How can I extract mp3 audio from .mov container without re-encoding?

[Danteism]

Greetings to the collective a/v guru-ship!

I can download the "mp3" files found on this web page...

http://ratedxxxthemovie.com/music_mp3/ (don't worry, this is a documentary not an xxx site lol)

...BUT they're in a .mov container, despite the lack of video in the file.

How can I extract the audio without having to re-encode it?

I have all of the usual suspects... QT Pro, ffmpegX, etc. but haven't been able to
successfully fumble my way through this on my own.

Any help or insights would be appreciated!

[rumplestiltskin]

Once you open the downloaded file in QT Player, "Export" (from the File menu) and choose one of the "Sound to..." formats. Or drop the file into iTunes and use the "Convert to... menu item from the Advanced menu; this will let you convert the audio to whatever your preferred "import" setting is. You could also open that ".mov" file with Audacity or Amadeus or any other of 50 apps. Lots of choices for you.

[Danteism]

I think you may have missed this part of my question above...

How can I extract the audio without having to re-encode it?

Unless I am missing something, all of your suggestions would cause the file to be re-encoded
at least once.

When I open the properties (cmd-J) in QT Pro it shows that the audio is encoded as mp3 now.
I'm looking for a way to extract this audio without transcoding which will only further
degrade the audio. (it's already 128 kbps)

[pixel zombie]

open it with itunes, option click on the file within itunes and convert to mp3..it seems to work without re-encoding...

[Danteism]

open it with itunes, option click on the file within itunes and convert to mp3..it seems to work without re-encoding...

While I appreciate the suggestion, this is most definitely re-encoding. It even says this in the iTunes help documentation under "Saving a copy of a song in a new file format":

when converting between compressed formats (for example, MP3 and AAC), you may notice a reduction in the sound quality.

So I'm still back to the original, thus unanswered question...

Does anybody know how to extract the mp3 audio from a .mov container (it's not even a movie!) without transcoding/re-encoding and degrading the already compressed audio further?

[pixel zombie]

it is a movie even if it doesn't have video footage, that's how itunes sees it even if you rename it to tabla_solo.mp3...you could extract it from within QT but there is no option under the export or save as menu to save as an mp3, you could export as a wav or aiff file which is uncompressed..what are you trying to do exactly?

[ffooky]

You might want to try VLC's Streaming/Exporting Wizard and set it not to transcode.

[Danteism]

You might want to try VLC's Streaming/Exporting Wizard and set it not to transcode.

That was a great idea I hadn't yet tried ffooky. Unfortunately when you get to the wizard's Encapsulation Format screen mp3 is not an available option.

you could extract it from within QT but there is no option under the export or save as menu to save as an mp3, you could export as a wav or aiff file which is uncompressed

Already found all that out myself pixel zombie, which is what led me here to ask questions in the first place.

what are you trying to do exactly?

Thought I made that super clear by now... lol

I want to extract the mp3 audio from a .mov container and finish with an mp3 audio file WITHOUT re-encoding/transcoding or further degrading the audio.

Having an uncompressed wav or aiff file will unnecessarily inflate the file size which is just silly given the audio is only 128 kbps mp3 to begin with.


Sooooo... anyone?

How do we extract the mp3 audio from a .mov container without transcoding/re-encoding?

[ffooky]

Sorry, couldn't remember VLC's container options but never mind.

In that case, avidemux will do what you want. I tend to use the GTK interface which is a wee bit clunky but I just checked and you can definitely save an MP3 audio track as a standalone, unreencoded file.

[tomlee59]

I don't know how to do this on a Mac, but years ago on Windows there was a utility called 3ivx direct show media splitter, or some such name, that could unwrap QT containers and leave you with the individual streams.

Perhaps MPEGStreamclip on the Mac can do this as well (it does so many other useful things, perhaps this is among them), but I've not tried it, so I don't know for sure. At least Streamclip is free (and you should have it anyway, for the other things it does), so there's no loss in trying.

Edit: Wrote this while ffooky was posting. His suggestion sounds pretty good -- try that first!

[Danteism]

avidemux will do what you want. I tend to use the GTK interface which is a wee bit clunky but I just checked and you can definitely save an MP3 audio track as a standalone, unreencoded file.

Okay, I'm completely new to avidemux, so I may just be missing something basic here but...

1st I tried the GTK Quartz version... crashes on start. Can't even open the app.

Then tried the QT4 version... app opens but won't open these mov files. "attempt to open xxx failed" then "could not open the file".

Didn't try the GTK X11 version as I don't have X11 installed.

I'm using a PPC 1.8 flat screen iMac running Leopard 10.5.2, but since all of the above are supposedly universal I don't see why that should be a problem.

As for mpegstreamclip... doesn't appear to be an mp3 option on it's export audio menu.

[Danteism]

Huzzah!

Looks like I finally found at least one solution...

1) change .mov extension to .mp3

2) open in MP3Trimmer

3) "save trim selection" without changing anything else

Voila! mp3 file on the desktop that is now recognized by all mp3 compatible apps.

Since MP3Trimmer's main claim to fame is editing without re-encoding, I'm assuming
this is an entirely unaltered audio file. (apart from the container change)

[pixel zombie]

i'd say rename the file and be done with it, all the audio apps i have see it as if it were an mp3...

[rumplestiltskin]

i'd say rename the file and be done with it, all the audio apps i have see it as if it were an mp3...

Yep; once I tried the renaming, that was all it needed. The audio contained therein is mp3 so the renaming seems to do the trick. Nice, simple suggestion.

[albloom]

I give up, how do you download those puppies. I click the download arrow, and get Error -43 no matter what I use.

That said, if you can read the file in QuickTime, go to Window/Properties.
Hi-lite the audio track. Click the "extract" button. Then export to the same audio format.

Who knows? Might work.

[terryj]

Your gonna kick yourself...
here's what I did....

in Quicktime Pro, you:

1. Open the .mov in quicktime, and under movie Properties,
select the .mp3 track, and click the extract button.

2. with the .mp3 track exported and selected, I then hit copy
to copy to the clipboard.

3. I then opened up Amadeus II, it opens a new blank file by default,
and i then pasted in from the clipboard. I then saved as .mp3.
No re-encoding happened, the file saved very quickly.

You were almost there, it's just that QT /QT Pro cannot encode
to mp3 audio by itself, it needs to use another app to do so.
I had no loss in quality from original to mp3.

[mastmake]

1. Open Your Video File With "Quick Time Pro 7"

2. Go to "Window"

3. To "Show Movie Properties"

4. Choose "Sound Track"

5. Press "Extract" (Choose the Untitled Track)

6. Go to "File"

7. Press "Save As" [Choose name for the file and (.m4a) (.mp3) (.mp4)] (It is depend on what FORMAT your original audio track).
For Example: MyLovelyMusic.m4a MyLovelyMusic.mp3 MyLovelyMusic.mp4

8. SAVE
(It will write: You cannot save this document with extension "...." at the end of the name. The required extansion is "mov".)

9. Choose "Use Both" MyLovelyMusic.m4a.mov

10. Got To Saved File MyLovelyMusic.m4a.mov and delete only a "MOV"

11. Try on iTunes.

(One problem, the artwork is not staying on file, but the format is the same).


Good day.

Sam.