How to extract audio from video on a Mac: M4A, WAV or MP3

Which audio format should you extract?

The one that suits what happens next. The three you meet most:

Format	What it is	Use it for
WAV	Uncompressed sound, every sample kept	Editing, mixing, transcription, handing to a sound engineer
M4A	AAC sound in an MPEG-4 file, compressed with little audible loss	Listening, sharing, Apple devices, a podcast draft
MP3	Compressed sound that plays on almost anything	Older players, sites and apps that ask for MP3

If the sound is going to be edited or measured, choose WAV. Every time compressed sound is compressed again, a little more is lost, so keep the uncompressed copy as your master and make the small files from it.

How do I extract audio from a video on a Mac?

The quickest built-in route is QuickTime Player, which comes with every Mac:

Open the video in QuickTime Player. Double-click it, or Control-click and choose Open With ▸ QuickTime Player.
Choose File ▸ Export As.
Choose Audio Only.
Name the file and save.

Apple's QuickTime Player guide describes the result as an Apple MPEG-4 audio file with an AAC audio track: an .m4a file. It is small and sounds good, but it is compressed, so it is the right file for listening and the wrong one for further editing.

Can QuickTime export audio only?

Yes. Audio Only is one of the options in QuickTime Player's File ▸ Export As menu, and it saves the sound as an M4A file with AAC audio. It exports the whole soundtrack as it is, so trim the movie first if you only want part of it.

Can you extract audio from several videos at once?

Yes, from the Finder. Apple's guide to automation in QuickTime Player explains that when you Control-click a media file and choose Encode Selected Video Files, you can also extract the audio track from the movie. Select several videos first to do them in one go, then choose the audio-only setting in the window that opens.

How do you convert video to MP3 on a Mac?

In two steps: extract the sound as M4A, then convert that file to MP3 in the Music app. Apple's Music guide gives the steps:

Add the M4A to your Music library.
Choose Music ▸ Settings, click Files, then Import Settings, and choose MP3 Encoder in the Import Using menu.
Select the file and choose File ▸ Convert ▸ Create MP3 Version. The original and the MP3 both stay in your library.

Apple notes that converting from one compressed format to another, such as AAC to MP3, can reduce sound quality. For the best MP3, convert from an uncompressed WAV instead of from an M4A.

A woman with dark curly hair and glasses lies on a sofa with an earbud in, looking closely at an open laptop. — Extracted sound for listening can be compressed; sound you plan to edit again is best kept as WAV.Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels

How do you extract audio from video with Sharpy?

From the export panel, by naming the file. In Sharpy the ending of the file name sets what is written:

.wav writes the mix alone, uncompressed.
.m4a writes the mix alone, compressed.
.mov, .mp4 or .m4v write the movie with its sound.

So to save audio from a video on a Mac with Sharpy, drop the video in, which lays its picture and sound on the timeline together, open the export panel and name the file with .wav or .m4a. To take only part of it, mark an In and an Out and tick "Only between In and Out". To save several clips at once, put a range marker over each and choose File ▸ Export Each Marked Stretch…: each comes out as its own file, named after its marker.

The difference from QuickTime is what you get. QuickTime gives you the soundtrack as it was recorded. Sharpy gives you the sound of your edit: cut, cleaned, levelled, with the music ducked under the voice, as you hear it in the window. Exporting the finished video covers the rest of the export panel.

What are stems, and how do you export them?

Stems are the separate parts of a mix, usually dialogue, music and effects, each saved as its own file so someone else can rebalance them. A sound engineer, a dubbing studio or an editor finishing in another app asks for them.

Ask the agent to render with stems (render with stems) and Sharpy writes each sound track, or each bus, that feeds the master as its own file beside the render: 24-bit WAV at the master's sample rate, the whole length of the piece, named after its track. Group your tracks into dialogue, music and effects busses first and you get the three stems the trade expects.

Played together at unity gain, the stems are the mix, within one 24-bit step, even where the master limiter is working. On a real 20-second recording with a music bed, the master minus the sum of its stems left at most −138.5 dBFS, far below anything audible. For a version in another language, ask for undipped stems as well: each ducked part also comes out at a steady level, so the music can be ducked again under a new voice. Audio mixing for video shows how to set up the busses.

Which method should you use?

You want	Use
The sound of one video, to listen to	QuickTime Player, File ▸ Export As ▸ Audio Only
The sound of many videos at once	The Finder's Encode Selected Video Files
An MP3	QuickTime, then the Music app's Create MP3 Version
Uncompressed WAV for editing or transcription	Sharpy, a file name ending .wav
The edited, mixed sound of your cut	Sharpy, .wav or .m4a
Dialogue, music and effects as separate files	Sharpy, render with stems

If the reason you want the audio is a transcript, you may not need the file at all: transcribing video to text on a Mac works straight from the video.

Frequently asked questions

Does extracting audio lose quality?

It depends on the format. QuickTime's Audio Only export and an MP3 are compressed, so they lose a little. A WAV keeps every sample of the sound it is made from.

Is M4A better than MP3?

At the same file size, AAC in an M4A usually sounds a little better than MP3, and every Apple device plays it. Choose MP3 only when something asks for it.

Can I extract the voice without the music?

Only if they were on separate tracks. In Sharpy, a voice and a music bed on their own tracks come out as separate stems.

Can I extract audio from a video I downloaded?

Technically yes, but having the file is not the same as having the right to reuse its sound. Use audio you made, or have a licence for.

Does Sharpy upload my video to extract the audio?

No. The export runs on your Mac, and nothing is uploaded.

Sources

Checked on 18 October 2026.