How to Extract Audio From a Video as an MP3
Sometimes you only want the sound from a video: a recorded lecture, a meeting, an interview, a piece of music you recorded yourself. Converting the video to an MP3 file gives you a small audio file that plays on almost any device. Here is how to do it with Free Video Converter and what you should know about the result.
Steps
- Open the converter and add your video file or files.
- In the "Convert to" menu, choose MP3 (audio only). The resolution menu disappears because it does not apply to audio.
- Click Convert.
- Download the MP3 when it shows "Done". With several files you can use "Download all (.zip)".
The new file keeps the name of the original, with the extension changed to .mp3.
What you get
The video is discarded and the audio is encoded as MP3 at 192 kbps. That bitrate is a sensible middle ground for speech and ordinary listening: files are small, and the audio sounds fine on speakers and headphones for most purposes. The bitrate is fixed on this site; there is no setting to raise or lower it.
About audio quality
- MP3 is lossy. Compression removes some audio detail. Converting from a source that is already lossy (most video files use AAC or similar) means a second round of lossy compression, so avoid repeating it over and over.
- The result cannot be better than the source. If the original recording is quiet, noisy or distorted, the MP3 will be too.
- Not for professional masters. If you need the best possible audio for editing or archiving, use an uncompressed or lossless format with a dedicated audio tool. This site only offers MP3 for audio.
Limits and honest notes
- Only one audio track is used. If your video contains several (for example different languages), you will get the one FFmpeg selects by default and cannot choose another here.
- There is no trimming. The whole audio track is converted. If you need only a section, cut it first in a video or audio editor and then convert.
- Long videos still need to be loaded entirely into your browser's memory, so a multi-hour recording may fail on a low-memory device even though the audio output would be small.
- Do not use this for content you do not have the right to copy. The converter works on files you already have and cannot download video from other sites.
Tips
- For a voice recording where you only need to listen, 192 kbps is more than enough. If you want to shrink storage further, a desktop audio program that lets you set lower bitrates will do better than this site.
- If you plan to convert many files in a row, add them all at once; they are processed one after another. See converting multiple videos at once.
- If a file fails, see our troubleshooting guide.
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