YouTube to MP3 Converter Hitlist: Who Are the Biggest Players?

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Target dog image by Mike Mozart, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)

YouTube-mp3.org has finally been taken to court. But that’s just one of several YouTube to MP3 giants.  So who’s next?

The music industry has declared war against a burgeoning class of ‘YouTube to MP3’ converters.  Part of the problem is that a surge in streaming music volumes has also produced a parallel demand for downloads of those streams.  So, instead of heading primarily to mp3 music download sites, users are now going to their new ‘source’ for music: streaming.

And more specifically, YouTube music videos.

The industry frowns upon that, even if the law ultimately permits it.  In the end, the courts may decide that this form of format-shifting is merely personal use, and not active copyright infringement.  In the meantime, the biggest players are gigantic legal targets.

So will the crackdown work?  A new study by the University of East Anglia, Lancaster University, and Newcastle University has found that legal threats and lawsuits against pirating sites have had very little impact on music piracy websites.  That hasn’t stopped the IFPI, the RIAA, and the BPI from finally taking top illegal MP3 sharing site Youtube-to-mp3.org to court.

But if YouTube-to-mp3.org has been taken to court, which top YouTube to MP3 sites will be next?  We’ve decided to make a quick list detailing the biggest players in the YouTube to MP3 scene according to their site numbers.

For this list, we’ve ranked the top sites by their total monthly visits.  We’ve also broken down each YouTube to MP3 converter by a number of factors, including:

• current country and global rank, how long visits typically last;
• how many pages people visit while at the site; and
• which countries have the most users visiting each website;
• pros and cons for each site as well as a final grade.

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Youtube Mp3

1. • Country Rank: United States #132
   • Global Rank: #101
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 386.50M 5.17%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:03:23
   • Pages per Visit 3.49
   • Bounce Rate 73.53%

Traffic by Countries

1. • United States 12.70%
   • Turkey 8.82%
   • Mexico 6.75%
   • Brazil 6.47%
   • France 6.24%

The Pros:

• Popularity: YouTube MP3 started off in a small basement in Germany, funded with a 50 euros monthly allowance.  It’s still incredibly easy to use.  You just paste the link to the YouTube video, and YouTube MP3 takes care of the rest. The default video is an iconic Steve Ballmer Developers video techno mashup, which is always worth checking out.

The Cons:

• Legal Issues: This site has fallen in deep water and might go down soon.
• No Additional Formats: There’s only MP3 to be found here.

Grade: A-

It’s no surprise that the current leader in stream ripping is being taken to court.  This website has over 386 million total visits this year thus far, with most users coming in from the United States.  What is surprising, however, is how users are actually referred to this site: the top searches were found on mysearch.com and computerhope.com.

Where do users go once they’re done visiting? They go back to YouTube and Facebook. Despite the lawsuit, the YouTube to MP3 giant keeps on kicking.

YouTube in MP3

1. • Country Rank: Indonesia: #435
   • Global Rank: #1,484
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement

1. • Total Visits 32.50M 13.99%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:04:35
   • Pages per Visit 3.41
   • Bounce Rate 41.96%

Traffic by Countries

1. • Indonesia: 9.74%
   • United States: 6.36%
   • Mexico: 4.94%
   • France: 4.57%
   • Brazil: 4.47%

The Pros:

• Site Design: YouTube in MP3 employs a minimalist site design, making for a speed site. The main search box is right in the middle of the page, and large enough for anyone to see.
• Addons: This site offers a free addon for your Chrome, Firefox, or Opera web browser that you can use right while you’re on YouTube.

The Cons:

• Complicated to Use: You’d be surprised at how difficult is actually is to use YouTube in MP3. Once you’ve pressed on the initial “Convert my MP3,” you’ll be taken to a separate page to click on yet another button to have the video actually be converted.

Grade: B

In a distant second is Indonesian website YouTube in MP3. Thus far, this website has reached around 32.50 million users, less than 10% of the current leader’s total visits. Most users come in from its MP4 sister site as well as Bajaren MP3. However, the majority, once they’re done, either head back to the sister site, go on Facebook, or check out user-generated scripts site greasyfork.com or saveitoffline.com.

KeepVid

1. • Country Rank: India: #413
   • Global Rank: #1,739
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement

1. • Total Visits 26.70M 6.14%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:06:35
   • Pages per Visit 3.81
   • Bounce Rate 27.88%

Traffic by Countries

1. • India 15.54%
   • United States 15.10%
   • Indonesia 7.49%
   • Brazil 6.55%
   • United Kingdom 3.27%

The Pros:

• Site Design: Clean, organized, and speedy. Need we say more?
• Support for Multiple Formats: You have the option to download in MP4, M4A, 3GP, Webm, and Mp3.
• Multiple Site Support: You can also paste links from 27 other media sites, like Vimeo, Soundcloud, DailyMotion, CollegeHumor, and more.

The Cons:

• Poor Functionality: What good is supporting 28 websites if only YouTube will work? And unlike other sites, downloading your MP3 file takes you to a separate site that uses Java.

Grade: C

As suggested by a reader, third place goes right to Indian stream ripping giant KeepVid. Most people are referred to the site from freevideolectures.com, pcadvisor.co.uk and myway.com. Once they’re done with the site, they head over to Facebook, YouTube.com, and, strangely enough, java.com and the Mozilla add-ons site.

Listentoyoutube

1. • Country Rank: United States #1,556.
   • Global Rank: #2,814

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 11.60M 4.66%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:07:02
   • Pages per Visit 8.71
   • Bounce Rate 24.17%

Traffic By Countries:

1. • United States 29.32%
   • Canada 6.02%
   • United Kingdom 5.97%
   • India 4.08%
   • Philippines 3.92%

The Pros:

• Site Design: Listen to YouTube keeps it simple with clean and straightforward site design.

