YouTube is the premier destination for music videos today, which also makes it one of the most popular music streaming services. If you use YouTube to listen to music, the experience can be a whole lot better with the right extensions or web apps.
We’ve previously talked about some of the best YouTube music players, but things have changed a bit since then. Browser extensions now give you lyrics with each video, while some apps and extensions will save bandwidth by playing only the audio without video.
The bottom line is that anyone who uses YouTube for music needs to check out these cool tools.
1. ListenYo! (Web): Disable Video to Stream Faster
The video you are streaming always takes more bandwidth than the audio stream alone. So if you want to stream faster or save some megabytes, ListenYo! will play only the audio without the video.
The site is especially useful if you’re on mobile since that’s where you usually face slow internet speeds or limited data availability. Paste any YouTube link in the space available, or use ListenYo! to directly search YouTube. Once you find the video you’re looking for, playing it will automatically stream only the audio.
The service supports most of the YouTube functions you are used to, like autoplay or repeat, and claims to use up to four times less internet data. Not bad at all if you want to reduce mobile data usage.
2. Audio Only YouTube (Chrome): Flawless Video-Free YouTube on a PC
ListenYo! Is great for mobile devices, but on a computer, you would be better off with the Audio Only YouTube extension for Chrome. It works automatically with YouTube, and across all sites with embedded YouTube videos.
Like ListenYo!, only the audio stream is played on your computer while the screen shows only the video’s thumbnail. A quick check showed a saving of around 80% of data usage when playing the same YouTube file with the video on and with the video off.
If you come across a YouTube video where you want to see the clip and not just listen to it, you only need a single click on the Audio Only YouTube icon in the toolbar.
Download: Audio Only YouTube for Chrome (Free)
While there is also an “Audio Only YouTube” for Firefox, it’s not by the same developer and doesn’t work as well. However, a similar add-on is available for Firefox, called YouTube Audio. Of course, you can now install Chrome extensions on Firefox, so you could try the original Chrome add-on too.
Download: YouTube Audio for Firefox (Free)
3. Lyrics Here (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE, Maxthon): Lyrics Panel for Songs
The Musixmatch lyrics extension for Chrome is quite a popular tool to make YouTube better. But there’s a lesser known, and perhaps better, extension for those who want to read what the singer is crooning.
Lyrics Here by Rob W is incredibly simple to use and works across all browsers, not just Chrome. When you start playing a song, Lyrics Here will open up a panel in that YouTube tab displaying the lyrics. Usually, the words are taken from top lyrics sites like Lyrics Wikia, Lyricsmania, or others. If the lyrics seem a bit off, you can choose to search them again through a different source. You can highlight lyrics as you listen to them, use the keyboard to go back and forth, and even search the lyrics box for particular text.
Lyrics Here works flawlessly and is quite smart at understanding the song’s name even when it’s mislabelled on YouTube. Plus, the add-on works with other popular music streaming services too, including Spotify, Google Music, Yandex, Jango, Deezer, AccuRadio, and others.
Download: Lyrics Here for Chrome | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Internet Explorer (32-bit) | Internet Explorer (64-bit) | Maxthon
4. VimuTV (Web): Readymade YouTube Music Playlists
YouTube is a vast resource of free music, but the site doesn’t host readymade playlists like the ones you’ll get on Apple Music or Spotify. You will usually have to make your own, which is a bit of a pain. VimuTV is the YouTube playlist center you’re looking for.
The site tracks music hit charts across the years from places like Billboard, Shazam, MTV, and so on. Based on that, it creates playlists across different taste: pop, rock, R’n’B, hip-hop, jazz, metal, Latino, classic, music from the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and 2010’s. Click any one and VimuTV will load up the playlist.
It’s basically an embedded YouTube playlist, so if you want, you can even open the playlist in YouTube. This will enable you to use other extensions like Lyrics Here and Audio Only YouTube as well.
5. Infalco (Web): A YouTube-Based Music Discovery Engine
When you listen to songs on Apple Music or Spotify, those streaming services usually give you recommendations based on your tastes. YouTube doesn’t have a fancy music-tastes algorithm, but Infalco is the next best thing to discover new tunes.
Search for an artist or a song that you really like. Infalco will show it, along with a circle of similar songs or artists, as well as a simple link to the most popular songs of that artist. Click any one, and you get more nodes with recommendations. At any point, click a song and it’ll play in the embedded YouTube video.
Every time you like a song, you can add it to your playlist (which requires a Google login). Just like that, you can find new tunes, store the songs you like, and listen to them later so you don’t forget. Infalco is one of the easiest ways to discover new music you’ll love.
Don’t Forget These Others Extensions…
For a long time, Streamus was the perfect Chrome extension for YouTube music lovers. But since it has been shut down, you need some alternatives. Well, we found a few that we talked about once before, and they’re still awesome. So don’t forget to check out these extensions to make YouTube a powerful music player.
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