Got a lecture, a concert clip, an interview or a screen recording and only need the sound? Drop the MP4 below and get an MP3 you can play in the car, put on a phone or drop into a podcast editor. Only the audio track is encoded, so it is quick even for long videos, and the video never leaves your device.
How to convert MP4 to MP3
- Click Select MP4 files or drag them onto the box above. You can add as many as you like.
- Check that the target says MP3. Click the slider icon next to a file to change its options.
- Press Convert. Each file shows its own progress, and the work happens on your device.
- Download files one by one, or use Download all (ZIP). Press Convert more to start a new batch.
For speech, open the options and choose Mono and 64 kbps. A one-hour lecture drops to about 28 MB and still sounds perfectly clear.
MP4 vs MP3
What is MP4?
An MP4 file is a container: it normally holds an H.264 or HEVC video track plus an AAC audio track, interleaved so they play in sync. The audio is already compressed, typically at 96–192 kbps for phone recordings and up to 256 kbps for downloaded music videos. More about the MP4 format.
What is MP3?
MP3 is the most widely supported audio format there is. Every phone, browser, car stereo, DJ app and podcast host accepts it, and its patents have expired. At 192 kbps an hour of audio takes about 85 MB, a fraction of the video it came from. More about the MP3 format.
| MP4 | MP3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | MPEG-4 video | MP3 audio |
| Extensions | .mp4, .m4v | .mp3 |
| MIME type | video/mp4 | audio/mpeg |
When to convert MP4 to MP3
- You want to listen to a talk, lesson or sermon without keeping the screen on.
- You need the soundtrack of a clip for a video editor, a presentation or a ringtone.
- You are transcribing an interview and the transcription tool only takes audio.
- Your phone is full of videos and you only care about the sound.
Quality and settings
The AAC audio inside the MP4 is decoded and re-encoded as MP3, so the result can only be as good as the source. Pick a bitrate a little above the original: 192 kbps (the default) suits most music videos, 128 kbps is plenty for phone recordings, and 64–96 kbps mono keeps lectures and meetings small with no loss in intelligibility. Use the trim fields to keep only one song or the part of a meeting you need.