Extract audio from video
Pick a video and get its sound as an audio file. It all happens in your browser, so the video never leaves your device.
Or drop it here. MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. It stays on your device.
To extract audio from a video, choose the file above, pick M4A or MP3, and select Extract audio. Pick M4A unless something asks for MP3. Your video already has finished audio inside it, and when that audio is AAC, M4A copies it out exactly as recorded in seconds. MP3 encodes it again for players and upload forms that only take .mp3.
M4A or MP3: which one to pick
Before you extract, the tool tells you what audio your video has. If it says AAC, that's exactly what an M4A file holds, so there's nothing to convert. Take it out and keep it as it is. If it says something else, like Opus, M4A converts it to AAC at 128 kbps.
Pick M4A for almost everything: sending a call to someone, keeping a smaller copy, or handing it to a transcription service.
Pick MP3 when the place you send it asks for MP3: an older car stereo, a podcast host, an upload form that only lists .mp3. At 192 kbps, speech and music stay clear.
How the tool takes the audio out
A video file is a container with separate tracks in it: one for the picture, one for the sound. The tool opens the container in your browser, finds the audio track and leaves the video track behind.
Your video file
Video trackAudio track, AACM4A
Audio track copied as it is
Audio track, AACMP3
Decoded, then encoded again
New audio, MP3The file size follows from two numbers: bitrate times length, divided by 8. An hour of audio at 128 kbps is 128,000 × 3,600 ÷ 8 = 57.6 MB. The tool shows the size of both choices before you start.
Example: a 20-minute recording
We made a 20-minute test recording like a typical call: video at 1 Mbps, sound as AAC at 128 kbps, 48 kHz stereo. The file was 169.9 MB.
Saved as M4A, the audio came out at 19.4 MB in under a second, and the audio was an exact copy of the original track. Saved as MP3, it came out at 28.8 MB in about 9 seconds. The same audio as an uncompressed WAV would be 230.4 MB, bigger than the video itself.
One 20-minute recording, four file sizes (MB)
- The video as recorded
- 169.9
- WAV uncompressed, computed
- 230.4
- MP3 192 kbps
- 28.8
- M4A original audio
- 19.4
When the recording is a call or a lecture
Maybe your video is a coaching call, office hours or a lecture. If you run a program with hundreds of hours of those, your members keep asking questions you've already answered on one of them, and nobody has time to search the archive for the answer. Bold hosts those recordings and answers members from them, linked to the minute you said it, and says when the recordings don't cover a question. HRT University heard 25 questions a week in its live Q&A. On Bold, members ask 500. See how it works, or how it fits a coaching program.
Questions
Is it free, and does my video get uploaded?
It's free and needs no account. Your browser builds the audio file itself, so nothing is sent to us or anyone else.
Can I get an MP3 instead of M4A?
Yes. Choose MP3 before you extract and you get a 192 kbps MP3 that plays in any player or app.
Why is the M4A smaller than the MP3?
When your video's audio is AAC, the M4A is the audio your video already had, at its original bitrate, often 128 kbps. The MP3 is re-encoded at 192 kbps. A higher bitrate makes a bigger file, but it can't add back detail the original didn't have.
How long a video can I use?
The tool keeps only the finished audio in your browser's memory until you download it, and an hour of it is 86.4 MB even as MP3. A very long video on an older phone can still run out of memory.
Can I paste a YouTube link?
No. The tool works on a video file on your device, like a downloaded Zoom recording, a phone video or a screen recording.
