[javascript] How to play only the audio of a Youtube video using HTML 5?

Is it possible to play only the audio from a YouTube video using HTML 5 and Javascript?

This question is related to javascript html audio youtube

The answer is


Embed the video player and use CSS to hide the video. If you do it properly you may even be able to hide only the video and not the controls below it.

However, I'd recommend against it, because it will be a violation of YouTube TOS. Use your own server instead if you really want to play only audio.


_x000D_
_x000D_
var vid = "bpt84ceWAY0",_x000D_
    audio_streams = {},_x000D_
    audio_tag = document.getElementById('youtube');_x000D_
_x000D_
fetch("https://"+vid+"-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?container=none&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fget_video_info%3Fvideo_id%3D" + vid).then(response => {_x000D_
    if (response.ok) {_x000D_
        response.text().then(data => {_x000D_
_x000D_
            var data = parse_str(data),_x000D_
                streams = (data.url_encoded_fmt_stream_map + ',' + data.adaptive_fmts).split(',');_x000D_
_x000D_
            streams.forEach(function(s, n) {_x000D_
                var stream = parse_str(s),_x000D_
                    itag = stream.itag * 1,_x000D_
                    quality = false;_x000D_
                console.log(stream);_x000D_
                switch (itag) {_x000D_
                    case 139:_x000D_
                        quality = "48kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                    case 140:_x000D_
                        quality = "128kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                    case 141:_x000D_
                        quality = "256kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                }_x000D_
                if (quality) audio_streams[quality] = stream.url;_x000D_
            });_x000D_
_x000D_
            console.log(audio_streams);_x000D_
_x000D_
            audio_tag.src = audio_streams['128kbps'];_x000D_
            audio_tag.play();_x000D_
        })_x000D_
    }_x000D_
});_x000D_
_x000D_
function parse_str(str) {_x000D_
    return str.split('&').reduce(function(params, param) {_x000D_
        var paramSplit = param.split('=').map(function(value) {_x000D_
            return decodeURIComponent(value.replace('+', ' '));_x000D_
        });_x000D_
        params[paramSplit[0]] = paramSplit[1];_x000D_
        return params;_x000D_
    }, {});_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<audio id="youtube" autoplay controls loop></audio>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


UPDATED FOR 2020

It seems in Septeber 2019, YouTube updated the values that are returned by get_video_info.

Rather than data.url_encoded_fmt_stream_map and data.adaptive_fmts (as used in the other older examples) now we are looking for for data.formats and data.adaptiveFormats.

Anyways here is what you are all here for some code that loads a YouTube video into an <audio> element. Try it on CodePen

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_x000D_
// YouTube video ID
var videoID = "CMNry4PE93Y";

// Fetch video info (using a proxy to avoid CORS errors)
fetch('https://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/' + "https://www.youtube.com/get_video_info?video_id=" + videoID).then(response => {
  if (response.ok) {
    response.text().then(ytData => {
      
      // parse response to find audio info
      var ytData = parse_str(ytData);
      var getAdaptiveFormats = JSON.parse(ytData.player_response).streamingData.adaptiveFormats;
      var findAudioInfo = getAdaptiveFormats.findIndex(obj => obj.audioQuality);
      
      // get the URL for the audio file
      var audioURL = getAdaptiveFormats[findAudioInfo].url;
      
      // update the <audio> element src
      var youtubeAudio = document.getElementById('youtube');
      youtubeAudio.src = audioURL;
      
    });
  }
});

function parse_str(str) {
  return str.split('&').reduce(function(params, param) {
    var paramSplit = param.split('=').map(function(value) {
      return decodeURIComponent(value.replace('+', ' '));
    });
    params[paramSplit[0]] = paramSplit[1];
    return params;
  }, {});
}
_x000D_
<audio id="youtube" controls></audio>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


_x000D_
_x000D_
// YouTube video ID
var videoID = "CMNry4PE93Y";

// Fetch video info (using a proxy to avoid CORS errors)
fetch('https://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/' + "https://www.youtube.com/get_video_info?video_id=" + videoID).then(response => {
  if (response.ok) {
    response.text().then(ytData => {
      
