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Whamite's avatar
Whamite
Iron Contributor
Dec 25, 2024

How to convert video to audio on my PC?

Recently, I've been collecting various video clips, ranging from lectures, tutorials, to personal recordings. And I've realized that having the audio versions would be incredibly useful for listening...
Yarisyoyo's avatar
Yarisyoyo
Iron Contributor
Dec 25, 2024

When it comes to converting video files to audio using command-line tools on a PC, there are several robust alternatives available. These tools cater to different needs, whether you're looking for simplicity, flexibility, or advanced features. Below are some of the most effective command-line utilities you can use for this purpose, along with brief descriptions and usage examples to help you get started.

#1 MEncoder

MEncoder is a powerful command-line video decoding, encoding, and filtering tool that is part of the MPlayer project. It can extract audio from various video formats efficiently. You can download MEncoder as part of the MPlayer for Windows package. After downloading, extract the files and add the directory to your system's PATH environment variable for easy access from the command line.

To convert video to audio file and save it as a MP3 file:

mencoder input_video.mp4 -of rawaudio -o - | lame - output_audio.mp3

#2 MP4Box (GPAC)
MP4Box is a multimedia packager that allows you to extract, manipulate, and package media files. It's part of the GPAC (Generic Packaging of Media Content) framework and is particularly useful for MP4 files. To extract the audio track from an MP4 file:

MP4Box -raw 2 input_video.mp4 -out output_audio.aac

Note: The number 2 refers to the track number of the audio stream. You can identify the correct track number with the -info parameters.

#3 HandBrakeCLI

HandBrakeCLI is the command-line version of HandBrake, a popular open-source video transcoder. While HandBrake is primarily designed for converting video formats, it can also be used to extract audio tracks. To convert video to audio and save it as an MP3 file:

HandBrakeCLI -i input_video.mp4 -o output_audio.mp3 --audio-lang-list eng --aencoder mp3

Note: Ensure that the audio codec (--aencoder) you specify is supported. HandBrakeCLI offers various encoding options.

These alternatives offer robust functionality for converting video (mp4) to audio (mp3) free files via the command line. Depending on your specific requirements—such as the need for batch processing, support for specific audio formats, or integration into scripts—you can choose the tool that best fits your workflow. Always ensure that the chosen tool supports the video and audio formats you intend to work with, and refer to each tool's official documentation for more advanced usage and options.

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