MOV is Apple's QuickTime container, and most of the .mov files in the wild come from one of three places: iPhones, screen recordings on macOS, or video edits exported from Final Cut Pro and iMovie. Inside a .mov you'll almost always find AAC audio paired with H.264 or HEVC video — the same building blocks as MP4, just wrapped in Apple's older container format. Converting MOV to MP3 means demuxing that AAC track and re-encoding it as MP3 so it plays back on devices outside the Apple ecosystem.
AirDrop a video from your iPhone, drop it onto this page, and the conversion runs entirely in your browser. Nothing uploads, no Apple ID required, no iCloud sync. The same goes for QuickTime Player screen recordings — they save as MOV with AAC audio, and the audio comes out cleanly. iPhones and iPads can also write HEVC video in MOV; the fast engine handles that, and falls back to FFmpeg-wasm if your browser somehow can't decode it.
A MOV is Apple's branch of the same ISO container family as MP4, and it almost always holds AAC audio — including the HEVC or ProRes video that iPhone, QuickTime and screen recorders write. Because only the audio track is decoded, the video codec barely matters: a ProRes screen recording converts no slower than an HEVC clip of the same length.
Where the MOV came from changes what you get. iPhone camera video carries stereo AAC at 48 kHz, macOS screen recordings carry AAC (and silence if the microphone was never enabled), and older QuickTime exports may carry uncompressed PCM. If the file has no audio track at all, the MP3 is silent — no converter can recover audio that was never recorded.
Common scenarios
When to convert MOV to MP3
iPhone videos to MP3 ringtones
Record a vocal snippet on your iPhone, AirDrop the .mov to your Mac, convert to MP3 and trim — instant ringtone material without a paid app.
QuickTime screen recordings
Built-in macOS screen recording saves as .mov. If you only need the narration (tutorial voiceovers, gameplay commentary), strip the video out.
Final Cut / iMovie exports
Edits exported as MOV ProRes or H.264 — pull a clean audio mix for podcast distribution.
Voice memo and field recordings
Old Voice Memos saved as MOV (pre-iOS 12) or video voice memos can be converted into standard MP3 for easier sharing.
Under the hood
How the conversion works
MOV vs MP4 — what's actually different?
MOV is the older Apple QuickTime container; MP4 (ISO/IEC 14496-14) was derived from it. They share most of the structure, which is why the same codecs (H.264, HEVC, AAC) appear in both. The fast engine treats QuickTime as a first-class input — there is no slow path for normal .mov files.
HEVC and iPhone Pro footage
iPhones since the iPhone X often record in HEVC (H.265) inside a MOV container. Modern browsers (Safari 17+, Chrome 107+) can decode HEVC via WebCodecs. If yours can't, the FFmpeg-wasm fallback takes over automatically.
Nothing leaves your device
There is no upload step. Your browser decodes the MOV and encodes the MP3 locally with WebAssembly, so recordings never touch a server. That means it keeps working on a plane or a locked-down network once the page has loaded, and there is no upload-imposed file-size cap — the only ceiling is your device's memory.
Not every MOV has sound
macOS and iOS screen recorders only capture audio if you enabled it. A MOV with no audio track produces a valid but silent MP3. Run ffprobe input.mov, or play the file with sound on, before you convert.
iPhone and iPad specifics
Files shared from Photos or Files behave like any other MOV. The same engine runs in mobile Safari, but phones have far less memory: files above roughly 1-2 GB often fail in a mobile browser. AirDrop large recordings to a computer.
HEVC, ProRes and Dolby Vision are irrelevant here
Those are video codecs, and the video track is discarded before decoding. 10-bit HEVC, Dolby Vision and ProRes take the same fast path as H.264. Only the audio codec decides success: AAC, MP3, ALAC and PCM are fine, AC-3 and DTS are not.
