6 Easy Ways to Extract Audio from Video on Mac (Free Included)

Can I detach an audio track from a video file and save it as an MP3 on Mac? You may have the same question when you would like to:

• Distribute personal videos as audio podcasts on SoundCloud, S-Town, etc.
• Listen to video soundtracks on portable MP3 players
• Enjoy movie lines, YouTube music, and talk shows everywhere

That will be an easy job if you seek help from the dedicated or built-in software, like Cisdem Video Converter, iMovie, and even the online tool. Read on to figure out how to extract audio from video on Mac.

How to Extract Audio from Video on Mac with Software?

#1 Cisdem Video Converter

Cisdem Video Converter for Mac is a standout program that facilitates file format conversions, video download, DVD ripping, and completes the job with quite an unbelievable ease. It allows you to rip audio from videos like MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, 3GP, WMV, FLV, MPG, etc. Also, you can extract audio from YouTube on Mac, as the software lets you directly download videos from YouTube and other 1000 websites.

Free Download

Standout features of the best audio extractor for Mac:

• Extract audio from video Mac without quality loss
• Rip multiple audio files from videos in batches
• Extract MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, M4A, AC3, OGG, AIFF, FLAC, etc. from videos
• Separate audio from any video formats
• Make video conversions between 300+ file formats
• Offer optimized presets for most devices, like iPhone, Android devices, etc.
• Download videos from over 1000 sites, including YouTube.
• Edit, enhance & personalize your video files
• Rip DVD to video or audio for easy playback and sharing

Steps to extract audio from video Mac via Cisdem:

Step 1. Import video files

Download, install and run Cisdem Video Converter on your Mac.

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Straightly drag-n-drop videos into the program, or import your target videos from the “File” menu > “Add File(s)”.

Step 2. Select audio format

Click the format button, and then go to the “General Audio” option. You will find almost all popular audio formats there. Choose your favorite format that you want the audio to be.

Step 3. Adjust audio settings

Click next to the audio format, and the “Advanced Settings” panel will pop up. Change the Quality, Codec, Sample Rate, Bit Rate, and Channel based on your demands.

Step 4. Extract audio from video Mac

After all your settings are done, click at the bottom right corner to start extracting audio from video on Mac. Your audio files will be saved at a designated location.

Tip: Extract background music from websites

Whether you are stripping audio from Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, or any other video sharing service, download video sources by pasting URLs first with the app.

#2 iMovie

iMovie is a sought-after video editing application amongst Apple users, which is able to make videos from various types of digital cameras, encoded files, and images. More importantly, if your iMovie video has both sound and visuals, it can export or separate audio from video in iMovie.

Steps to extract audio from video with iMovie:

1. Fire up the iMovie app on Mac.
2. Drag the video from which you wish to extract audio to the timeline.
3. Click the “share” button in the upper right corner > choose “File”. Alternatively, go to the menu bar at the top of the screen, click “File” > “Share” > “File…”.
4. From the pop-out dialog, choose “Audio Only”, and then choose AAC, MP3, AIFF, or WAV from “File Format”.
5. Click “Next…” > put a name for your audio file > select where to save the file > click “Save”.

To detach audio from the exported iMovie video, you can right-click the video, then pick "Encode Selected Video Files” > “Audio Only”, and hit “Continue” to get M4A audio.

#3 QuickTime Player X

QuickTime is a video player that comes pre-installed on Mac, capable of playing, recording, and sharing audio and video files. Plus, it can assist you to separate audio from video in few clicks.

Steps to extract audio from video on Mac via QuickTime X:

1. Open the video through QuickTime.
2. In the menu bar, go to “File” > “Export As” -> “Audio Only…”.
3. Choose a preferred location and save your exported audio file as M4A.

QuickTime 7 Pro makes it possible to take AU, AIFF, and WAVE audio from video, but there are two conditions:

• Have a Pro license. Since mid-2016, Apple no longer sold registration keys for the Pro version.
• Still use macOS Mojave or lower version. Catalina requires applications to be 64-bit while QuickTime 7 is 32-bit.

#4 VLC Media Player

VLC is a cross-platform media player and a streaming media server. It provides a great feature to extract MP3, FLAC, OGG, etc. from AVI, FLV, and other video files. More than an audio extractor, you can listen to music or watch movies with VLC player as well.

Steps to extract audio from video Mac using VLC:

1. Once installed the VLC player on your computer, launch it.
2. Click the “File” option on the status menu, then scroll down to “Convert/Stream…”.
3. After opening a new window, drag the video from which you intend to extract audio to VLC.
4. Choose an audio format from the profile, like “Audio – MP3”, “Audio- FLAC”, “Audio – (Vorbis) OGG”. If necessary, you can customize the audio codec.
5. Click the “Save as File” button, select a destination, and save your audio file that extracts from a video.

#5 Audacity

Audacity is a handy multi-track audio editor and recorder. As good as various premium tools, it provides a suite of specialized features, such as recording, editing, and playing audio files. Meanwhile, it’s very convenient to extract audio from video on Mac for applying echo and noise reduction with Audacity.

Steps to extract audio from video using Audacity:

1. Download and install Audacity on your device.
2. Drag your video to Audacity or Open a video file by navigating to "File" > "Open".
3. Go to the "File" option on the top again. But at this time you should choose "Export", and then click on "Export as MP3", "Export as WAV" or "Export as OGG". Note: Occasionally when you import a video file, you will get an error message. In this case, download FFmpeg Library for Audacity.
4. Once finished, go and check whether the audio has been extracted from the video or not.

How to Extract Audio from Video on Mac without Software?

The online audio converter is awesome to use when it comes to ripping audio from video on Mac without software.

FileZigZag.com is an all-inclusive online website, which empowers you to convert not only audio files, but also videos, documents, images, and archive files. It claimed to support 29 input and output audio formats, making it one of the web tools with the largest number of supported audio formats.

Steps to extract audio from video online:

1. Visit https://www.filezigzag.com/.
2. Drag the video from which you want to separate audio to the specified area.
3. Select an audio format, such as AAC, MP3, AIFF, etc.
4. Click “Start Converting”.
5. After the conversion progress is finished, download your extracted audio file.

Closing Thought

We introduce 6 audio extractors above to help you extract audio from video on Mac. All of them have advantages and disadvantages. But if you have a large batch of video files to convert and want to edit and customize them before converting, it is better to turn to a dedicated video converter software- Cisdem Video Converter. Everything thing considered, it holds the most comprehensive function and the best technology. As long as the video you add is not corrupt, the extracted audio should work.