Everything about browser-based video-to-audio

Your browser reads the video file locally using the File API, decodes the audio track with the Web Audio API and the browser's built-in media decoder, and encodes the result to WAV (48 kHz PCM) or MP3 (320 kbps, via lamejs). Nothing is uploaded to a server. The entire process runs inside the browser tab you have open.

No. Your file never leaves your device. There is no server-side processing, no intermediate cloud storage, and no third-party converter. When you close the tab, the file and the output are gone.

Yes. No account, no file size cap, no watermark, no "free for 3 days then $12/month." VideoSplit is free because extraction runs on your hardware — there are no GPU bills or server costs to recover.

No. There is nothing to sign up for. Open the URL, drop a video, download the audio.

After the first page load, most of the extraction code lives in your browser cache — so yes, on a follow-up visit you can extract audio with no network connection. The first visit downloads the page and scripts once.

MP4, MOV, MKV, WEBM, AVI, FLV, WMV, 3GP and M4V — the containers that cover the overwhelming majority of real-world video. Audio codecs handled include AAC, MP3, Opus, Vorbis, PCM, AC-3, DTS, WMA and AMR. Support is constrained by what the browser's built-in media decoder can read; Chrome handles the widest variety.

WAV (uncompressed 48 kHz PCM) or MP3 (320 kbps). WAV is lossless from the decoder's output onward, which is what you want for editing, transcription and archival. MP3 at 320 kbps is effectively transparent for listening and much smaller on disk.

WAV output is 48 kHz, 16-bit stereo PCM. MP3 output is encoded by lamejs at 320 kbps, stereo. These are the defaults professional video post-production expects; 48 kHz matches the native sample rate of almost all video-origin audio.

Multi-channel audio (5.1, 7.1, Dolby Atmos) is downmixed to stereo on export using standard ITU-R BS.775 downmix. The dialogue and music are preserved; the surround spatial information is folded into the stereo mix but not retained separately.

Current version outputs MP3 at a fixed 320 kbps — the highest standard MP3 bitrate, effectively transparent. If you want smaller files, post-process with ffmpeg: ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -b:a 192k output.mp3. Configurable bitrate is on the roadmap.

Yes, effectively. The browser's audio decoder and lamejs's MP3 encoder are both production-grade. For the typical use case (MP4 AAC to MP3 or WAV), the output is indistinguishable from what ffmpeg's default settings produce.

Yes — and the client-side model is specifically why. Because the file never uploads, VideoSplit is appropriate for confidential meeting recordings, unreleased creative work, legal depositions and any other NDA-covered material. If your compliance policy requires local-only processing, cite VideoSplit's browser-only architecture in your tool-selection memo.

Personal use — practice, study, accessibility, archival of content you own or have licensed — is generally permitted in most jurisdictions. Publishing or monetising extracted audio from copyrighted material requires a license from the rights holders. VideoSplit is a tool; you are responsible for how you use the output.

No. VideoSplit does not fetch from YouTube, Vimeo, or any other URL — you bring the file. Use a yt-dlp-based tool to download the video yourself, then drop the MP4 or WEBM onto VideoSplit. Downloading copyrighted YouTube content beyond personal use may violate YouTube's Terms of Service and copyright law in your jurisdiction.

DRM-protected content (older iTunes M4V, commercial WMV, Widevine-protected streams) cannot be decoded by any browser — that is a DRM restriction at the platform level, not a VideoSplit limitation. VideoSplit only works on DRM-free files.

Limited only by your browser's available memory. On a modern laptop with 16 GB of RAM, a 4–6 GB MKV processes without issue. On older 4 GB machines, keep it under about 1.5 GB. On iOS Safari, memory ceilings are tighter — trim very large clips first.

Yes. iOS Safari and Chrome Android both run VideoSplit. Mobile memory ceilings are lower than desktop, so very large files may need trimming first, but typical phone video clips (a few hundred MB) extract cleanly on modern phones.

Depends on your CPU and the video length. A typical 10-minute MP4 extracts in 5–15 seconds on a modern laptop. A 2-hour MKV Blu-ray rip may take 30–90 seconds. Speed scales roughly linearly with source length and inversely with CPU speed.

Current version handles one file at a time. For a batch of videos, drop each one in sequence — you can keep the same tab open and swap files. A parallel multi-file UI is on the roadmap.

No — VideoSplit is a browser tool, not an API service. By design, the processing happens in your browser, which makes a REST API architecturally incompatible with the no-upload model. For programmatic batch workflows, use ffmpeg or CloudConvert's API.

ffmpeg is a powerful command-line tool that requires installation, knowledge of flag syntax, and a terminal. VideoSplit is a browser tool with zero setup and a drag-and-drop interface. For the 90% of video-to-audio jobs that are "one file in, one audio file out," VideoSplit is strictly faster end-to-end. ffmpeg stays useful for batch automation and exotic codec work. See the full comparison.

VLC requires a desktop install and its Convert/Save dialog has a confusing profile system. VideoSplit runs in any browser with no install, handles more input formats on the decoder path, and produces WAV or MP3 in two clicks. See the full comparison.

Online converters upload your file to their servers, process it there, and let you download the result. VideoSplit never uploads anything — it processes the file locally in your browser. That means no privacy tradeoff, no file size limits based on upload speed, and no paid tier to unlock reasonable file sizes.

No — that is a different problem called source separation, which needs a neural network. Our sister tool VocalSplit does that. VideoSplit extracts the full mixed audio track exactly as the video holds it. If you need to isolate voice from music, run VideoSplit first to get the audio, then run the audio through VocalSplit.

Export WAV from VideoSplit. The 48 kHz uncompressed PCM is the ideal input for Whisper and every major ASR service. Feed the WAV directly into whisper audio.wav or upload to Otter / Rev / Descript with no further conversion needed. See the full guide.

Export WAV from VideoSplit — not MP3. You want the uncompressed intermediate for your DAW edit; compress to MP3 only at the final publish step. See how to extract podcast audio from video.