Which output format and bitrate to pick
MOV files almost always carry AAC audio. MP3 re-encodes it into a universally compatible file, WAV and FLAC keep an exact lossless copy, and M4A keeps Apple's native AAC. Sizes are approximate, per minute of audio.
| Output | Best for | Approx. size / min |
|---|---|---|
| MP3 320 kbps | Music and vocal performances where quality matters | ~2.4 MB |
| MP3 192 kbps | Interviews, podcasts and voice memos | ~1.4 MB |
| MP3 128 kbps | Plain speech and the smallest shareable file | ~1.0 MB |
| M4A (AAC) | Staying in Apple's native format; smaller than MP3 at equal quality | ~1.4 MB |
| WAV | Editing or mastering — a lossless, exact copy of the MOV audio | ~10 MB |
| FLAC | Lossless archiving at about half the size of WAV | ~5 MB |
How to
Step by step
clip.mov
Output: MP3 · Standard · 192 kbps
OptionsConversion runs locally · this tab stays online during processing.
Extract audio- 1
AirDrop or drag your .mov
AirDrop from iPhone, or drag a file from Finder. The page processes everything locally, so the upload bar you'd see on other sites never appears.
- 2
Pick your format and bitrate
MP3 at 320 kbps for music, 192 kbps for voice — or switch to WAV, FLAC or M4A from the output options if you want lossless or Apple-native audio.
- 3
Preview, then trim if you want a clip
Play the extracted audio right on the page and drag across the waveform to keep only a section — useful for ringtones or pulling one quote out of a long recording.
- 4
Download the file
Click download and the audio lands in your Downloads folder. Convert the same file to another format without re-uploading it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free, with no watermark?
Yes. There is no paywall, no sign-up and no account, and nothing is stamped onto the audio. Every bitrate and every output format is available to everyone.
Do you upload my video anywhere?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser, so the .mov never leaves your device. You can confirm it in your browser's network tab — there is no upload request.
Do I need a Mac for this to work?
No. The page runs in any modern browser — Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, even on iPad. MOV is a container, not an Apple-only file format.
My iPhone video is 4K HEVC. Will it work?
Yes. The fast engine decodes HEVC on supported browsers, and FFmpeg-wasm covers the rest. The audio track is AAC either way, so the MP3 output is unaffected by which video codec was inside.
Can I convert MOV to WAV, M4A or FLAC instead of MP3?
Yes. Open the output options and choose WAV or FLAC for a lossless copy, or M4A to keep Apple's native AAC. The table above shows which one fits your use.
Can I export just part of the audio?
Yes. Once the audio loads you can play it back and drag across the waveform to select a section, then download only that clip — handy for ringtones or a single quote from a long recording.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server limit because nothing uploads. The practical ceiling is your device's memory: multi-gigabyte 4K recordings work fine on a desktop, while very large files on an older phone may be slower.
I AirDropped from iPhone and got a HEIC-like file, not MOV. Why?
Photos AirDrop as HEIC (image) by default; videos AirDrop as MOV or MP4. If you received an image file by accident, re-share the video from the Photos app's share sheet to get a video container.
Will this strip metadata like GPS or recording date?
MP3 doesn't carry the location and timestamp metadata that MOV does, so that information doesn't transfer. Title and artist ID3 tags are not set automatically — you can edit them in any tag editor afterwards.
Does it matter that my iPhone records HEVC/H.265?
No. The video track is discarded before decoding, so HEVC, Dolby Vision and ProRes files take the same fast path as H.264. Only the audio codec affects whether the conversion succeeds.
My MOV produced a silent MP3 — what happened?
The recording has no audio track, or the microphone was muted while capturing. Check with ffprobe input.mov or by playing the file with sound on. If no audio stream exists in the container, nothing can be extracted.
Can I use this on iPhone or iPad?
Yes, in a current Safari or Chrome. Conversion runs on the device, so memory is the limit: phone browsers usually fail above about 1-2 GB. For big recordings use a laptop.
Will the MP3 keep the original 48 kHz sample rate?
MP3 output follows the source sample rate — 48 kHz for iPhone video, 44.1 kHz for most music — and we do not resample. If a platform needs a specific rate, resample afterwards in your editor.
Can I trim just one part of the recording?
Yes. After the conversion finishes, select a range on the waveform and export only that selection; the original file is not re-read from disk.
Is the file uploaded when I convert a MOV from an iPhone?
No. The MOV is read inside the browser tab and the MP3 is produced there. There is no server, so there is nothing to upload to.
See also
Related converters