How to Extract the Audio from .MOV files in Windows

May 29, 2013 / By

This brief tutorial will show you how to extract just the audio from a .mov video file, using free software.

  1. Using Microsoft Windows app Movie Maker it’s quite easy to extract the audio from an .mov file. It’s quite possible you already have Movie Maker installed – if you do, skip down to step #3 below. If you don’t, you’ll need to start by download Movie Maker.

    Once the download has completed, run the setup file. This package also includes other software, which you may or may not want to install. Click the Choose the programs want to install button.


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  2. Make sure that at least Photo Gallery and Movie Maker is selected (the others you can install if you wish, but aren’t related to this tutorial), and then click the Install button. Once the installation has finished, launch Windows Movie Maker.


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  3. Click the Add videos and photos button.


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  4. Navigate to the .mov file you want to grab the audio from, select it, and click the Open button.


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  5. Depending on the size and duration of your movie, it may take a while for the video to ‘import’ into Movie Maker. Wait until it’s done.


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  6. Now select File from the top menu and then Save movie from the ‘drop-down’ menu. Scroll down and select Audio only from the sub-menu.


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  7. Select the folder you want to save the new file in, and give the file a name. Click the Save button to begin the process. Note: the resulting audio file will be saved in the .m4a format – which is playable on almost every modern device (Mac/PC/iOS/Android/BlackBerry etc).


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  8. Again, depending on the size and length of the .mov file, this process can take a few minutes.

  9. Once it’s completed, click the Open Folder button.

  10. Ta-da! There’s your new audio file.


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  11. Finally – if you need to edit the resulting .m4a file, a program like Audacity (which is not only free but Open Source) is ideal.

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11 thoughts on “How to Extract the Audio from .MOV files in Windows”

  2. pansrtgd

    You may try use Avdshare Audio Converter to extract MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, WMA, etc from MP4, AVI, FLV, WMV, MKV, ASF, etc for playing audio on iPhone, iPod, MP3 player, etc on Mac/PC.

  3. beenfill

    You may try use Avdshare Audio Converter to extract MP3, WAV, AAC, FLAC, WMA, etc from MP4, AVI, FLV, WMV, MKV, ASF, etc for playing audio on iPhone, iPod, MP3 player, etc on Mac/PC.

  4. Slamazzar

    I just solved: a free VLC media player. Plays .mov’s and converts them to many formats including .mp3.

  6. helpnesss

    I highly recommend
    iDealshare VideoGo which can batch convert MOV to WMV or convert WMV to MOV
    with no quality loss on Mac or Windows computer.

    It also can convert
    among MOV, WMV, MP4, AVI, MKV, MPG, FLV, WebM, DV, TS, 3GP, AVCHD, DAV, WTV,
    etc video format,

  7. Brad Land

    My Movie Maker doesn’t have the “audio only” option, and I can’t find an update. I’m trying to get the audio from an .mov file. Any suggestions? Cheers!

  9. thehomelessguy

    My Audacity says the .m4a file is not supported and that it must first be converted into a supported file such as wav or aiff.

  10. Alfred Baker

    Actually, an online app can do this too, like Mp3 Grabber, extract audio from local video files. But your way is good too, thanks.

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