How to make a video into a voice memo

Have you ever recorded a video with your iOS device simply to capture the sound and weren’t concerned about the picture? Or, maybe you have a video of something where the audio is just as memorable and would like to save that sound as a separate file to listen to.

Pulling the audio from a video may sound like a complicated task, but it really isn’t. If this is something you’ve been wondering how to do, then we’ve got you! This tutorial shows you how to extract audio from video on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Look at two quick and free ways to convert video to audio on Mac.

1. Using right-click or control-click

Here’s how to get sound from videos on macOS Big Sur, macOS Monterey, and macOS Ventura:

1) From a Finder folder, select one or more videos and right-click.

2) Click Encode Selected Video Files.

3) Click the Setting dropdown menu and choose Audio Only.

4) Finally, click Continue to extract audio from the videos. The audio files will be saved in the same folder as the video files in .m4a format.

2. Using QuickTime

It couldn’t be easier to extract and save the audio from a video as its own file on a Mac with QuickTime Player:

1) Open your video in QuickTime Player.

2) Select File from the menu bar.

3) Scroll to Export As, and in the pop-out menu, click Audio Only.

4) Name your file, choose its location, and click Save.

Related: How to remove sound from a video file with iMovie on Mac

Extract audio from a video on iPhone or iPad

While you can play around with iMovie to detach audio from your video, this can be tougher than you think. The quickest and easiest way to extract that audio is with an iOS shortcut or via a third-party app. Let us show you both.

1. Using an iOS shortcut

Before we begin, if you’re on iOS 14 or earlier, enable ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts‘ in Settings > Shortcuts. Once that’s done, follow these steps. Starting with iOS 15, you don’t see the option to allow or block untrusted shortcuts, and you can add them directly.

Here’s how to change video to audio on iPhone and iPad using shortcuts:

1) Tap the iCloud link to open the iDB Video To Audio shortcut page and tap Get Shortcut > Add Shortcut.

2) Open the Photos app and select a video.

3) Select the share button, scroll down and tap iDB Video To Audio.

4) Choose the location in the Files app where you want to save the output audio file and tap Done. In a few seconds, the shortcut will extract audio out of the video and save it. Open the Files app and tap Recent or go to the exact location to find the audio file.

As you can see, the iOS shortcut is a quick and effortless way to get the sound file from a video. But third-party apps usually provide more options. So, let us look at that as well.

2. Using an MP3 Converter app

There are tons of options on the App Store to get audio out of a video. But, if this isn’t something that you plan to do often, you likely want a free app, and if you don’t mind a few ads, this is the way to go.

After trying a handful of free apps, one that stands out is MP3 Converter – Audio Extractor. It’s available for both iPhone and iPad and is super simple to use. Open the app, allow it to access your photos, and then do the following:

1) Click the plus sign in the center on the bottom.

2) Choose where to import your video from, such as iCloud or your Camera Roll.

3) Choose the video, and from the next screen, tap Convert from the top right or the bottom. mp3 is already selected as the default output format. This screen also has additional features that you can explore.

4) Finally, tap Export, and from the iOS Share Sheet, choose AirDrop, Save to Files, or one of the various sharing options here. Alternatively, you can open this app and tap Converted Media from the bottom right to access your file anytime in the future.

MP3 Converter -Audio Extractor does contain pop-up ads, but they’re not as distracting as some apps. If you’d like to upgrade via in-app purchase and remove those ads, you’ll also receive features like all video formats, all audio formats, and no time range limit.

Get audio from video

These four ways to extract audio from your video files can come in extremely handy. Your baby laughing, your fiancé proposing, your child singing, even your dog making silly noises; these are all things that can be appreciated with just the sound. Are you going to use one of these methods to save an audio file from a video?

Check out next:

• How to loop a video in QuickTime on Mac
• How to preview voice messages on WhatsApp before sending them
• Steps to convert HEIC to JPG on iPhone and Mac

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