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MP4 to WAV converter

Convert MP4 to WAV in your browser. No upload and no account: the file never leaves your device, so the only size limit is your device’s memory.

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Other ways to convert MP4

Convert other formats to WAV

Read more about the MP4 format and the WAV format, or see every video tool and all video conversions.

Should you convert MP4 to WAV?

An audio editor, transcription tool or DAW needs the soundtrack of a video as uncompressed WAV.

Yes, when you only need the sound: a song from a music video, the audio of a lecture, or a voice recording to transcribe. The picture is left out and the soundtrack is saved as WAV.

MP4 is the video container that plays on everything, usually holding H.264 video and AAC audio; WAV is uncompressed, studio-quality audio. Use WAV while editing and for systems that demand it, such as phone systems, samplers and some broadcast tools.

MP4 and WAV compared
Property MP4 WAV
What it is The video container that plays on everything, usually holding H.264 video and AAC audio Uncompressed, studio-quality audio
Audio inside H.264 or HEVC video with AAC audio 16-bit PCM, 44.1 or 48 kHz
Plays on Every phone, browser, TV, editor, chat app and upload form Every computer, audio editor and DAW, and most phones
Best for Sharing video anywhere Editing, mastering and software that insists on WAV

How to convert MP4 to WAV

  1. 01

    Add your MP4

    Drop your MP4 video onto the box, or click to choose it. It is read from your disk and stays there.

  2. 02

    Check the settings

    The output is already set to WAV. Change the bitrate if you want to; the defaults suit most files.

  3. 03

    Save the WAV

    Press convert and save the WAV. Several files come back together as a ZIP.

What changes when MP4 becomes WAV

WAV is lossless, the soundtrack usually isn’t

The audio inside an MP4 is almost always compressed already, usually as AAC. WAV preserves it exactly but makes a much larger file without sounding better. Choose it for editing software; choose MP3 or M4A for listening.

Video files without sound

Screen recordings and some exported clips have no audio track at all. The file is checked as soon as you add it, and you’ll be told before converting if there’s nothing to extract.

This page is put together from our notes on each format, choosing only what is true of MP4 and WAV, so every pairing states the same facts the same way. How these pages are made.

Why it doesn’t upload

Uploading a whole video to keep only its sound wastes time and data, and hands over the footage too. The audio track is read and saved right here, and the file never leaves your device.

How to check for yourself

Worth knowing

  • About the MP4. An MP4 that won’t play is rarely broken; it usually holds a newer codec such as HEVC or AV1 that the player doesn’t support.
  • About the WAV. A WAV made from an MP3 is ten times bigger but sounds exactly like the MP3; the lost detail doesn’t come back.
  • AVI, WMV, FLV and other older formats use the FFmpeg engine, a one-time 31 MB download.

Questions

Does extracting WAV from an MP4 lose quality?

No. WAV stores the soundtrack exactly as decoded, although it can’t improve on the compression already in the video.

Can I get the audio from only part of the video?

Yes. Set a start and end time before converting, and only that section is saved as WAV.

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