| Metric | Firefox Extension | Dedicated Tool (yt-dlp + ffmpeg) | |--------|------------------|-----------------------------------| | | 128kbps CBR (max) | Up to 320kbps VBR or Opus | | Download Speed | Limited by remote server queue | Full bandwidth (10-50 MB/s) | | Batch Processing | Impossible | Yes (playlists, channels) | | Metadata tags | No (no artist/album) | Full ID3 tagging | | Success rate | ~70% (broken after YouTube updates) | ~99.9% |
Firefox (since version 57) uses the WebExtensions API, which is intentionally sandboxed. A legitimate Firefox extension directly decode a YouTube video stream (WebM or H.264) and re-encode it as an MP3 within the browser’s background process. It lacks the necessary system-level codecs and file I/O permissions. firefox mp3 youtube downloader
: One of the oldest and most trusted add-ons, it offers 256kbps HQ MP3 downloads and integrates a minimalist button directly onto the YouTube page. | Metric | Firefox Extension | Dedicated Tool