Worked example
Extract a course MP4 as medium-quality MP3 for a much smaller file. Choose WAV when preparing to use an audio editor.
Understanding settings and results
- Output format and quality apply only to audio; video frames are excluded.
- A video without an audio track cannot produce usable audio.
Scope and limitations
- Extraction does not automatically remove noise, separate voices or generate subtitles.
- For files with multiple audio tracks, ffmpeg currently selects the default track.
Troubleshooting
- If the result is silent, confirm that the original video contains an audio track.
- Prefer MP3 for compatibility or WAV for editing, but neither can recover audio details lost in the source.
Privacy and processing
Videos must be uploaded to the server. ffmpeg performs extraction, subject to daily IP usage limits and the automatic cleanup policy.