Extract audio from a Zoom recording

Take just the audio out of a Zoom recording and save it as MP3 or WAV. Everything runs in your browser, so you don't upload the meeting recording anywhere.

No files are sent to any server

Open the audio extractor

Opens with MP3 selected. You can switch to WAV or AAC in the tool.

Audio extractor →

When this is the right tool

You have a Zoom recording of a meeting or class and want just the audio for notes.
You want to send a long recording to a transcription service, and the audio is all it needs.
You want to keep the audio for a podcast or stream and don't need the video.
The recording is confidential and you don't want to send it to an outside server.

The tool you'll use

The audio extractor takes the audio out of a video and saves it as MP3, WAV or AAC. Everything runs in your browser. It opens Zoom's MP4 recordings as they are and accepts videos up to 500 MB. Zoom's audio-only M4A file isn't a video, so this tool can't open it.

The FFmpeg command

With FFmpeg, these commands take the audio out.

Convert to MP3 (plays on almost any device):

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 output.mp3

Copy the audio as it is (when the audio is AAC; no quality change, and it finishes quickly):

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a copy output.m4a

-vn drops the video. -q:a 2 sets the MP3 quality on a scale from 0 to 9, where a lower number means higher quality. To check whether the audio is AAC, run ffprobe -v error -select_streams a:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name -of csv=p=0 input.mp4. If it prints aac, you can use the second command. For any other format, use the MP3 command.

Steps

Click the "Audio extractor" button above. The tool opens with MP3 selected.
Drag and drop the Zoom recording (MP4), or click to choose it.
If you want a different format, choose WAV or AAC instead of MP3.
Click "Extract Audio". The processing runs in your browser.
When it's done, play the result to check it, then download it.

Recommended settings

For notes or transcription: Choose MP3. The file is small, and almost every device and app can open it.

For editing or archiving: WAV isn't compressed, so taking the audio out doesn't lower the quality. The file gets large, though: stereo audio at 48 kHz takes about 690 MB per hour.

Troubleshooting

The processing stops or the tab crashes: A long recording, or a phone, can run out of memory. Try a desktop browser. The tool can't open recordings over 500 MB, so use the FFmpeg command above for those.
You get an error: If the video has no audio, the extraction stops with an error.
The extracted audio is silent: Zoom's help says this happens when the microphone was muted during the recording, or when the wrong microphone was selected. Play the original recording to check that the voices are there.

FAQ

Q. Where is my Zoom recording saved?

A. By default, recordings saved to your computer (local recordings) go to a Zoom folder in Documents: C:\Users\username\Documents\Zoom on Windows, or /Users/username/Documents/Zoom on a Mac. Zoom converts the recording into its final files after the meeting ends. Cloud recordings are listed in the Zoom web portal, where you can download them. Zoom's recording files include an MP4 with video and audio, and an audio-only M4A.

Q. Should I choose MP3 or M4A?

A. If the audio is AAC, the M4A command (-c:a copy) takes the audio out as it is. Nothing is converted, so the quality doesn't change and it finishes quickly. Making an MP3 converts the audio, so it loses a little quality, but MP3 plays on almost every device. The tool's AAC option also converts the audio (to 128 kbps AAC), so use the command when you want the audio unchanged.

Q. What do I do with Zoom's audio-only M4A file?

A. Zoom's M4A file already contains only the audio, so you can use it as it is, for example for transcription. To turn it into MP3, run the MP3 command with the M4A file's name in place of input.mp4.