MP4 to MP3 Converter

How to convert MP4 to MP3

The converter takes the audio track out of the video and saves it as an MP3 file. The video itself is not changed.

What you get

The MP3 is ready to play anywhere:

• MP3 at a constant 192 kbps, a quality that sounds clean for music, speech and podcasts on most headphones and speakers.
• The original sample rate and channels: stereo stays stereo, and mono stays mono.
• The whole soundtrack or only a selected time range, cut to the second.
• A file that plays on phones, computers, car stereos, smart speakers and in any audio app.
• A preview player, so you can check the audio before downloading it.

AAC inside MP4: why MP3 and not M4A?

MP4 is a video container: it holds a picture track and usually an audio track, most often in AAC. MP3 is an audio-only format. Converting MP4 to MP3 keeps only the sound and drops the picture, so the file becomes much smaller: at 192 kbps, a minute of audio takes about 1.4 MB.

The sound inside an MP4 is almost always AAC, the same codec that M4A files use, so it could be saved as M4A without re-encoding. The catch is where the file has to play: many car stereos, older MP3 players and upload forms accept only MP3. Converting AAC to MP3 at 192 kbps adds one round of compression, but at this bitrate the difference is hard to hear in speech or music.

MP4 from Android phones, screen and game recordings

MP4 is what most devices record: the Android camera app, the built-in Android screen recorder and the Xbox Game Bar on Windows (Windows key + Alt + R) all save MP4 files with AAC sound. Any of them converts the same way.

Screen recordings are the usual trap. The Android screen recorder captures sound only if you turn it on before recording and choose device audio, the microphone or both. The Xbox Game Bar records the game sound but adds your voice only when the microphone is on. If the file has no audio track, the converter reports that there is nothing to extract. If a track exists but contains silence, conversion cannot recover sound that was never recorded.

Extract only part of the audio

Choose Selected time range to save one song, a quote, a lesson segment or a ringtone instead of the whole track. Enter the start and end time as hours, minutes and seconds, for example 00:01:30 and 00:02:15.

To find the exact moments, play the video in any player and note the times. The end time must be later than the start and within the video's length.

When to convert MP4 to MP3

Convert when you need the sound without the picture:

• Listening to a recorded lecture, interview, webinar or podcast episode offline or in the car.
• Saving music or a voice recording from your own video for an audio editor or a playlist.
• Preparing audio for transcription, subtitles or a voice-over.
• Making a ringtone or notification sound for an Android phone from a short part of a video.

Quality and limits

MP3 is a lossy format, and the audio in an MP4 is usually lossy too, so the MP3 cannot sound better than the original. At 192 kbps the difference is hard to hear for most people. If you plan to edit the audio further, use the audio extraction tool and choose WAV, which avoids another round of compression.

Videos can be up to 200 MB. The tool works with files you upload; it does not download videos from YouTube or other links. Only extract audio from videos you are allowed to use. If a video has no sound track, there is nothing to extract, and the converter tells you so instead of creating an empty file.

More ways to work with video sound

Learn more about extracting audio

• How to Extract Audio From a Video as MP3
• How to Extract Only Part of the Audio From a Video
• MP3 vs WAV for Extracted Video Audio

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about converting MP4 videos to MP3.