How to Add Music to YouTube Videos [before or after upload]

Good videos are the ones with good music. As the king of video-sharing platforms, YouTube makes it very easy for you to upload your own videos to the website. However, when it comes to adding music to your YouTube videos, the options YouTube offers are quite limited. As a result, most YouTubers have to go other ways to add audio tracks to their videos. So, how to add music to a YouTube video? And what is the best way to add music to a YouTube video? Check out below to find out what most YouTubers do.

Part 1. How to Add Music to a YouTube Video before Uploading

Most of the time, people make their videos ready with music before uploading them to YouTube. The most important reason for this is, by doing this way, they can have many choices to add custom music to YouTube videos, with third-party YouTube video editor tools. Another reason is that YouTube itself offers very limited features for users to add background music to the videos that have already been uploaded to the website.

1.1 Use Video Editor to Add Music to YouTube Video

Video Editor is a professional video editing software that is simple to use for both YouTube beginners and experienced YouTubers as well. However, being a video editor in nature doesn’t necessarily mean they lack audio editing capabilities. On the contrary, Video Editor offers very professional audio editing features, too.

It not only allows users to detach the native audio track from a video and then replace it with another custom audio track or background music but also lets you directly record voiceovers from a microphone input if there’s no native audio or music inside the video at all. What’s more, it even allows you to add multiple audio tracks to one video file.

Refer to the steps below to see how to add custom music to your YouTube video, with Video Editor, an awesome YouTube video editor software.

1.1.1 Video Editor after installing it on your computer and choose your preferred aspect ratio (Portrait, Widescreen or Traditional) to proceed;

1.1.2. From the top left corner, click File>Import>Import file to add your YouTube video and the music file you want to add to that video into the media library;

1.1.3 Add the video and music file to the timeline below, using the plus mark showing up at the bottom right corner of the thumbnail when you point the mouse over a certain file

1.1.4 If your video file contains a native audio track that you don’t want, then use the detach feature to separate the audio track from the video file, so that you can delete it for good. To do that, right-click on the video file from the timeline, and then click the Audio Detach tab from the context menu;

1.1.5 Now it’s time to edit the music file you want to add to your video. In many cases, you might need to cut the music file short to match the video length. To do that, drag the playback head and place it at the end of the video file, right-click on the music file, and then click the Split tab from the popup context menu;

1.1.6 At this point, the music file is split into two parts. Click on the part that you don’t need, and then press the Delete button on your keyboard to remove it from the timeline. Or you can also right-click on it and then click the Delete tab from the popup context menu to reach the same goal;

1.1.7 When the duration of your video and music files are perfectly in sync, right-click on the music file, and then you can further adjust the volume and set the point where you want the sound the fade in.

1.1.8 When everything is ready, it’s time to merge them into one file and export the final video for you to upload to your YouTube Channel. To do that, click the Export button from the top menu bar, or the Export button from the menu dock above the timeline, at the popup window, specify the video title, output path, video format and quality, and then click the Export button from that window.

As a side note: If you want an audio file of the final output, you can click the Audio tab from this window to output a standalone audio file.

Besides allowing you to add your own music to YouTube videos, Video Editor also has a built-in audio library, where you can find tons of royalty-free sample music which you can download and add to your YouTube videos. Those collections cover sounds of varying effects and music of different genres and can be used for all kinds of occasions.

And most importantly, you don’t need to worry about the copyright infringement issue. This may be extremely helpful when you don’t know where to find plentiful music that is not copyrighted as far as how to add background music to YouTube videos is concerned.

Okay, above is all you may want to know on how to add music to your YouTube video with Video Editor from DVDFab Software. Availability of Video Editor: only on Windows OS for the time being.

1.2 Wondershare Filmora

Of course, DVDFab Video Editor is not the only one that can help you with the problem of how to add your own music to YouTube videos, there are other options out there too. The next we’re about to talk about is Wondershare Filmora. As a wonderful video editor, it also allows you to import audio files of different formats, such as MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC and others, to its internal audio library, so that you can decide which one you want to add to your YouTube video.

And similar to the aforementioned Video Editor, Wondershare Filmora also offers a large collection of royalty-free music and allows you to detach the native music inside the video file easily or add multiple tracks to a single video. But unlike Video Editor, Filmora comes with an audio equalizer, too.

