind.. video converters/download managers that convert videos do it lossy.

With YAMB.. it's lossless.

You're right.. most YouTube videos have .mp4 option.. but some of the older/poorer quality videos are still in .flv format.

Are you familiar w/JDownloader? it's a standalone unit .. and there are portable versions out there that do not leave any trash behind.

- and when used in conjunction w/JD-Premium.. you can have access to most popular file-sharing websites as a premium user.

* If anyone else has a good tool they use for YouTube or video .. please share.. im always looking for new software :)

[Reefa]

Thanks for the share fellow..I love portables :thumbsup:

YAMB is a versatile, light-weight application capable of many conversions, muxing, demuxing, and other useful features not shown here. I highly recommend adding YAMB to your video toolbox.

Added :cheers:

Edited November 1, 2013 by F3dupsk1Nup

[xanax]

"(.aac is natively supported by Windows.. if you don't care about size.. you can use .aac for listening.)

(for those concerned about conserving HD space.. continue with tutorial for converting to MP3)"

when you look file size you must look at bitrate

aac is made to be superior over mp3 especially for audio quality on lower bitrate like 48kbps (even better with HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2), so converting to mp3 at 48kbps is nonsense (except you need to play on devices which not support aac)

if need better audio quality at 48kbps it's better to recompress aac on 48kbps (if you need smaller file) instead convert it to mp3 at 48kbps, that is a fact.


what skin/program is used for desktop from screenshot with this system info at the top?

Edited November 1, 2013 by xanax

[smallhagrid]

Hello FukenGruven and All.

Alot of YT vids that I am into are just a static photo with sound - and I too like to listen at my leisure.

(I posted about this idea a while back and there was no better solution suggested then...)

Mostly since I want the smallest filesize I grab whatever one I want using Keepvid and usually the 3GP is the smallest.

I've tried converting different ones to MP3 files and found that even at a low bitrate the files are usually bigger.

Isn't there any direct route - using a portable app to just get the smallest kind of sound file out of YT vids - but minus the many steps ??

So far all I have been doing is grabbing the smallest vid - listen to it, then delete.

Other times I want to keep something to listen to it again later, and for this a really quick & dirty conversion to a small sound file would be a super great help.

(And if it is at a low bitrate that is OK for things that are just talking anyhow.)

Thanks.

[FukenGruven]

"(.aac is natively supported by Windows.. if you don't care about size.. you can use .aac for listening.)

(for those concerned about conserving HD space.. continue with tutorial for converting to MP3)"

when you look file size you must look at bitrate

aac is made to be superior over mp3 especially for audio quality on lower bitrate like 48kbps (even better with HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2), so converting to mp3 at 48kbps is nonsense (except you need to play on devices which not support aac)

if need better audio quality at 48kbps it's better to recompress aac on 48kbps (if you need smaller file) instead convert it to mp3 at 48kbps, that is a fact.

what skin/program is used for desktop from screenshot with this system info at the top?

i used MP3 only for tutorial purposes..

i don't convert .aac to MP3 if im after quality.

thanks for your .aac perspective.

the skin program is called "Essential Bar" and is on my DeviantArt page. (in my signature).

- let me know if you need any help setting it up.

Hello FukenGruven and All.

Alot of YT vids that I am into are just a static photo with sound - and I too like to listen at my leisure.

(I posted about this idea a while back and there was no better solution suggested then...)

Mostly since I want the smallest filesize I grab whatever one I want using Keepvid and usually the 3GP is the smallest.

I've tried converting different ones to MP3 files and found that even at a low bitrate the files are usually bigger.

Isn't there any direct route - using a portable app to just get the smallest kind of sound file out of YT vids - but minus the many steps ??

So far all I have been doing is grabbing the smallest vid - listen to it, then delete.

Other times I want to keep something to listen to it again later, and for this a really quick & dirty conversion to a small sound file would be a super great help.

(And if it is at a low bitrate that is OK for things that are just talking anyhow.)

Thanks.

keep in mind... the reason there are so many steps in this tutorial is because i was trying to be as clear as possible :P

if you're not concerned about quality.. you can just convert w/any converter w/the lowest possible bitrate.

I think MP3 Quality Modifier could help you.. it can edit the bitrate of MP3s to decrease it's size.

Here's my portable version for MP3 Quality Modifier.

Edited November 1, 2013 by FukenGruven

[smallhagrid]

Thanks Again FukenGruven.

I've tried several different converters to just scrape out the audio and reduce the bitrate, and have yet to see the filesize decrease significantly.

I did try using that modifier app as well, and found sizes only getting 5-10% smaller than the original 3GP was.

Right now there is a vid I want that is audio only - 5 hours + 20 minutes long, that was compiled from 21 separate days.

Of course it is one of these stupid things that only has a static photo and I cringe thinking of how large that file will be...! (Turns out it is just over 100MB as the smallest 3GP...woof.)

I seriously wish that for things like this, that there could be a nice portable app that would take the URL and just spit out a small audio file !!!

Thanks.

Edited November 1, 2013 by smallhagrid

[geeteam]

mmmh! you did well with that but that is a lot of work - anyway good job!

[anakin206]

Great tutorial. I'm saving this just in case I need it sometimes :D

Normally I don't extract audio from video, just download it with IDM.

[Alhaitham]

guys

if you want to download the audio without the video directly from youtube, you can use this

YouTube Center

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/114002

to download the audio with different bitrates

and then you can play it with MPC from K-Lite Mega Codec Pack

this works for me just fine