The Cons:

• Poor Functionality: Want to get your MP3 file? Make sure you have Flash installed. Also, this site has you click several times in different pages just to get your MP3 file.
• Only MP3: There’s no support for your videos in other file formats.

Grade: D

This American website pales in comparison to the first two YouTube stream rippers, but still has over 10 million visitors.  Most users appear to be coming from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  But how do they learn about this site? Through aimersoft or convertmemp3, typically.

Once they’re done with the site, they use the site’s search function to exit, or they head straight to scam site cinematrix.

Vidtomp3

1. • Country Rank: United States #3,279
   • Global Rank: #2,878
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 10.40M 1.59%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:09:05
   • Pages per Visit 10.27
   • Bounce Rate 24.27%

Traffic By Countries:

1. • United States: 12.57%
   • Italy: 9.37%
   • Mexico: 6.62%
   • Hungary: 5.67%
   • Spain: 4.76%

The Pros:

• Multiple Site Support: Besides YouTube, 26 other media sites are supported, including DailyMotion, MetaCafe, Vimeo, and MySpace, among others.

The Cons:

• Spyware?: My site scanner lists VidtoMP3 as spyware, which is never a good sign.
• Takes a While: VidtoMP3 appears to be among the slowest in this list, with actual conversions taking a long while.

Grade: D-

VidtoMP3 is another American stream ripper that’s currently registering just barely over 10 million users. Most users come in from here in North America, usually from the States and Mexico, but there are also a lot of European visitors, namely from Italy, Hungary, and Spain. Most are referred to the site from our third stream rippers on this list, as well as deturl, CCM, and giardiniblog. From here, they tend to go out to Facebook, and scam cinema site cinematrix.

Flvto

1. • Country Rank: Poland #154,601
   • Global Rank: #80,114
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 919.20K 0.97%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:01:03
   • Pages per Visit 1.13
   • Bounce Rate 88.21%

Traffic By Countries:

1. • Poland: 18.89%
   • United States: 12.45%
   • Philippines: 10.48%
   • France: 9.61%
   • Argentina: 7.64%

The Pros:

• Functional Site Design: To say that Flvto’s site is colorful is a gross understatement. From the main page, you’ll be able to see the most watched videos.
• Dropbox Support: Now, while actual stream ripping legality is still up in the air, adding Dropbox support may push that boundary even further. Dropbox functionality, however, works pretty well. You can also send your links by e-mail.
• Social Media Support: This is new. You can share your download right on your Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ accounts, with an option to send it as a ringtone right to your cell.

The Cons:

• Popups: Ads are one thing, but clicking on a link will lead to popup windows opening up, which makes for an annoying experience.
• Wait Time: While definitely not the slowest, you might have to wait longer than other top services listed here.

Grade: B-

Not to be outdone by their American counterparts, Polish stream ripper Flvto is close to reaching 1 million visitors.  While Most visitors come from Poland, a sizable amount of Americans, Filipino, French, and even Argentinian users are also appearing.  To find the site, most people simply type the website into any search engine.

After that, most people tend to head to a sister (or clone) site of the same name, or notmygame.  Or, oddly enough, back to an Australian university education website.

Video2mp3

1. • Country Rank: Brazil #14,455.
   • Global Rank: #60,947
   • Type: YouTube to MP3

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 1.10M 5.72%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:02:29
   • Pages per Visit 1.73
   • Bounce Rate 75.15%

Traffic By Countries:

1. • Brazil: 15.90%
   • France: 9.83%
   • Italy: 9.43%
   • United States: 5.15%
   • Greece: 3.99%

The Pros:

• Fresh Site Design: You’d be surprised what a little blue does for website design. And that’s exactly what you’ll find here. The search box is easy for anyone to find and paste links.  The rest is a simple process.

The Cons:

• Wait Times: You’re first directed to another YouTube stream ripper, which takes an awfully long time just to get your file. This service is by far the slowest of the testing group.

Grade: D

Brazilian stream ripping website Video2MP3 is just slightly behind its counterparts, yet has grown sizably over the past year. Most of its audience comes from Brazil, France, the US, Italy, as well as Greece.  While there isn’t enough data to calculate where users originate, or where they head afterwards, most users share their links on YouTube and Facebook.

Flv2mp3

1. • Country Rank: Turkey #245,249
   • Global Rank: #1,035,815

Engagement:

1. • Total Visits 48.70K 52.58%
   • Avg. Visit Duration 00:01:20
   • Pages per Visit 1.11
   • Bounce Rate 88.06%

Traffic By Countries:

1. • Turkey: 34.23%
   • Philippines: 23%
   • Mexico: 11.86%
   • Taiwan: 6.21%
   • Singapore: 5.94%

The Pros:

• Big Buttons: Large buttons do count nowadays, with the large search box taking precedence over additional, and often useless, site information.
• Multiple File Formats: Besides standard MP3 files, users can also choose from MP4, MP4 in HD, AVI, and AVI in HD.

The Cons:

• Wait Time: You will face a considerable wait time to have your file converted.  There are quicker YouTube to MP3 solutions.

Grade: C+

Like Indonesian stream ripper YouTube to MP3, this Turkish stream ripping website is quickly growing in Asia.  Most of its  traffic coming in from Turkey itself, as well as the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, and even Mexico.  Additionally, a smattering of other countries are coming on board, though not in mass tonnage.  However, just like the previous website, there is not enough popularity or user growth to track inbound and outbound sites.