Extracting Audio from Video Files with FFmpeg

Extracting audio from video files is a common task that can serve various purposes, such as isolating audio for podcast creation or obtaining audio for transcription purposes. FFmpeg, a versatile command-line tool, simplifies this process significantly.

Before you begin, ensure FFmpeg is installed on your system. Verify the installation with this command in your terminal:

ffmpeg -version

If FFmpeg is not installed, refer to our installation guide for FFmpeg on Windows or Mac here(opens in a new tab).

Run this command to extract the audio from a video

Steps to Extract Audio from Video:

To extract audio from a video file, execute the following command:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec copy audio.mp3

Let’s break this down:

• i input.mp4: Specifies the input video file. Replace input.mp4 with your video's filename.
• vn: Disables video processing to ensure no video output is generated.
• acodec copy: Copies the audio stream from the input file directly to the output without re-encoding, preserving the original audio quality.
• audio.mp3: Names the output audio file. You can change audio.mp3 to your preferred filename.

After the command is executed, the audio file will be available in the same directory as the source video file.

With these straightforward steps, you can efficiently extract audio from video files using FFmpeg, maintaining the original audio quality in the process.