QuickTime is Apple's media technology, and the files it produces carry a .mov extension (older ones use .qt). Strictly speaking QuickTime is the framework and .mov is its container format — the QuickTime File Format, which is the direct ancestor of MP4, which is why .mov and .mp4 look so similar inside. In everyday terms, though, a "QuickTime file" just means a .mov: a screen recording, an audio recording, or a webcam clip made with QuickTime Player on a Mac, or a movie someone sent you. Converting QuickTime to MP3 means pulling out the AAC audio track and re-encoding it so it plays anywhere.
There's a second, very common reason people search for this: Windows. Apple discontinued QuickTime for Windows in April 2016, and US-CERT issued alert TA16-105A warning of unpatched remote-code-execution vulnerabilities and advising everyone to uninstall it. Apple pulled the download and never shipped a fix, so on Windows you can no longer safely open a QuickTime file with the official player at all. This converter runs entirely in your browser — no QuickTime install, no plugin, on Windows or Mac — and the file never leaves your device.
QuickTime files come in two flavours that people often confuse. A modern .mov from an iPhone, a macOS screen recording, or QuickTime Player 10 is really an ISO base media file — structurally a cousin of MP4, which is why it runs on our fast streaming engine. An old .qt from QuickTime 6 or 7 can carry legacy video codecs (Cinepak, Animation, Sorenson) next to uncompressed PCM audio, and those are handled by the FFmpeg WebAssembly path instead. Both land in the same place: an MP3 of the soundtrack.
If you are archiving old QuickTime material, the practical question is what the audio track already is. When it is PCM the export is clean and the only decision is bitrate. When it is already AAC or MP3 from an earlier encode, exporting to MP3 is a second lossy pass — fine for speech, worth avoiding for music you intend to keep. To check before you spend time, run ffprobe -v error -select_streams a:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name,sample_rate,channels -of default=nw=1 file.mov or open the file in MediaInfo and read the audio line.
Common scenarios
When to convert QuickTime to MP3
QuickTime screen recordings
A QuickTime Player screen recording (or the Cmd+Shift+5 toolbar, which is the same thing since Big Sur) saves a .mov with AAC audio. Keep just the narration for a tutorial, walkthrough, or gameplay commentary.
QuickTime audio recordings
New Audio Recording in QuickTime Player saves a .m4a with AAC audio. Convert it to MP3 to hand off a voice memo, interview, or podcast take to someone who wants a universal file.
Webcam movie recordings
New Movie Recording captures your camera to a .mov. Pull out the audio-only version for transcription or a quick voiceover.
Old .qt files from the QuickTime era
The .qt extension is the legacy name for the same format, mostly seen on files from the 1990s and early 2000s. They convert to a modern MP3 just like any .mov.
Under the hood
How the conversion works
What QuickTime Player actually records
Screen and movie recordings save as .mov with H.264 or HEVC video (Apple Silicon Macs default to HEVC) plus AAC audio; New Audio Recording saves a .m4a with AAC. In every case the audio is AAC, which is what we extract and re-encode — the video codec makes no difference to the MP3 you get out.
QuickTime, .mov and .qt are the same format
QuickTime is Apple's multimedia framework; .mov is the file extension of its container (the QuickTime File Format), and .qt is the older extension for the exact same thing. This tool treats .mov and .qt identically. Because QTFF is the basis MP4 was built on, converting either is essentially the same job under the hood.
No QuickTime Player, nothing uploaded
The conversion runs as WebAssembly inside your browser, so there is no QuickTime Player dependency and no server. That matters most on Windows, where the official QuickTime player has been discontinued and insecure since 2016 — here you get the audio out without installing anything, and the recording stays on your machine.
How to tell a .mov from a .qt before you convert
On macOS, select the file and press Command-I: the "Kind" line and the codec list under "More Info" tell you what is inside. On Windows, MediaInfo's tree view shows the audio format on the first expand. If the audio line says PCM, the file is already uncompressed and an MP3 export will be as good as MP3 gets. If it says AAC or MPEG Audio, you are re-encoding an encode.
Screen recordings vs camera files
macOS screen recordings, QuickTime Player movie recordings, ScreenFlow and Camtasia exports all write AAC audio at 44.1 or 48 kHz. Camera and iPhone files usually write AAC at 48 kHz stereo. Nothing about the video codec affects the MP3 — we discard the video stream without decoding it, so conversion time follows the length of the audio, not the resolution.
Why old .qt files sometimes take longer
Files that need the FFmpeg path download a roughly 30 MB WebAssembly module on first use and then decode in a 32-bit memory space. That is slower to start than the native WebCodecs path and has a hard ceiling on how much it can hold at once. For a long legacy QuickTime capture, trim it locally with a desktop tool first, or export the audio with ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:a aac -b:a 192k -vn audio.m4a and convert that small file here.
