How to download YouTube audio on Android without app free?

With the rise in popularity of YouTube and streaming music, many Android users want to download just the audio from YouTube videos for offline listening. Thankfully, there are a few easy methods to download YouTube audio directly on your Android device without needing a separate app. In this guide, we’ll provide a brief overview of the process and benefits of downloading YouTube audio tracks on an Android phone or tablet without needing any extra software. We’ll also cover prerequisites, step-by-step instructions using the NewPipe app, saving the audio files, and listening to the downloaded audio offline.

Prerequisites

Before downloading YouTube audio on an Android device, there are a few prerequisites that need to be met:

You’ll need an Android device running Android 7.0 or higher. According to Google’s YouTube Music support page, YouTube and YouTube Music officially support Android 7.0 and above.

You’ll also need access to YouTube, either via the YouTube app or mobile browser. YouTube is available for free on the Google Play Store and can be installed on any compatible Android device. Make sure you’re logged into your Google/YouTube account to access your subscriptions and playlist data.

You’ll need an internet connection on your Android device to access YouTube and download audio files. WiFi is recommended for faster speeds, but mobile data will also work.

Make sure you have enough storage space on your Android device to save the audio files. Downloaded audio can take up storage space quickly, especially for long videos.

With an updated Android device, YouTube access, internet connection, and storage space, you’ll be ready to download YouTube audio directly on your device.

Enable Unknown Sources

Before you can install third-party apps like NewPipe on Android, you need to enable a setting called “Unknown Sources”. This allows your device to install apps from outside the Google Play Store. Here’s how to enable it:

Go to Settings > Security & location (or Lock screen & security on some devices). Scroll down and tap on the setting labeled “Install unknown apps”.

You’ll see a list of apps installed on your device. Find the browser or file manager you want to use for sideloading apps and toggle the “Allow from this source” switch on. This will allow app installs from that specific source.

According to this guide, enabling this setting does come with some risks. You should only toggle it on temporarily when needed to install a trusted app from outside the Play Store. Make sure to turn it off again afterwards for security.

Install NewPipe

NewPipe is an open source YouTube client for Android. It allows you to download videos and audio from YouTube as well as SoundCloud, bandcamp, and other sites. NewPipe does not require any login, tracking or other dependencies (see https://newpipe.net/FAQ/install/).

To install NewPipe on your Android device:

1. Go to the NewPipe website at https://newpipe.net/
2. Click on “Get it on GitHub” to download the APK file
3. On your Android device, enable installation from Unknown Sources in your Security settings
4. Open the downloaded APK file and install NewPipe

Once installed, NewPipe will appear in your app drawer ready to use. Make sure to enable notifications if you want to be notified of new releases.

Open NewPipe

After installing NewPipe, you can open the app to start using it to download YouTube videos and audio. Here are the steps to open NewPipe on your Android device:

1. Open the app drawer on your home screen and locate the NewPipe icon.

2. Tap on the NewPipe app icon to launch the app.

3. You may see a disclaimer about NewPipe not being associated with YouTube. Tap OK to proceed.

4. The NewPipe app will now open, showing the search bar at the top. This is where you can search for YouTube videos to download.

Once NewPipe is open, you can use the search bar to find the YouTube video you want to download audio from. The next section will cover searching and downloading audio in more detail.

Search for Video

Once NewPipe is installed, you can easily search for and select any YouTube video to download the audio from. Here are the steps:

1. Open the NewPipe app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the search icon at the top.
3. In the search bar, type in keywords for the YouTube video you want to find.
4. You can also paste the full YouTube URL directly into the search bar and NewPipe will go straight to that video page.
5. Tap the search icon or press enter to run the search.
6. Scroll through the results and tap on the video you want. This will open the video page in NewPipe.
7. Make sure it is the correct video then continue to the next step to download just the audio.

Finding and selecting videos in NewPipe is very similar to searching directly on YouTube, except it gives you more options like easily downloading audio only. You can search by keywords, video titles, channels, and more. You can also paste full YouTube URLs into the search bar for quick access.

As mentioned in this Reddit comment, this shortcut of pasting YouTube links directly saves time compared to searching manually every time.

Download Audio

To download just the audio of a YouTube video using NewPipe on Android, follow these steps:

1. In NewPipe, search for the video you want to download audio from.

2. Tap on the video to open it.

3. Tap the download button that looks like a down arrow in the top right corner.

4. In the pop-up menu, tap “Audio”

5. Select the audio quality you want. Tap “Extract Audio” to begin the download.

6. The audio file will begin downloading. You can monitor download progress from the notifications shade.

7. Once finished, the audio file will be saved to the “NewPipe” folder on your device storage. You can find it in your music library or file manager app.

That’s it! By selecting the “Audio” option in NewPipe instead of “Video”, you can download just the audio track of any YouTube video as an MP3 file. NewPipe makes it easy to save YouTube audio for offline listening (source).

Save Audio File

Once the audio has finished downloading in NewPipe, you can access and save the file. To do this:

1. Open the NewPipe app and select the “Downloads” tab at the bottom.
2. Find the downloaded audio file you want to save and tap on it. This will open the file details.
3. Tap on the “File” option. This will give you the option to “Share” or “Delete” the file.
4. Select “Share” and then choose an app to share the audio file to, like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. This will save the audio file to that location.

You can also long press on the audio file in your NewPipe downloads and select “Export” to save the file locally on your device or SD card. Just choose the location you want to export it to.1

Once saved, you can listen to the audio file using your preferred music player app. NewPipe allows you to easily download YouTube audio and then access and save the files for offline listening.2

Listen to Audio

Once you have successfully downloaded the YouTube audio file using NewPipe, there are a few different ways you can listen to it on your Android device:

Listen through a music app

You can listen to the downloaded audio file using any music app on your Android device that supports playing local audio files. Some popular options include Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Musicolet, and many more.

Simply open your preferred music app, navigate to the “Local Files” or “Device Files” section, and find the YouTube audio file you downloaded. Tap on it to start listening.

Listen through a file manager

Android’s built-in file manager app lets you access and play local audio files. Open the file manager, locate the YouTube audio download, tap on it to start playback through the default music player.

You can also use third-party Android file manager apps like ES File Explorer, Solid Explorer, MiXplorer, etc. Navigate to the audio file, tap on it and select a music app to open it with.

Add to device music library

For easy access, you can add the YouTube audio file to your Android device’s local music library. Open the Settings app, go to Sound & vibration > Advanced > Media storage. Tap the “Add file” button and select the downloaded file.

The audio will now be available alongside your other music in apps like Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. You can play it from any music app just like your regular songs and playlists.

Conclusion

Downloading YouTube audio on your Android device without an app is simple and easy to do for free. By enabling “Unknown Sources” in your security settings, you can install the open-source NewPipe app. Once NewPipe is installed, just search for the YouTube video you want, select the audio-only option, and download the file. The audio will be saved directly on your device and available in your music library to enjoy offline whenever you want. This method lets you grab high-quality audio from YouTube videos quickly and for free without needing a separate app or third-party service. NewPipe is a lightweight, ad-free tool that makes downloading audio simple. In summary, with just a few quick steps you can save audio from YouTube to listen to anywhere on your Android phone or tablet.