Extract Audio from Video

Why extract audio from a video

Plenty of jobs only need the sound from a video, not the picture: publishing a podcast from a recorded video call or interview, transcribing a webinar or lecture, re-using a voiceover or piece of music from a clip, or archiving the audio from a screen recording. Pulling the audio out gives you a clean MP3 or WAV you can edit, transcribe or deliver on its own — which is far easier than dragging the whole video through every step.

This tool copies the audio out of the video; it does not change the original video in any way. You upload a file, pick a format, and download the audio — the source clip on your computer is untouched.

MP3 vs WAV — which should you pick?

Both formats hold the same audio; the difference is compression.

• MP3 is compressed, so the file is small and plays on virtually every device, app and platform. Pick MP3 when you want to share the audio, upload it, or save space. 192 kbps (Standard) is plenty for speech and most uses; 320 kbps (High) is the highest MP3 quality and the better choice for music.
• WAV is uncompressed and lossless, an exact copy of the audio at the cost of a much larger file. Pick WAV when you are going to edit, master or process the audio and want no quality loss before you are done.

If you are not sure, MP3 at 192 kbps is the safe default; switch to WAV only when an editor or client asks for an uncompressed file.

The extract → transcribe → level workflow

Extracting the audio is usually the first step. After you download it you can:

• Transcribe the audio to text — turn the recording into an editable transcript or captions.
• Normalize the loudness — level the audio to a delivery target such as −16 LUFS before you publish.

Prefer to skip the audio file and go straight from the clip to a transcript? Video Transcription reads the video directly. For converting between audio formats (say an existing MP3 to WAV), use the Audio Format Converter — this tool's input is always a video.

Limits

Without an account you can extract from one video up to 100 MB and 15 minutes long. A free account raises that to 200 MB and 60 minutes per file. Because there is no video re-encode, the limits are more generous than the other video tools — file size is the practical gate.