Converting flv / mp4 to mp3

[jnb]

In  yet another attempt to get my head around transcribing I'm in the process of reinstalling a whole load of software. Part of what I use is a video grabber so that I can get files from you tube of songs that I am trying to transcribe (yes I know that means I haven't paid royalties and all that but I class that as educational use and therefore fair game to be used for free. I'll buy a real copy when I want a higher quality to listen to it as a performance rather than learn from it)

I used to have a piece of software on my system which converted flv and mp4 files to mp3 but I've reinstalled my windows box since then so for the life of me I can't remember what on earth it was I used. It might of course have been on my linux box so Im looking in the wrong place ... but I reinstalled that as well so it won't help much!

So ... how can I convert flv or mp4 to mp3?

[Wishbone]

JNB-

FLV Extract (freebie) to split the audio from the .FLV files, then NCH Wavepad (not a freebie) or similar to convert them into whichever format you wish.

[Scooter Trash]

I just record the audio with Audacity as the YouTube video is playing and then export it as a .WAV or .MP3

[_Avalon_]

There is online site that do the job for you, you just have to enter the url of the youtube video, and you get the mp3 :
http://youtubemp3.tv/
http://www.clipconverter.cc (this one let you choose the output format : mp3, aac ,etc)

[jnb]

There is online site that do the job for you, you just have to enter the url of the youtube video, and you get the mp3 :
http://youtubemp3.tv/
http://www.clipconverter.cc (this one let you choose the output format : mp3, aac ,etc)

First site did nothing (just sat there until I came back after about 10 minutes saying "uploading"), second site had loads of 'dating' ads (which always makes me so suspicious that I back out immediately)

[Scooter Trash]

Download and install Audacity (it's free) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 - Open audacity and click the record button.
 - Play your YouTube video and adjust the playback and record levels.
 - Click the stop button and then "edit "undo" to get rid of the audio.
 - Click the record button and play your Youtube video.
 - Click the stop button in Audacity.
 - Select: "File" "Export" and then select the folder you want to export the file to and "MP3 from the "save as type" drop-down menu.

Done!

It sounds a bit complicated but after you do it a couple times you'll find that it's simple and much faster than using the online converters. You don't have to download anything, and you don't risk infecting your computer.

 Optional:
 - Trim the beginning and end if necessary by highlighting the part you want to trim and selecting "edit" "cut" from the menu.
 - Select "effect" "normalize" to normalize the audio level. (I usually normalize to -3 because I often import the audio into my DAW.)

 *note: You may have to make sure that your computers sound card is set as the default input device.

[jnb]

JNB-

FLV Extract (freebie) to split the audio from the .FLV files, then NCH Wavepad (not a freebie) or similar to convert them into whichever format you wish.

Just installed audacity. I've always been using this on my linux box and never thought to look for a windows version or to use it to get the audio from videos (doh!) Ta for reminding me

[_Avalon_]

First site did nothing (just sat there until I came back after about 10 minutes saying "uploading"), second site had loads of 'dating' ads (which always makes me so suspicious that I back out immediately)

Tested both, and they work well for me... And for the ads, I don't know, with AdBlock, I don't see any.

Audacity is a good alternative though. On my mac, I use Garageband to extract the audio, so it's fairly the same.

[jacksroadhouse]

Sorry guys, but recording the audio via Audacity and exporting it from there doesn't sound like a good idea to me. The sound in these videos is crappy enough without getting the soundcard involved in the conversion imvho /unless I'm missing something here). At any rate, there are easier ways to do this.

For stuff you only have as MP4 or FLV files, check out
http://www.pazera-software.com/
There are lots of tools there. I usually use there ffmpeg, which I believe is part of the free audio extractor. It's described as video conversion, but it does MP3 just fine and it reads pretty much everything.

Even easier when it comes to YT and some other websites: get Firefox and use an add-on. There are several, just search for "youtube mp3" and see which one you like. They will add either a toolbar symbol or a link within the YT page to download the sound part of a video as MP3. I have a dim memory that even the infamous "Download Helper" add-on can do this, but I never tried it.

Cheers

Jack

[jnb]

Sorry guys, but recording the audio via Audacity and exporting it from there doesn't sound like a good idea to me. The sound in these videos is crappy enough without getting the soundcard involved in the conversion imvho /unless I'm missing something here).

True, but if the sound in the video is poor enough then any further degradation added by the sound card is negligible and, on the basis of the sample of one I tried last night, perfectly acceptable for something that's just for transcribing use.

Even easier when it comes to YT and some other websites: get Firefox and use an add-on. There are several, just search for "youtube mp3" and see which one you like. They will add either a toolbar symbol or a link within the YT page to download the sound part of a video as MP3. I have a dim memory that even the infamous "Download Helper" add-on can do this, but I never tried it.

That's where I got the flv / mp4 files in the first place. Download helper can do an mp3 conversion but it requires an extra add in and I've had problems getting that to run stably in firefox, though that might have been due to a thousand and one other bolt ins and developer tools etc. I have in my firefox environment.

[jnb]

For stuff you only have as MP4 or FLV files, check out
http://www.pazera-software.com/
There are lots of tools there. I usually use there ffmpeg, which I believe is part of the free audio extractor. It's described as video conversion, but it does MP3 just fine and it reads pretty much everything.

Just to add that I just looked at that and I there is some good stuff there (and it doesn't offer to install search bar helpers and god knows what else which a lot of the others seemed to want to do). Ta for the link.

I reckon I'll go with download helper / pazera to get the audio and audacity to manage it when it needs a bit of editting (ie when download helper grabs a advert at the same time)

[jacksroadhouse]

Sound plan You may want to check out the "download as mp3" addons as well. I used to use a really nice one, but I can't really recall the name. Nowadays I just use Pazera. Made myself a little batch-file and put it in the "open with" context menu.