Download only a part of a YouTube video or audio

You do not have to save a whole lecture to keep one answer, or a whole mix for one song. Mark the start and the end on the video's seek bar, check the part with one button, and download as usual: only that part is saved.

How to choose a part

1:102:05

0:003:20

Choose the part to download

Start1:10Use current time

End2:05Use current time

Part: 0:55 of 3:20

DonePlay partWhole video

1. Open a regular YouTube video and let it start.
2. Open the menu (the download button on the player, or the toolbar icon) and choose Select a part.
3. Two markers appear on the video's seek bar, with Start and End boxes in a small card. Drag the markers, or type the times. Use current time next to a box takes the time where the video is right now, so you can play to the right spot and press it.
4. Press Play part to check it. It plays only the part, from its start to its end, and the button shows where you are, for example Stop 0:12 / 0:40. You can still move around with the mouse or a finger while it plays: it never leaves the part.
5. Press Done, then download as usual on the Video or Audio tab.

You can move the card by dragging its title. With a marker selected, the arrow keys move it by one second, and Shift with an arrow by ten seconds.

Which formats can be cut

A part can be chosen for MP4 videos and for audio (MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV). The VP9 formats, that is 1440p, 2160p (4K) and the other MKV rows, cannot give only a part: while a part is chosen those rows are switched off, with a note, and a protected video says that it can only be downloaded whole. Choose Whole video to use them again.

Speed

For a short part of a long video the download is quick, because only the pieces around your part are fetched. If a stream cannot be cut that way, the add-on downloads it whole and cuts it afterwards, so a download never fails because of the part.

What you see while a part is chosen

• The download arrows in the menu turn into a crop icon.
• The sizes show the size of the part (an estimate from the length of the part), not of the whole video.
• The button on the player shows the length of the part.
• The file name gets the times at the end, for example [1m10s-2m05s], so a clip never looks like the whole video.

Back to the whole video

Press Whole video in the card, or in the menu, and everything is as before: the whole video is downloaded. Without a chosen part nothing changes. A part belongs to the video you chose it on; on another video you start with the whole video again.

Ideas for parts

• One song out of a long mix, saved as MP3 with the Audio tab.
• The one section of a lecture or tutorial that you need to rewatch.
• A quote, a goal or a short scene, saved as video.

Good to know

• The video must be at least three seconds long, and a part at least one second.
• The chooser is for regular video pages. It is not offered while an ad is playing, and not on Shorts.
• A playlist download always saves whole videos: Download all is switched off while a part is chosen. Choose Whole video to use it again.
• Only download what you have the right to save. Read the legal side.

Questions

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