Video Audio Extractor

Extract audio from video files or URLs. Supports various output formats including MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, and OPUS.

Features

• ✅ Extract audio from local video files
• ✅ Download and extract from direct video URLs
• ✅ YouTube support – Direct audio extraction (requires yt-dlp)
• ✅ Multiple output formats with quality control
• ✅ Automatic cleanup of temporary files

Prerequisites

# Required
brew install ffmpeg

# Optional - for YouTube support
pip3 install yt-dlp

Quick Start

Extract from local file

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4
# Creates: video.mp3

Extract from YouTube

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=..."

Different formats

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4 -f wav    # WAV format
{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4 -f m4a    # Apple format
{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4 -f flac   # Lossless

Usage

extract-audio.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT] [-f {mp3,wav,m4a,aac,flac,ogg,opus}]
                 [-b BITRATE] [-r SAMPLE_RATE] [--keep-video] [--video-only]
                 input

Options

Supported Formats

Examples

High quality MP3

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4 -b 320k -r 48000

YouTube to M4A

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py "https://youtu.be/xxxxx" -f m4a

Custom output location

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py video.mp4 -o ~/Music/my-song.mp3

Download YouTube video (keep it)

{baseDir}/scripts/extract-audio.py "https://youtube.com/watch?v=..." --video-only --keep-video

YouTube Support

For YouTube videos, the tool uses yt-dlp to extract audio directly when possible. This is faster and more efficient than downloading the full video.

YouTube Limitations

YouTube actively blocks automated downloads. If you encounter errors:

1. Update yt-dlp: pip3 install -U yt-dlp
2. Try different URLs – Some videos have stricter restrictions
3. Use –video-only to download the video first, then extract
4. Browser extension – Use a YouTube downloader extension, then process the file

Common YouTube Errors

• 403 Forbidden: YouTube blocked the request. Try updating yt-dlp or use a different video.
• Sign in required: Video requires authentication. Use browser download instead.
• Timeout: Video too large or connection slow. Try --video-only first.

Technical Details

• Uses ffmpeg for audio extraction
• Uses yt-dlp for YouTube downloads
• Downloads to temporary directory, auto-cleanup by default
• Preserves original audio codec when possible
• Progress indicators for long operations