Can I convert this video? Copyright basics for audio extraction

Start with two questions

Almost every video you'll find online is protected by copyright, usually held by the person or company that made it. Being publicly viewable doesn't change that. So before you convert something, ask:

1. Who owns it? The uploader isn't always the owner. A channel that reposts other people's music doesn't own that music.
2. Has the owner allowed what I want to do? You're covered if you're the owner, the work is in the public domain, a license allows your use, or the owner has given you a direct yes.

If you can answer both clearly, you're usually on solid ground. If you can't, it's worth pausing.

When it's generally fine

Your own uploads

If you made the video and own everything in it, you can do what you like with its audio. It's a common reason to use Konvert: recovering a voice-over, a talk or a performance from your own channel when the original file is long gone. One caveat: if your video includes someone else's music or clips, those parts still belong to them.

Public-domain works

Works in the public domain have no copyright restrictions. That includes works whose copyright has expired, works their creators have dedicated to the public domain (for example with the CC0 tool), and in the United States, most works created by federal government employees as part of their jobs. Expiry dates differ from country to country, so a work that's public domain in one place may not be in another.

Watch out for layers. A Beethoven symphony is in the public domain, but an orchestra's recording of it made last year is a new work with its own protection. What matters for audio is usually the recording.

Creative Commons licenses

Creative Commons (CC) licenses let creators grant everyone permission in advance, on stated conditions. They're common on educational channels, open lectures and independent music. The next section explains how to read them.

Explicit permission and licenses

A direct yes from the rights holder, ideally in writing, covers you for whatever they agreed to. So does a license you've obtained, such as one from a stock-audio or royalty-free music library. Read the terms: “royalty-free” usually means you don't pay per use, not that there are no conditions. Some licenses limit where you can publish, how many copies you can distribute, or whether you can resell the audio.

Creative Commons, explained

Every CC license requires attribution, and each one combines a few building blocks:

So CC BY is the most permissive: use it for almost anything, including commercial work, as long as you credit it. CC BY-NC-ND is the most restrictive: you can share it unchanged, with credit, for non-commercial purposes only. CC0 isn't a license with conditions at all; it's a public-domain dedication.

Creative Commons on YouTube

YouTube lets uploaders mark a video with the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY) instead of the standard YouTube license. When they do, the license appears with the video's description details. YouTube's search filters also include a Creative Commons option, which is a quick way to find reusable material. Menus change from time to time, so look for it among the search filters.

A license is only as good as the uploader's rights, though. Occasionally someone marks a video as Creative Commons when it contains music or footage they don't own. If a video looks like a reupload of a well-known song or show, be skeptical, whatever the label says.

Fair use and fair dealing

Many countries allow limited use of copyrighted material without permission in specific circumstances. These exceptions are real, but they're narrower than people often assume.

• Fair use (United States) is judged case by case, weighing four factors: the purpose and character of the use (including whether it's commercial or transformative), the nature of the work, how much of it you use, and the effect on the market for the original. Commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching and research are classic examples, but none is automatically fair.
• Fair dealing (the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and others) only covers uses for listed purposes, such as research, private study, criticism, review, quotation or news reporting, and even then the dealing must be fair. The list of purposes differs by country.

Neither is a blanket right to save or reuse whatever you like. “It's for personal use,” “I'm not making money,” and “I only used 30 seconds” can be relevant, but none of them settles the question. If your plan depends on fair use, keep your use small, purposeful and clearly transformative, and get advice when the stakes are high.

Platform terms still apply

Copyright isn't the only set of rules. Video platforms have their own terms of service, and those can restrict downloading even in situations where copyright law might allow it. YouTube's terms, for example, generally restrict downloading content unless the service expressly allows it or you have permission. Those terms are an agreement between you and the platform, and you're responsible for complying with them when you use any tool, including Konvert. Our Terms of Use say the same.

What to avoid

• Redistributing other people's music. Sharing converted tracks with friends, in group chats or on file-sharing sites spreads copies the owner never agreed to.
• Re-uploading. Posting someone else's audio to your own channel, podcast feed or streaming profile, with or without credit.
• Commercial use without a license. Using a track in an ad, a product, a paid course or a monetized video without permission that covers it.
• Getting around technical protections. Don't bypass DRM, paywalls, sign-in requirements or age gates. Circumventing technical protection measures is illegal in many countries in its own right, separately from copyright, and it almost always breaks the platform's terms. Konvert doesn't do this: private, sign-in-only and age-restricted videos simply fail. We never help anyone get around those protections.
• Replacing a purchase. Building a library of commercial music to avoid buying or streaming it takes income from the artists who made it.

How to credit Creative Commons work

Creative Commons recommends an easy way to remember what a credit needs: TASL.

• Title: the name of the work, if it has one.
• Author: the creator's name or handle, linked to their profile if possible.
• Source: a link to where you found the work.
• License: the license name, linked to the license itself.

Here's an example for a clip used in a podcast episode. The names are made up:

“Morning Birdsong at Lake Aster” by Sam Rivera (link to the original video) is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (link to the license). Trimmed and volume-adjusted from the original.

Put the credit somewhere people will reasonably see it: the video description, your episode's show notes or the credits of a film. Mention any changes you made, as in the last sentence above. For ShareAlike works, also say which license your version is released under.

If you receive a copyright claim

Platforms use automated matching systems and formal takedown notices. A claim can feel alarming, but it's usually straightforward to handle.

1. Read it carefully. Note who made the claim, which part of your work it covers, and what the platform says will happen.
2. Check your records. This is where saving the source link, license or permission email pays off.
3. If you didn't have the rights, remove or replace the material. That's usually the quickest way to resolve it.
4. If you did, use the platform's dispute process and include your evidence. Only dispute when you have a genuine basis. False counter-notices can have legal consequences.
5. Take repeated or serious claims seriously. Platforms may restrict accounts that collect several. If money or a legal letter is involved, get professional advice.

For rights holders

Konvert doesn't host or index a library of content. Files are created only for the person who requested them and are deleted automatically about 30 minutes after the job starts. The original video stays on the platform where it was published, so a notice to that platform is often the most effective step.

If you believe Konvert is being used to infringe your copyright, please get in touch through our contact page. The copyright section of our Terms of Use lists what to include in a notice.

Ready to convert something you have the rights to? The YouTube converter is one paste away, and our guide to audio for editing and podcasts suggests the best settings for each kind of project. For quick answers, see the FAQ.

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