Convert MP4 to WAV
Extract the audio from an MP4 video as an uncompressed 16-bit WAV, ready for audio editors and transcription tools. Free, no sign-up.
Extract the audio from an MP4 video as an uncompressed 16-bit WAV, ready for audio editors and transcription tools. Free, no sign-up.
Sometimes a compressed audio file isn't what you want from a video. If the sound is going into a DAW, an audio restoration tool, a speech-recognition pipeline or a sampler, WAV is the safer choice: almost every audio program opens it, and it needs no decoding before editing. Converting MP4 to WAV strips away the picture and stores the soundtrack as plain PCM samples.
The WAV you get is 16-bit PCM (little-endian, the standard WAV layout). Unlike our MP3 output, nothing is downmixed or resampled: the sample rate and the number of channels match the audio track in your MP4. A 48 kHz stereo phone video gives a 48 kHz stereo WAV, and a 5.1 track stays six channels. You don't choose any settings.
The audio inside most MP4 files is AAC, a lossy codec. Writing it out as WAV decodes that AAC into raw samples; it does not restore anything the AAC encoder removed. The benefit is practical rather than audible: your editor gets a format it handles natively, and no further compression is added until you export your final mix.
WAV size is set by sample rate, bit depth and channel count, not by what the audio sounds like. At 16-bit, roughly:
| Audio track in the MP4 | WAV per minute | WAV per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Mono, 44.1 kHz | about 5 MB | about 300 MB |
| Stereo, 44.1 kHz | about 10.1 MB | about 605 MB |
| Stereo, 48 kHz (common for video) | about 11 MB | about 660 MB |
| 5.1 surround, 48 kHz | about 33 MB | about 2 GB |
So a small MP4 that is mostly audio can still turn into a WAV several times its size. That is normal for uncompressed audio.
Re-export the video at a lower resolution or cut out just the section you need; neither changes the audio. If your recording app also saved a separate audio file, M4A to WAV skips the video entirely.
Videos with, say, a commentary track and a main mix only give you the default track, which is usually the first. Split tracks out in a video editor first if you need a different one.
The output is always 16-bit. For audio that started as AAC, this has no practical downside, and it matches CD resolution.
An MP4 with no audio track has nothing to convert, and DRM-protected movies or rentals can't be converted.
Want a small, shareable file rather than an editing copy? Use MP4 to MP3. Uploaded videos are deleted once the WAV is created, and the WAV is removed from our servers within about an hour. More output options are on the WAV converter page.
| Full name | Waveform Audio File Format |
|---|---|
| Compression | Uncompressed (PCM) |
| Developed by | Microsoft and IBM |
| Introduced | 1991 |
| File extension | .wav |
| Typically used for | Recording, editing, mastering, broadcast |
| Plays on | All desktop systems and audio editors; most phones and browsers |
| Our output | 16-bit PCM, original sample rate and channels |
The output is 16-bit PCM WAV in the standard little-endian layout. The sample rate and channel count match the audio track in your MP4, so a 48 kHz stereo video gives a 48 kHz stereo WAV and 5.1 audio stays six channels. There are no settings to change, and the video track is discarded.
No. Most MP4 videos store audio as AAC, which is lossy. Converting to WAV decodes it into uncompressed samples but cannot restore detail the AAC encoding removed. What you gain is a format that editors, DAWs and analysis tools open directly, with no further compression until you export your finished project.
WAV stores every sample uncompressed. At 16-bit, stereo 48 kHz audio takes about 11 MB per minute, or around 660 MB per hour, regardless of how the video looked. Surround tracks are about three times larger. That is why a compact MP4 can produce a WAV several times its size.
The 50 MB limit covers the entire video, and the picture uses most of that space. Trim the clip to the part you need or re-export it at a lower resolution, which leaves the audio unchanged. If your recording software also saved a separate audio file, such as an M4A, convert that instead.
The converter uses FFmpeg's default audio track, which is usually the first or main one. There is no option to pick a different track, such as a commentary or alternate language. If you need another track, separate it in a video editor first, save it as its own file, and then convert that file.
Need detailed information or want to set a different default format? Visit our specific converter pages: