How to Identify Music and Songs in YouTube Videos: 5 Ways

You're watching a video on YouTube with catchy music in the background.You want to find the song in the video, but how do you know what it is?

Identifying some music in a video is easy, while others require more persistence.Follow our steps to find music in any YouTube video (or other online video) you watch.

1. Check video description to find music

The first step is an easy way to find songs used on YouTube, but a lot of people overlook this.You'll often see copyrighted music credits in video descriptions. YouTube automatically adds this information when it detects licensed music.This is part of the Content ID system that allows copyright owners to claim their videos on YouTube.

Therefore, to identify a song in a YouTube video, the first stop should be the video's description box.Click inside the box to view the entire description.Then, scroll down and you'll find a section called "Music."

This will display the song's title, artist, and some other information.If the song is available on YouTube, a link to the official video is also provided.Videos that use multiple songs will have multiple songs listed here.They don't always appear in the correct order, though, so you'll have to listen to them to know which one you like.

If you don't see this information, YouTube couldn't automatically identify the track.Sometimes uploaders will include a list of the music used in the video in the description, especially if the songs used are not copyrighted tracks (like video game music).If they don't provide that information, you'll have to keep digging to identify the track from the video.

2. Search for song lyrics on Google

If you want to identify music with lyrics from a video, you don't need Shazam for YouTube.Just listen carefully to the lyrics in the song and Google a line or two.

Most of the time, this makes it easy to identify song titles and artists, and even find videos or more.If you can't find anything, try the same search on "Find Music by Lyrics".The engine is provided by Google, but it tweaks some settings to focus on music content.This makes it a better YouTube song finder.

The main problem with this method of finding songs is that it doesn't take covers into account.For example, many movie trailers feature covers of well-known songs.Don't worry if the results after a short listen don't match what you heard in the video.Once you know the title of the song, you can try to search for the title of the song and some other information, such as the title of the movie.That should help you find the exact version you heard.

Failing that, you could try searching for the song title plus "cover" and see what comes up.If you're lucky, there will be very few cover versions of the songs, making it easy to pick out the version you hear in the video.

3. Use the music recognition service to check the songs in the video

If neither of the above two quick methods find the song, you might be wondering how to pass Shazam to identify music in a video.As it turns out, Shazam now offers a browser extension that can detect music in YouTube videos.Additionally, there are other browser extensions designed specifically to identify songs used in YouTube videos, in case Shazam can't detect your song.

1. Shazam (Chrome)

With this official free extension for the Chrome browser, you can Shazam YouTube videos or any other audio playing in a Chrome browser tab.Just install the extension, open a YouTube video with the song you want to recognize, and play the video where the song is audible.Then click the Shazam icon to the right of the address bar.

While Shazam is identifying the song, you'll see a message.It's recognized through a Chrome browser tab, so there's no need to access your microphone.Once you find a match, you'll see a prompt to sign up for Apple Music (or link an existing account), where you can listen to the song if you choose.

Click the extension icon at any time to expand the Shazams heading and see songs you've checked out in the past.This way you can pre-listen or delete those songs from your history.

If you're using a Mac instead of Chrome, the Shazam for Mac app lets you identify music playing on your computer in a similar way.

Download: Shazam for Chrome | MacOS (free)

2. AHA Music (Chromium)

If you don't want to use the official Shazam extension, or it can't detect your songs, give it a try AHA Music as an alternative.

ACRCloud provides some music recognition tools on its website.The easiest tool for finding songs in YouTube videos is a free Chrome browser extension that works almost exactly like Shazam's offering.

Start playing a video with the song you want to identify, then click the icon for the Chrome browser extension.It tries to identify the song used in the video.Once the songs are listed, you can use the shortcuts it provides to open tracks in various music services, which is a nice touch compared to Shazam's focus on Apple Music only.

AHA Music keeps track of all the songs it recognizes, so you can easily look up past songs again.Not only does it work on YouTube, but it can also identify music in Twitch streams, Netflix movies, and more.

Download: AHA Music for Chrome (free)

3. Shazam (Android and iPhone)

If you don't use Chrome or don't want to install an extension, you can also use Shazam on your phone to find songs in videos. Shazam is still one of the best music recognition apps that can analyze the music coming from your computer speakers.

While watching a video on your computer, open Shazam on your phone.When a song starts playing, hold your phone close to the speaker, and Shazam will recognize the song as soon as you tell it to search.If you don't have a phone handy, try AHA Music's online song identifier, which does the same in your browser.

If you want to find a song from a video playing on your phone, you can use Pop-Up mode on Android or the built-in Shazam feature on the iPhone.On Android, go to Shazam > Library > Settings and enable Pop-up Shazam.Then, you'll need to follow the instructions to make Shazam appear on top of other apps.

Once you've done that, go back to the video and start playing it.When the song you want to identify starts playing, tap the floating Shazam button. Shazam identifies the song, and you finally know what it is.

If you're an iPhone user, you can use the Shazam shortcut in Control Center to identify music playing on your phone.

Download: Shazam for Android | iOS (free)

4. Search for comment (or ask) song title

Most people love to find new music, so there's a good chance you're not the first to wonder what a song in a video is if Shazam can't find it.Read or search YouTube comments and you'll likely find questions and answers.

You can try the old way first.Scroll down the page a bit first so that more reviews load.Then press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F on Mac) to open the Find box in your browser.Type song and scroll through the comments using that word.

Whether this will help you find songs in YouTube videos depends on the number and quality of comments, so it may not always work.You can also try searching for music or tracks if you can't find the song.Think about what words people might use to ask what a song is.

A better way to search for music titles in comments is the dedicated YTComment Finder site.This page, while simple, allows you to easily search for comments on any YouTube video.Just enter the URL of the video you want to search for and hit the "Search" button.

Here, enter a song (or other similar keyword) and see all matching comments.If none of the comments mention the track title, but someone asks about it, click the reply on someone's comment and hopefully find the answer in the reply.

If you can't find an answer, try leaving your own comment asking for help identifying music.For best results, include a timestamp of the song so others know which one you're talking about. Timestamps in YouTube comments become links, so type "what's the song at 3:51?" and someone can click on it to jump to that spot in the video.

Don't be surprised if you get some "Darude-Sandstorm" responses when you ask this question.It's a common YouTube buzzword that never seems to go out of style.

5. Ask the music experts on the forum to identify the song

If none of the above methods can detect the song in the YouTube video, then you only have one option left.You need to ask people and hope they know what it is.Fortunately, there are plenty of forums and communities on the Internet dedicated to figuring out hard-to-recognize songs.

Here are three good ones:

1.   /r/NameThatSong (reddit)

2.  /r/TipOfMyTongue (reddit)

3.  Identification of Music Group (Facebook)

You need a Reddit or Facebook account to post to these groups.

These forums assume you've already tried the above and failed, so make sure you're well prepared.The clearer your questions, the more likely you are to receive quick and accurate answers.It's a good idea to note if you've excluded certain tracks, and include any additional information about where you think the song might have come from.

Find songs in YouTube videos

Hope you can use these methods to find music in YouTube videos.The Internet is plentiful with information, and you're likely to find it in no time.

If all else fails, it's also a good idea to contact the uploader of the video via social media or email.Maybe they'll be willing to answer your questions; after all, whoever added the song should know what it is.