Extract audio from a video without uploading it
TubePull Video to MP3 takes the sound out of a video file and saves it as an audio file, inside your browser. Choose a video, pick a format and download the audio. The file is read from your disk and processed on your own device, so it is never uploaded to TubePull or to any other server. The tool is free and needs no account.
You can save MP3, WAV, OGG (Vorbis), Opus, FLAC or M4A. If the video has several audio tracks, such as two languages or a commentary, you choose which one to save. You can also save just part of the audio by typing a start and an end time.
Output formats
| Format | What you get | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| MP3 (default) | 128, 192 or 320 kbps constant bitrate, 192 kbps unless you change it. Sample rate up to 48 kHz. Surround sound is mixed down to stereo. | Playing anywhere: phones, cars, music apps, podcast players |
| M4A | The original AAC audio copied without re-encoding, when the video's audio is AAC. Other audio is encoded as AAC at 192 kbps. | Keeping the exact sound of an MP4 or MOV video; Apple devices |
| WAV | 16-bit PCM at the original sample rate and channel count | Audio editors and transcription software |
| FLAC | Lossless compression with exactly the same samples as the WAV, in a smaller file | Archiving the soundtrack |
| OGG (Vorbis) | Vorbis at 192 kbps, sample rate up to 48 kHz | Players and games that use Ogg |
| Opus | 128 kbps at 48 kHz | Small files that still sound good, especially speech |
Every format except MP3 keeps the original number of channels. The one exception is Opus made by the compatibility engine described below, which mixes surround sound down to stereo. The download is named after your video with "-audio" added, for example concert-audio.mp3.
Does extracting audio lose quality?
Taking the audio out of a video loses nothing by itself. Quality is only lost when the audio is encoded again. The audio in most MP4 and MOV videos, including phone recordings, is AAC. A WebM video usually has Opus or Vorbis audio.
- M4A copies AAC audio unchanged, so the result sounds exactly like the video. This is the choice for no quality loss from an MP4 or MOV file.
- MP3, OGG and Opus decode the audio and encode it again, which adds a small loss. At 192 kbps or more, most people can't hear it.
- WAV and FLAC store the decoded audio without further loss. The files are much larger than MP3.
A higher bitrate can't make the audio better than the video's own track. For speech, lectures and podcasts, 128 kbps MP3 is enough. For music, 192 kbps suits most uses, and 320 kbps is worth it only when the video's sound is very good.
Which files work
The tool opens MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, FLV, WMV and MPEG-TS videos. It also takes audio files (MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, Opus, M4A and AAC) if you want one in another format. For audio files, the Audio Converter also reads AIFF and WMA and can make an M4R iPhone ringtone. It identifies the format from the file's content, so a file with the wrong extension still opens correctly.
When a file has more than one audio track, a track selector lists each one by number, language (when the file names it), codec and channel count. The first track is selected, and only the track you choose is saved. A video with no sound at all, such as a silent screen recording, shows a message that the file has no audio. Files protected with DRM can't be processed.
Save only part of the audio
The Start and End fields are optional. Leave both empty to save the whole track, or fill in one or both to save a section, such as one song from a concert recording. Type times as seconds (75), minutes and seconds (1:15.5) or hours, minutes and seconds (0:01:15.250). The section must be at least 0.1 seconds long. An M4A copy is cut on the boundaries of the AAC audio frames, which are about 21 to 23 milliseconds long at the usual sample rates, so its start and end can differ from your times by a few hundredths of a second.
Tags and cover art
Tags in the file, such as title, artist and album, are copied into MP3, M4A, FLAC, OGG and Opus files. WAV files get no tags. Cover art from an audio file is copied into MP3, M4A and FLAC with the image unchanged. OGG files, and some Opus files, come out without the cover. Videos rarely carry music tags, so audio taken from a video may have none.
What happens to your file
The tool reads your file inside the browser tab and processes it there. No part of the video, its file name or its details is sent in any network request. The only things the page downloads are the tool's own program files from TubePull.
Opus and M4A files are usually made with WebCodecs, the audio encoders and decoders built into your browser. MP3, WAV, FLAC and OGG files are made by a compatibility engine: FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly (ffmpeg.wasm). The tool also switches to that engine by itself when your browser can't handle a file. The engine is about 32 MB, downloads the first time a job needs it, and then stays in your browser's cache. The licenses page lists the exact versions and links to their source code.
Limits and tips
- There is no fixed file size limit. Your device's memory sets the practical one. Phones show a warning for files over 500 MB, and the job can still run.
- The compatibility engine won't start a job whose output it estimates at more than about 1.5 GB. A WAV file reaches that at about two hours of 48 kHz stereo audio. For FLAC, the estimate is based on the size of the whole video, so a video over 1.5 GB needs a shorter range or another format.
- If a job runs out of memory, choose a shorter range or use a desktop browser.
- To keep the original sound of an MP4 or MOV video, choose M4A.
- For the opposite job, keeping the picture and dropping the sound, use Mute Video.
Is the video still online?
This tool works on files you already have. To get MP3 audio from a YouTube video, use the YouTube to MP3 downloader, which works from the link. For TikTok, Instagram and other sites, use the TubePull downloader with the link, or save the video first and open the file here. To cut the video itself, use the Video Trimmer, or browse the other free video tools.