What QuickTime Player records, and the best MP3 setting for each
QuickTime Player's three recording modes produce different files, but all of them use lossy AAC audio — so each converts cleanly to MP3. Because the source is already AAC, going to MP3 is a second lossy pass; export WAV or FLAC if you'd rather not re-compress.
| QuickTime Player mode | File you get | Audio inside | Suggested output |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Screen Recording | .mov | AAC (with H.264 or HEVC video) | MP3 192 kbps for narration |
| New Movie Recording (camera) | .mov | AAC (with H.264 or HEVC video) | MP3 192 kbps |
| New Audio Recording | .m4a | AAC, audio only | MP3 320 kbps, or WAV/FLAC to keep it clean |
| Older QuickTime file | .qt | Usually AAC | MP3, exactly like a .mov |
How to
Step by step
clip.mov
Output: MP3 · Standard · 192 kbps
OptionsConversion runs locally · this tab stays online during processing.
Extract audio- 1
Drop your QuickTime file
Drag in the .mov, .qt, or .m4a from a QuickTime recording. Everything is processed locally — no QuickTime Player, no upload.
- 2
Pick your format and bitrate
MP3 at 192 kbps is plenty for screen-recording narration; use 320 kbps for music. Choose WAV or FLAC if you want to avoid re-compressing the AAC audio.
- 3
Preview, then trim if you want a clip
Play the extracted audio and drag across the waveform to keep only a section — for example, one segment of a long screen recording.
- 4
Download the audio
Click download and the file lands in your Downloads folder. Re-export the same recording to another format without reloading it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do I need QuickTime Player installed?
No. The conversion runs in your browser, so no QuickTime Player, plugin, or codec pack is required. This is the point on Windows, where the official player no longer exists.
Can I do this on Windows?
Yes, that's a main use case. Apple discontinued QuickTime for Windows in 2016 after US-CERT warned it had unpatched security holes and told people to uninstall it. Since this tool is browser-based, you can convert QuickTime files to MP3 on Windows without installing anything.
How do I convert a QuickTime screen recording to MP3?
Drag the .mov screen recording onto the page and choose MP3. We discard the video and keep only the AAC audio track, so you end up with just the narration or system sound as an MP3.
My QuickTime audio recording is a .m4a, not a .mov. Will it work?
Yes. New Audio Recording in QuickTime Player saves .m4a (AAC), and this tool converts it to MP3 the same way it handles a .mov.
What's the difference between .mov and .qt?
None that matters here — they're the same QuickTime File Format. .qt is the old extension, mostly on files from the 1990s and early 2000s; .mov is the modern one. Both convert identically.
Will converting to MP3 lose quality?
A little, to be honest: QuickTime recordings are already lossy AAC, and MP3 is a second lossy pass. At 192 kbps or higher the difference is hard to hear. If you want to avoid re-compressing at all, export to WAV or FLAC instead.
Does my recording get uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is decoded and the MP3 encoded entirely inside your browser, so a QuickTime recording — which might be a private screen capture — never touches a server.
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.
Is it free?
Yes — no sign-up, no watermark, no paywall. Every bitrate and output format is available to everyone.
Is a .mov the same thing as a .qt?
Structurally, yes — both are QuickTime containers and the extension is mostly cosmetic. In practice .qt usually signals an older file, sometimes written by QuickTime 6 or 7 on macOS 9 or early macOS X, which is more likely to carry legacy codecs. Either extension works in this converter.
My QuickTime file has PCM audio. Does converting to MP3 lose anything?
Yes, by design — MP3 is lossy and PCM is not. What you get is a file roughly one tenth the size that sounds the same to most listeners. If the point is preservation rather than portability, export WAV or FLAC instead and keep the MP3 only as a listening copy.
Can I convert QuickTime files on Windows?
Yes. The conversion happens in the browser, so the operating system is irrelevant — only the browser matters. Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox current versions all work. QuickTime itself does not need to be installed.
The file was created by QuickTime 7 with an Animation codec. Will it work?
Usually, through the FFmpeg fallback. The Animation and Cinepak video codecs are unknown to WebCodecs but are handled by FFmpeg, and the video stream is discarded anyway, so only the audio codec has to be understood. Uncompressed PCM and AAC are both fine; anything exotic will report a failure rather than produce a broken file.
How much smaller will the MP3 be than the QuickTime file?
Dramatically, because the video stream dominated the original size. A 2 GB QuickTime screen recording with a 40-minute soundtrack becomes about 38 MB at 128 kbps or 58 MB at 192 kbps. The maths is constant-bitrate: minutes times 0.96 MB at 128 k, 1.44 MB at 192 k, 2.4 MB at 320 k.
Why does my old .qt fail with an audio codec error?
Some legacy QuickTime files use Qualcomm PureVoice, QDesign, or IMA4 ADPCM audio. Browsers cannot decode these, and not every FFmpeg build ships every legacy decoder. Convert the audio locally first: ffmpeg -i input.qt -c:a aac -b:a 192k -vn audio.m4a, then drop that file here.
See also
Related converters