How to Extract Audio from a Video on iPhone

You filmed a voice memo as a video, or someone played a song and you want just the sound, or you sat through a lecture and don’t need the picture, but your iPhone only gives you video-editing apps built for trimming clips, not pulling audio out of them.

Grabio’s “Extract audio (M4A)” tool does exactly that from your iPhone’s share sheet: on-device, free, and with no App Store app to download. To record sound only in the first place, see how to record audio on iPhone.

Why you can’t just get the audio off an iPhone video

The Photos app and stock Files app don’t have an “export audio only” option anywhere in their share sheets, you can trim a video, mute it, or send the whole file, but there’s no built-in path to a standalone audio file. iMovie can do it, but that means opening a full video editor, building a project, and exporting just to get a sound file.

If the video is a voiceover you recorded, a song someone played nearby, or a lecture you filmed, all you actually want is the M4A underneath it.

There is also a separate guide: Make a Ringtone on iPhone From Any Song or Video.

How to extract audio from a video on iPhone with Grabio

1. Add Grabio to your iPhone once, it’s a free Apple Shortcut. Get the free Shortcut here and it’s ready in a few seconds.
2. Open the video in your Photos app (or Files app) and tap the Share button.
3. Scroll down the share sheet and tap Grabio.
4. Tap Extract audio (M4A) from the Grabio menu.
5. Choose where to save in the Files save dialog that appears, then Grabio shows a confirmation alert that the file is saved to Files.

Is it private and free on iPhone?

Grabio runs Apple’s own encodeAudio action directly on your iPhone, so the video is not uploaded to a server for this step. It’s free: no account, no login, and no daily limit on how many times you use it.

M4A or MP3: which one do you need

Extract audio gives you M4A, and an iPhone plays it without help. MP3 is also on Apple’s playback list, so you do not need to convert unless something outside your iPhone asks for MP3.

The Library of Congress says AAC, the usual content of an M4A, is significantly better than MP3 at a given data rate, but it shows no test, so treat that as a direction. The full comparison is in MP3 vs M4A on iPhone.

If you do need MP3: save the M4A to Files first, then share it to Grabio and choose Audio → MP3 (open VERT). That opens VERT, a conversion site, where you pick the file, choose MP3 and convert. It is a second step on a website, not an on-device one.

Extract audio from video on iPhone: FAQ

What file format do I get?

Grabio saves the extracted audio as an M4A file, which plays natively in the Files app, Music, and virtually every iPhone audio app without conversion.

Does it work on Live Photos?

Not directly. A Live Photo is a photo with a short clip attached, not a standard video file. Turn it into a video first: Apple says to open the Live Photo in Photos, tap the More button, then choose Save as Video (Apple, published 25 Feb 2025). Then share that video to Grabio and choose Extract audio (M4A).

Is there a length limit on the video?

Grabio sets no length limit of its own. The encoding runs on your iPhone with Apple’s audio encoder, so very long files depend on your phone’s free space and memory. I have not tested the upper end, so for a multi-hour recording try a short section first.

Related on iPhone: convert an audio file to M4A, trim a video, download the audio of a YouTube video, or Video & Audio Tools.

Most of the video you will be working with here started as a download in the first place, see the full video downloader for iPhone comparison if you still need to pull the source clip.