

In fact, by converting a YouTube video to 320 Kbps MP3, you are in fact damaging the audio quality. Now that we’re aware YouTube is compressing audio down to 128 – 156 Kbps, you might ask, what’s the point of converting YouTube videos to 320 Kbps MP3, like those sites offering “High-quality MP3 rips” from YouTube? But make no mistake that the original audio source is being compressed by YouTube. So even if it is not being delivered to you in pure lossless format, it still sounds better than the average music video on Youtube. Of course, it is going to sound better than a majority of videos out there that use horribly compressed MP3s as the audio source. It had great source material, a lossless format from a master studio track.

We can do this again in VLC, and inspect the codec while streaming the video.ĭespite its bitrate, that video actually sounded really good. A variable bitrate stream between 55 to 143 Kbps. Now we will run the video URL through the video info tool, and here is what we get ( note the bitrates circled in red). This video was uploaded as an MKV merged with a lossless FLAC file, so it should sound amazing. The video we will use will be “ Dire Straits – Money for Nothing 24 Bit Sound 2K Video”. There are numerous ways to test this, but let’s use a free online tool called “YouTube Video Info”. Once a video reaches a certain amount of views and becomes “popular”, Youtube will automatically re-encode a WebM/Opus version of the video, which can be only slightly higher in quality ( 156 vs 126 kbps).

Note: You can also try to manually determine the Bitrate of any audio file yourself. So even if you upload a video with 24/96 lossless audio, Youtube will convert it to 126 kbps AAC in an MP4 container. This is regardless of the audio source format being uploaded because Youtube will automatically re-encode videos to use their format.

For Opus, it can be between 56 kbps and 165 kbps. Youtube uses two types of audio formats – AAC ( wrapped in an MP4 container) or Opus in a WebM container.įor AAC, Youtube will play a maximum audio bitrate of around 126 kbps. What Audio Bitrate does YouTube Stream In?įor starters, Youtube does not play audio at 320kbps, even on the highest video resolution. If you aren’t much of an audiophile, and you don’t care about things like MP3 bitrates, this article isn’t for you – but if you’re someone who frequently uses website converters to download “320kbps” MP3s from Youtube videos, read on to find out why you’re wasting your time. The problem, however, is that many people looking for “lossless” or “CD-quality” music are misled by what these converters are capable of. Converting Youtube videos to MP3 ( or similar audio format) is a popular way to obtain music, and there are plenty of sites specifically for this purpose.