Availability of Video Editor: both on Windows OS and the macOS.

Part 2. How to Add Customized Music to YouTube Video Online

Sometimes, people just don’t have too much time to try out several software tools one after another, compare the pros and cons of each, and then finally make a tough decision on which one to choose to help solve the problem of how do you add music to a YouTube video. Yes, they simply don’t have the time. There is no need to be worried, there are solutions to cater to this circumstance, specifically, the online solutions. Compared to traditional approaches, online solutions are web-based applications that don’t ask for installations, and literally can be used on any web browser no matter you’re running a Windows PC, Mac computer or Linux based device.   

2.1 clideo

Clideo is an excellent online option to answer the question of how do you add custom music to your YouTube videos. It allows you to add audio tracks to your videos for uploading to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, IGTV and other social media platforms you may use. Its supported audio and video formats include MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, MP4, WMV, VOB, AVI and more.

2.1.1 First, you need to select the YouTube video file from your device, be it a Mac, Windows PC, even an Android smart phone or iPhone. If you want to add background music to a YouTube video, paste the video URL to the appropriate box. It also allows you to choose from your Google Drive or Dropbox account.

2.1.2 Then you need to choose the target music file or soundtrack when the video is uploaded. You have the freedom to trim or loop the music, and set the volume for both the video and audio. When you're done editing, select a format for the output file and click "Create".

2.1.3 Next, you are given the chance to preview the output file, and if you like it, just click the Download button to download the final video file back onto your device, or save the result back to Google Drive or Dropbox.

2.2 Kapwing

Kapwing is another good online option to add background music to a YouTube video. It is free of charge, requires no software downloads, and yet gives you the power to edit both your video and audio right from your favorite browser. Refer to the four steps below to add music to your YouTube videos that you want to share with the entire world.

2.2.1 Upload a video from your computer’s hard drive using the Upload button that shall call up your file explorer. You just need to locate the target video file from your computer and load it to this page. In case your video is not saved on your computer, instead, it is an online video, then you can copy & paste the video URL into the box right next to the Upload button.

2.2.2 When the video is successfully uploaded, the next thing is to choose the music file that you want to add to the video. And that is simple. On the follow-up page, you can either paste the URL of an online audio source, or upload an audio file from your computer, or simply drag & drop the music file into this page.

After the music file is uploaded, you are welcome to adjust when your music starts, trim it, and adjust its volume! Whether you choose to trim the audio or not, the music playback will stop with the video. And do remember to mute the original video, otherwise, you may hear two different voices from the final output.

2.2.3 Once you’ve done editing both your video and music to perfection, click the Create button at the bottom right corner of the page! Then Kapwing will begin processing your video immediately, which may take a couple of minutes if your video has a longer duration. Once your video is done processing, click the Download button from the right side of the screen to save it onto your local hard drive, so that you can share it on your YouTube channel anytime later.

Part 3. How to Add Customized Music to YouTube Video after Uploading

In some rare cases, you might need to replace the existing audio track or background music of the YouTube videos that you’ve previously shared. There’s no better option on that job than the native YouTube video editor offered by Google itself. Refer to the steps below to see how to replace or add background music to a YouTube video.

Step 1 — Open your browser and visit www.youtube.com/editor. At then login to your YouTube account.

Step 2 — Click on the Upload button at the top right to call up the video editor option. At the bottom right of the new window click on the Edit button and you will see different options of uploading files.

Step 3 — Click the Add Music icon on the top side of the YouTube screen then you will get the option of browsing for the music files or audio tracks. At this point, choose the tracks stored in the YouTube music library, or browse from an external device. The choice is yours. You are allowed to alter the volume of the background music via the volume slider.

Step 4 — After done with the editing of music and video, you can directly publish or download the edited video.

Part 4. Final Thought

There are many ways to add background music or replace the original audio track of a YouTube video. Some prefer a fully functional software tool that they can download and install on their computers so that they can get the best out of their innovations and inspirations, others may just want an online solution to easily and quickly get the job done. 

Still, there are others who don’t have many choices other than the native YouTube video editor offered by Google. So, depending on your specific circumstance, it’s your choice to pick up the one that fits your situation best. Hopefully, this passage is of help to you about how to add music to a YouTube video.