Save the sound of a video as an audio file
A video file holds a picture track and a sound track. This tool reads the sound track of an MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV video and saves it as an audio file you can play, edit or send on its own. It all happens in your browser, so a private recording or an unpublished clip is never uploaded anywhere, and there is no waiting for an upload to finish.
- Interviews and lectures: keep only the sound to listen on the go or to send to a transcription tool.
- Music and voice-overs: pull the audio out of a screen recording or a phone video to reuse it in an editor.
- Videos for podcasts: turn a recorded video call into an audio episode.
Two ways to extract the audio
Fast, as WAV: in most cases your browser decodes the whole sound track in a few seconds and the tool writes it as a 16-bit WAV file at the sample rate your browser uses, usually 44.1 or 48 kHz. WAV is uncompressed, so it keeps all the quality of the decoded sound and opens in every audio editor, but it needs about 10 MB per minute in stereo.
Real time, compressed: if your browser cannot decode the sound of a file directly, or the video is very long, the tool plays the video silently and records the sound as it plays. That takes as long as the video, and the result is a compressed file in the format your browser records: WebM or Ogg with Opus in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, M4A in Safari. You can still convert that result to WAV with one click.
To get an MP3, convert the WAV with any audio converter. Browsers cannot write MP3 by themselves, so this tool does not offer it.
How to extract audio from a video
- 1Drop a video file on the box, or choose it from your device or phone gallery.
- 2Wait a moment while the sound is read. If the real-time method is needed, press Start and keep the tab open.
- 3Listen to the preview, name the file and press Download audio.
Frequently asked questions
Is my video uploaded?
No. Your browser reads the video and writes the audio file on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, which also means there is no upload wait and no size limit set by us.
Which video formats work?
Anything your browser can play. MP4 and WebM work in all current browsers, MOV from iPhones and cameras works in Safari and usually in Chrome, and MKV depends on the codecs inside. If a video does not open, try another browser.
Why is the audio file so much bigger than the sound in the video?
Videos store sound compressed, usually as AAC or Opus. The fast method decodes it and saves WAV, which is uncompressed: about 10 MB per minute in stereo. The quality is the same as what you hear in the video, nothing is lost a second time. If you need a smaller file, convert the WAV to MP3 or AAC with any audio converter.
What is the real-time method?
Some browsers cannot decode the sound of some files directly. Then the video plays silently in the background and the browser records its sound as it plays, so it takes as long as the video. The result is a compressed WebM, Ogg or M4A file, depending on your browser.
Can I extract the audio of a long video?
Yes, but a very long video needs a lot of memory, because the whole sound track is decoded at once. Videos longer than 90 minutes or larger than 1.5 GB use the real-time method instead, which needs less memory. A desktop computer handles long files better than a phone.