How to Download and Trim MP3s from YouTube with Python

Are you tired of manually downloading and trimming MP3s from YouTube? Look no further! In this article, we’ll show you how to automate the process using Python. By the end, you’ll have a simple script that can download and trim MP3s from YouTube videos, saving you time and effort.

Downloading and trimming MP3s from YouTube using Python involves a few steps, including setting up your environment, downloading the video, extracting the audio, and then trimming it. Below is a guide on how to do this.

Necessary Setup

• Python 3.x installed on your system.
• Basic knowledge of Python programming.
• You need to install the following Python libraries:
  • pytube for downloading videos from YouTube.
  • pydub for manipulating audio files.
  • ffmpeg or ffprobe installed (required by pydub).

Step 1: Install Required Libraries

To start, you’ll need to install two key Python libraries: pytube and moviepy. These libraries will handle downloading the audio from YouTube and trimming the MP3 file.

Open your terminal or command prompt and run the following commands:

pip install pytube
pip install moviepy

These commands will download and install the libraries required for this project.

Step 2: Download MP3 from YouTube

Once you’ve installed the necessary libraries, you can begin downloading MP3 files from YouTube. Here’s a simple script to get you started:

from pytube import YouTube

yt = YouTube('YOUTUBE_VIDEO_URL')
stream = yt.streams.filter(only_audio=True).first()
stream.download(filename='downloaded_audio.mp3')

Explanation:

• Replace YOUTUBE_VIDEO_URL with the actual URL of the YouTube video you want to download.
• The script filters the available streams to select only the audio stream and downloads it as an MP3 file named downloaded_audio.mp3.

This script downloads the audio of the video, preparing it for the next step where you’ll trim the MP3 file.

Step 3: Trim MP3

After downloading the MP3, you may want to trim it to keep only the desired part of the audio. The following code snippet shows how to do this using moviepy:

from moviepy.editor import AudioFileClip

audio = AudioFileClip('downloaded_audio.mp3')
trimmed_audio = audio.subclip(START_TIME, END_TIME)
trimmed_audio.write_audiofile('trimmed_audio.mp3')

Explanation:

• Replace START_TIME and END_TIME with the desired start and end times in seconds.
• The subclip() method extracts the audio segment between START_TIME and END_TIME.
• The write_audiofile() method saves the trimmed audio as trimmed_audio.mp3.

This code allows you to trim the MP3 to your preferred length, making it perfect for creating ringtones, music samples, or just extracting your favorite part of a song.

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve successfully downloaded and trimmed an MP3 from YouTube using Python. This automation will save you time and effort, and can be applied to various use cases, such as creating music snippets or sound effects. Python’s versatility and the power of libraries like pytube and moviepy make it easy to handle media tasks efficiently.