How to Extract Audio from Video Using VLC Player: Complete Guide for Mac & Windows

When you need to transcribe video content, you only need the audio track. For video files over 2GB, extracting the audio locally before uploading can save significant time and ensure a smoother transcription process.

This guide shows you how to use VLC Media Player—a free tool available on both Mac and Windows—to extract audio from your video files for transcription.

Why Extract Audio Before Transcription?

For video files over 2GB, browser-based extraction becomes unreliable. This is especially true when your upload speed isn't very fast—uploading a 2GB file can take 30 minutes to an hour or even longer. Local extraction using VLC offers:

• Faster Uploads: Audio files are typically 10-15% the size of video files
• Reliability: VLC can handle large files that browsers cannot process
• Quality Control: Choose the exact audio format for your needs

What You'll Need

• VLC Media Player (free download from videolan.org)
• At least 2GB free disk space
• Your video file (VLC supports MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, and most other formats)

Step-by-Step Guide for Windows

Step 1: Install VLC

Download and install VLC Media Player from videolan.org

Step 2: Convert Video to Audio

1. Open VLC Media Player
2. Go to Media → Convert / Save (or press Ctrl + R)
3. Click Add and select your video file
4. Click Convert / Save
5. In the Profile dropdown, select Audio - MP3
6. Click Browse to choose where to save the audio file
7. Click Start to begin extraction

Step-by-Step Guide for Mac

Step 1: Install VLC

Download and install VLC Media Player from videolan.org

Step 2: Convert Video to Audio

1. Open VLC Media Player
2. Go to File → Convert / Stream (or press ⌘ + Alt + S)
3. Click Open Media then Add to select your video file
4. Click Customize and select MP3 in the Encapsulation tab
5. In the Audio Codec tab, check Audio and select MP3
6. Click Save as File, choose location and filename
7. Click Save to start extraction

Tips

• For speech: Use MP3 format (smaller file size)
• For high quality: Use WAV format (larger file size)
• Large files: Ensure you have enough free disk space (at least 2x the video file size)
• Troubleshooting: If conversion fails, check disk space and try a different output format

File Size Guidelines

• Under 2GB: Automatic extraction works (no need for this guide)
• Over 2GB: Use this VLC method (recommended for all large files)

Expected results: A 2GB video typically becomes a ~100MB audio file. Since extracted audio files are much smaller than the original video, they typically won't exceed platform limits even for very large source videos.

Conclusion

Extracting audio from large video files using VLC Media Player is a simple yet powerful technique that can significantly improve your transcription workflow. By processing files locally before upload, you save time, reduce bandwidth usage, and ensure reliable results even with very large files.

This method is particularly valuable for professionals dealing with long-form content like lectures, meetings, interviews, or webinars. The few minutes spent extracting audio can save hours in upload time and provide a much smoother transcription experience.

Remember: while this manual step adds one extra process to your workflow, it's only necessary for files over 2GB. For smaller files, UniScribe automatically handles all preprocessing in your browser, giving you the best of both worlds—convenience for small files and reliability for large ones.

Ready to try it out? Download VLC Media Player and give this method a test run with your next large video file. Your future self will thank you for the time saved!