# Editing Video into Audio Only Format **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233 "2005-10-14T16:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/1 "2005-10-14T16:20:07Z")
I’ve been delegated a task to take a musical performance recorded on a Sony Handicam and stripping the video out, compressing (I assume) into a much smaller audio only file. I’m sure this can’t be difficult, but will I be able to do this on Win XP on a machine without much media software on it (other than media player) with just the handicam (and the the appropriate USB connection)??? Or am I going to need to download or buy some program in order to do this? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/2 "2005-10-14T17:16:23Z")
You’ll need software, but it’s free. Download [VirtualDubMod](http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VirtualDubMod-Download-5316.html). Open your video in it, then go to the “Streams” menu and choose “Stream List.” From there, just click on the “Save WAV” button. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/3 "2005-10-14T17:27:08Z")
I’m not familiar with VirtualDubMod, but I have used the program it’s based on [VirtualDub](http://http://www.virtualdub.org/) for many years, and it, too, will let you easily export the audio separately. It’s one of the de facto standards among amateur video tools. Of course, as open source, it has _many_ specialized or feature-added mods, and I’ve used several with great satisfaction. I just feel safer linking “the original” ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/4 "2005-10-14T17:30:46Z")
VirtualDubMod is mostly the same as the regular Vdub, but it also lets you import MPEG-2 files. I recommened it because I’m not sure what format the OP’s camera compresses its video to. [Here](http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/) is VirtualDubMod’s official site on SourceForge. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/5 "2005-10-14T17:43:03Z")
> [@neutron star](#): > > From there, just click on the “Save WAV” button. I forgot to mention that if your camera compresses the audio along with the video, you may want to click “Demux” instead of “Save WAV.” Demultiplexing will break the your concert into a video file and an audio file. You can delete the video file if you don’t need it. Using “Demux” will allow you to keep the audio in its original format rather than decompressing it to a WAV. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/6 "2005-10-14T18:50:51Z")
Bahhhhhh… I didn’t know this was on a ‘cassette’ tape… DVC video format, something or other. THe memory stick is clogged and full of video they didn’t even know was there, and what they WANT is it transferred from the tape. The handicam plays the tape inside the ‘flap’ you use as the monitor when recording. Now, is _this_ possible? Probably, and maybe the VirtualDub will work for this? Probably not? ughh… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/7 "2005-10-14T19:03:04Z")
Many digital video cameras can play back their tapes and output the video through a cable, directly and digitally, into a computer. If you can plug the camera into your computer, you can get a [small program](http://www.carr-engineering.com/dvio.htm) that will capture the incoming digital video directly as a file. You can press play on the camera and record on the program to capture the file manually; some of these programs will also control the camera. I know this can work with a “Firewire” connection. I don’t know whether this works through USB. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/editing-video-into-audio-only-format/326233/8 "2005-10-15T00:21:12Z")
If you don’t have the necessary hardware to capture the video into your computer, and you only want the audio, it may be simpler to play it in the camera and perform an analogue audio capture (assuming the camera has some kind of audio-out jack, like a headphone socket) - using a sound recording utility on the PC to capture just the audio (and as usual, I’ll recommend [Audacity](http://audacity.sourceforge.net) for this) - you’ll lose a little bit of quality this way, but if you set up your input and output levels carefully to avoid clipping, the loss will probably be negligible. Cool Username BTW; Bagpuss fan?