Which audio format should you choose?
- MP3 for listening on any phone, car stereo or player. Small files, about 1 to 1.5MB per minute. Use MP4 to MP3.
- WAV for editing in Audacity, Premiere or a DAW, or for transcription services that ask for it. Uncompressed and large, about 10MB per minute. Use MP4 to WAV.
- M4A for Apple devices. Good quality in small files. Use MP4 to M4A.
How to do it
- Open the converter for your video type, for example MP4 to MP3 or, for iPhone videos, MOV to MP3.
- Drop in your video files.
- Click Convert and download the audio.
Other video types work the same way: MKV to MP3, WebM to MP3 and more.
What quality do you get?
MP3 files are encoded with high-quality variable bitrate (around 190 kbps), which most listeners cannot tell apart from the original. The sound can never be better than the audio inside the video: a phone recording in a noisy room stays a phone recording in a noisy room.
Common problems
- "This file has no audio track." The video was recorded without sound, as with many screen recordings.
- The file is too large to upload. Very long videos can be over the upload limit. Cut the part you need with your phone's or computer's video editor first.
- Wrong language. Videos with several audio tracks have one picked automatically.
A note on copyright
Only extract audio from videos you made yourself or have the right to use. Music and films are usually protected by copyright.