Elltube Downloads and Converts YouTube Videos to Audio [Linux & Windows]

Of all the available tools for downloading and converting YouTube videos to audio (but it can convert to video formats too), Elltube was the easiest to install, get working, and the most reliable. With this tool you will find download and converting Youtube videos a nobrainer. There is only one small hitch. If you want to add mp3 support you will have to do some extra installation in Linux (In this case it means installing unsupported files).

Elltube can convert a YouTube video to the following formats:

-video: avi, mpeg, mp4, 3gp
-audio: mp3, wav, amr

Using Elltube to convert YouTube videos to audio in Windows

Download Elltube for Windows from HERE. Luckily, Elltube for Windows comes with everything you need, so all you have to do is paste a YouTube link into Elltube:

and you can start downloading / converting.

Using Elltube to convert YouTube videos to audio in Linux / Ubuntu

I am going to provide installation instructions for the extra thing you'll be needing for Ubuntu only.

The good news is that everything you need, outside of Elltube itself, will be located in the default repositories. The bad news? You will have to install restricted applications. What this means is that Canonical is not responsible for the updating of these files.

Running the following command in a terminal will install everything you need to convert videos from YouTube by using Elltube:

sudo apt-get install lame ubuntu-restricted-extras ffmpeg

Optionally, you could you use these fixed Ubuntu Jaunty ffmpeg packages instead of the ones available in the Ubuntu restricted repository.

Now that everything you need has been installed, you can proceed to downloading the Elltube Ubuntu .deb package from HERE.

You will find Elltube in your Internet sub-menu of either your Main or Applications menu. Now you can just paste a YouTube video url and you can start downloading / converting:

Other Linux distributions

Archlinux

• Visit AUR Page

Mandriva

• Thanks to Mandriva Italia Backport
• elltube-0.3-69.1mib2008.1.i686.rpm
• elltube-0.3-69.1mib2008.1.i586.rpm
• elltube-0.3-69.1mib2008.1.x86_64.rpm

Other

• You need to install next package from your distribution repositories:
  • Python > 2.4
  • PyQt4 > 4.0
  • FFmpeg (if you want conversion support)
• Download Source Code tarball and extract it.
• Inside created foler, run elltube.py to run program or execute sudo make install in order to install it.
• Advanced installation options at INSTALL file.

Source code

• Download Tarball Source

For a web-based, audio only alternative, see Dirpy Studio.

[via http://www.ghacks.net]