Welcome!
This tool helps you download audio from youtube and split the resulting file into individual tracks, based on the timestamps.
It requires minimal setup to work. Check the sidebar for more details!
This tool is a simple proof of concept. I created it to download audiobooks from youtube and split them into separate chapters.
You can use it to download and split any kind of audio content from youtube. The original goal was to make life easier for me, a parent, whose daughter finishes audiobooks at an unreasonable pace.
You can use the output of this tool with a Yoto, or any device that can play mp3 files.
Note: this tool only generates commands that you can use locally on your device. It does not automatically download content from youtube for you, and does not run anything on your device.
Make sure that you only use it with content that is legally available for you to download.
Check out the GitHub repo for more details.
You need two command‑line tools:
1. yt-dlp — downloads the audio
2. ffmpeg — splits the chapters
Both are free and open-source.
If you do not have a package manager yet, install WinGet for Windows, or homebrew for macOS.
You can use these commands to install the required tools automatically:
Windows - WinGet
winget install -e --id yt-dlp.yt-dlp winget install -e --id Gyan.FFmpeg
macOS - homebrew
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg
finding the right ffmpeg package can be a bit tricky. for windows, download the latest release build directly from here: ffmpeg-release-essentials.zip
for macOS, check the stable release here: ffmpeg-X.Y.Z.zip
X.Y.Z. is going to be a version number.
1. Install the required tools.
2. Paste a youtube url.
3. Paste timestamps (from youtube description/comments).
4. Optional: add a custom title.
5. Click generate to create the commands.
6. Run the generated commands in a terminal.
7. Your mp3 tracks should be ready in the output folder.
Single file download (no timestamps):
• With custom title: Creates your_custom_title.mp3
• Without custom title: Creates youtube_video_title.mp3
Download and split into chapters:
• With custom title: Creates your_custom_title.mp3, folder your_custom_title_timestamp, and tracks like 01_Chapter1.mp3
• Without custom title: Creates full_audio.mp3, folder output_<date-timestamp>, and tracks like 01_Chapter1.mp3
Audio splitting only (no URL):
• Only generates commands for splitting. Use this if you want to split an audio file you already downloaded.
• Creates a folder like output_<date-timestamp>, and tracks like 01_Chapter1.mp3
This tool supports some common timestamp formats. Formatting is important, so make sure you check these examples.
Check the troubleshooting section if you encounter any issues.
Standard WEBVTT:
WEBVTT
00:00:00 --> 00:04:35
Title 1
00:04:35 --> 00:09:21
Title 2
00:09:21 --> 00:12:08
Title 3
Simple format, with start times only:
00:00 Title 1
04:35 Title 2
09:21 Title 3
Inverse simple format, with start times only:
Title 1 00:00
Title 2 04:35
Title 3 09:21
• The tool checks if the format of the youtube URL you enter is valid or not, but it does not check if there is actual content behind a youtube URL that is otherwise valid.
• If you use a truncated youtube URL, yt-dlp will throw an error and ffmpeg will not find any files to split. In this scenario, the process will finish without any output.
• Youtube shorts are currently not supported.
The tool cleans up your input to help you avoid some common issues:
• missing chapter names or titles will automatically create Untitled files
• leading numbers and patterns like "1. ", "2: ", "3 - " are removed
• illegal filename characters, spaces, underscores, etc. are trimmed
If the filenames or audio lengths look weird in the output, check your input and the generated commands for incorrect timestamps.