      // parse response to find audio info
      var ytData = parse_str(ytData);
      var getAdaptiveFormats = JSON.parse(ytData.player_response).streamingData.adaptiveFormats;
      var findAudioInfo = getAdaptiveFormats.findIndex(obj => obj.audioQuality);
      
      // get the URL for the audio file
      var audioURL = getAdaptiveFormats[findAudioInfo].url;
      
      // update the <audio> element src
      var youtubeAudio = document.getElementById('youtube');
      youtubeAudio.src = audioURL;
      
    });
  }
});

function parse_str(str) {
  return str.split('&').reduce(function(params, param) {
    var paramSplit = param.split('=').map(function(value) {
      return decodeURIComponent(value.replace('+', ' '));
    });
    params[paramSplit[0]] = paramSplit[1];
    return params;
  }, {});
}
_x000D_
<audio id="youtube" controls></audio>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


You can parse Youtube meta file for all streams available for this particular video id using this link: https://www.youtube.com/get_video_info?video_id={VID} and extract audio only streams.

Here is an example with public Google Image proxy (but you can use any free or your own CORS proxy):

_x000D_
_x000D_
var vid = "3r_Z5AYJJd4",_x000D_
    audio_streams = {},_x000D_
    audio_tag = document.getElementById('youtube');_x000D_
_x000D_
fetch("https://"+vid+"-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?container=none&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fget_video_info%3Fvideo_id%3D" + vid).then(response => {_x000D_
    if (response.ok) {_x000D_
        response.text().then(data => {_x000D_
_x000D_
            var data = parse_str(data),_x000D_
                streams = (data.url_encoded_fmt_stream_map + ',' + data.adaptive_fmts).split(',');_x000D_
_x000D_
            streams.forEach(function(s, n) {_x000D_
                var stream = parse_str(s),_x000D_
                    itag = stream.itag * 1,_x000D_
                    quality = false;_x000D_
                console.log(stream);_x000D_
                switch (itag) {_x000D_
                    case 139:_x000D_
                        quality = "48kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                    case 140:_x000D_
                        quality = "128kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                    case 141:_x000D_
                        quality = "256kbps";_x000D_
                        break;_x000D_
                }_x000D_
                if (quality) audio_streams[quality] = stream.url;_x000D_
            });_x000D_
_x000D_
            console.log(audio_streams);_x000D_
_x000D_
            audio_tag.src = audio_streams['128kbps'];_x000D_
            audio_tag.play();_x000D_
        })_x000D_
    }_x000D_
});_x000D_
_x000D_
function parse_str(str) {_x000D_
    return str.split('&').reduce(function(params, param) {_x000D_
        var paramSplit = param.split('=').map(function(value) {_x000D_
            return decodeURIComponent(value.replace('+', ' '));_x000D_
        });_x000D_
        params[paramSplit[0]] = paramSplit[1];_x000D_
        return params;_x000D_
    }, {});_x000D_
}
_x000D_
<audio id="youtube" autoplay controls loop></audio>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

Doesn't work for all videos, very depends on monetization settings or something like that.


I agree with Tom van der Woerdt. You could use CSS to hide the video (visibility:hidden or overflow:hidden in a div wrapper constrained by height), but that may violate Youtube's policies. Additionally, how could you control the audio (pause, stop, volume, etc.)?

You could instead turn to resources such as http://www.houndbite.com/ to manage audio.


The answer is simple: Use a 3rd party product like jwplayer or similar, then set it to the minimal player size which is the audio player size (only shows player controls).

Voila.

Been using this for over 8 years.


This may be an old post but people could still be searching for this so here you go:

<div style="position:relative;width:267px;height:25px;overflow:hidden;">
<div style="position:absolute;top:-276px;left:-5px">
<iframe width="300" height="300" 
  src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/youtubeID?rel=0">
</iframe>
</div>
</div>

Adding to the mentions of jwplayer and possible TOS violations, I would like to to link to the following repository on github: YouTube Audio Player Generation Library, that allows to generate the following output:

enter image description here

Library has the support for the playlists and PHP autorendering given the video URL and the configuration options.


VIDEO_ID with actual ID of your YouTube video.

<div data-video="VIDEO_ID"  
        data-autoplay="0"         
        data-loop="1"             
        id="youtube-audio">
 </div>

 <script src="https://www.youtube.com/iframe_api"></script>
 <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/labnol/files/master/yt.js"></script>

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