You have a video file and only need the audio track, maybe to listen to it without using much data, or to use it as background sound. Extracting audio from a video and saving it as MP3 is a simple task, and you can do it with free tools on both computer and smartphone, with no need for complicated software.

On computer: free programs

VLC (Windows, macOS, Linux)

If you already have VLC installed — likely, since it’s one of the most widely used media players in the world — you don’t need to install anything else. From the Media menu, select Convert/Save, add the video file, choose an audio profile (e.g. “Audio - MP3”) as the destination format, and start the conversion. It’s the most convenient option if you don’t want to add another program to your computer.

MediaHuman Audio Converter (Windows, macOS, Linux)

If you need a tool built specifically for audio conversion, with a few extra features (batch converting multiple files at once, ID3 tag management, direct export to your music app), MediaHuman Audio Converter is free and available for all three major operating systems. Besides converting between audio formats, it extracts the audio track directly from a video file in a few clicks.

Online, nothing to install

If you’d rather not install software, or you need to convert a one-off file from a computer that isn’t yours, online converters do the same job right from the browser:

  • 123apps — a free tool that supports hundreds of input formats, both audio and video, and extracts the audio track as MP3 and other formats.
  • CloudConvert — very versatile, handles over 200 file types; the free version has a daily conversion limit, enough for occasional use.
  • Convertio — a very simple interface, good for converting a single file without too many steps; the free version has a file-size limit.

The process is always the same: upload the video file, choose MP3 as the destination format, start the conversion, and download the result. The one thing to watch is the free version’s file-size or daily-conversion limit if you’re working with large files or several files at once — in that case an installed program (VLC or MediaHuman) is more practical.

On mobile

On Android, several apps are dedicated to video-to-MP3 conversion and are generally easy to use: you import the video from your gallery, select MP3 as the output format, and the app generates the audio file, saving it to your phone’s storage.

On iPhone and iPad, Apple’s built-in Shortcuts app includes a ready-made script (“Video to Audio”) that performs the same conversion without needing any third-party apps.