# Tool to rip soundtrack from video file? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964 "2008-08-14T12:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/1 "2008-08-14T12:29:21Z")
I recorded a three-hour training class on my miniDV video camera. I can capture the video to a file, but is there any way to rip the audio out of that file to a WAV or MP3? I don’t really need the video portion; I want to use the audio as a soundtrack for a PowerPoint presentation. I can always play back the movie and record the output from the card as analog sound, but that has to happen in real time and I was wondering if there was a way to just capture it digitally. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/2 "2008-08-14T13:21:08Z")
Try VirtualDub (my favourite AV freeware). If you can import the file, you can export the sound as either a WAV or MP3. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/3 "2008-08-14T15:45:25Z")
If the “file” is in DVD format, you can try “DVD Audio Extractor” [http://www.tucows.com/preview/343833](http://www.tucows.com/preview/343833) I have an earlier version of this, and it works great (on DVDs). Rips the audio to .wav files in (much) faster than realtime. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/4 "2008-08-14T20:50:13Z")
What format is the file? If it’s avi or mpg I’ll second Virtualdub. Just click “Streams” then save “Save wav”. I have to do this all the time for audio-video out of sync problems. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/5 "2008-08-26T13:02:56Z")
I tried VirtualDub but it produced empty files. Went through the motions but heard absolutely nothing when I played them back, for WAV and MP3. Tried AOA AUdio Extractor but it repeatedly generated a fatal error on startup. Tried AviSynth but it generated files with raised pitch, chipmunk style. It’s an AVI file so DVD extractors won’t work. The search continues… ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/6 "2008-08-26T13:15:00Z")
I have had success with Goldwave in this respect: [www.goldwave.com](http://www.goldwave.com) Limited demo should let you know if it’s worth buying later. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/7 "2008-08-26T13:32:07Z")
AudioFactoryTools video to audio converter generates a floating point exception at the end of the conversion. Output file is generated but left and right channels are out of sync created horrendous echo problem. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/8 "2008-08-26T13:48:09Z")
[This one](http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/free-dvd-video-software.htm) worked great ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/9 "2008-08-26T15:03:44Z")
Free website: [http://www.vmeste.fr/data/svs/index.php](http://www.vmeste.fr/data/svs/index.php) Put the file name and location in the field and away you go. MP3 is the result. It’s labeled as a YouTube audio extractor but it works with a lot of different video types. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/10 "2008-08-26T23:50:40Z")
I’d look at a program called, “Super”. You can read about it [here](http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-audio-video-format-conversion-program.htm) and there is a download link there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/11 "2008-08-27T00:56:26Z")
I usually use [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) on Linux but cannot vouch for the windows version. It’s a very mature application and is always reliable so I assume it works well under windows. Plus it’s free so you haven’t lost anything if it doesn’t work ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tool-to-rip-soundtrack-from-video-file/459964/12 "2008-08-27T01:19:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fubaya] I usually use [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/) on Linux but cannot vouch for the windows version. It’s a very mature application and is always reliable so I assume it works well under windows. Plus it’s free so you haven’t lost anything if it doesn’t work [/QUOTE] I’ll second MPlayer. The command line should go something like this: ```auto mplayer -ao pcm:file=soundtrack.wav VideoFile.avi ``` This makes the audio file WAV, which really eats up disk space but is guaranteed to be as good as the video file’s audio. There are GUI frontends to MPlayer on Linux (SMPlayer is one, KMPlayer is another) but I don’t know of any for Windows.