How to Rip Audio Files from Videos using VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is not just a media player, but a complete program. What I want to introduce you in this post is how VLC convert FLV, AVI, and other video files to MP3 format with simple steps. And it is quite useful when creating unique media files for applications when MP3 files need to be created by extracted audio from video files.

Go to Media > Convert/Save. This opens the dialog box in which the file to be converted can be easily selected. Notice that the media can be converted from a hard drive file, network, removable media, or a Capture Device. Select that command, and VLC will happily prepare to rip the audio from the video, such as PVR to MP3.

Click “Add” to select the desired file that needs to be converted, then hit click Convert/Save as the next step. In the pop-up dialog box, choose the Stream Output. It may be necessary to create and name a new file. Well, you’d better do that so it can be easily found later or if multiple files need to be converted. The file will be saved with the filename with a “.ps” extension. Just substitute the “.ps” extension with an “.mp3” extension is OK.

Note that you can enter the name plus the .mp3 file extension so that .ps is not appended automatically. It is recommended to to that. Go to the Settings section of the Convert dialog box to open the Profile drop down menu. Here, the format can be selected. In this case, the desired format is MP3. Select MP3 encoding.

The final step, press Start and allow the data to stream then save. The MP3 file can now be opened and used as seen fit.

Actually, you can also extract audios from YouTube or Vimeo videos by converting YouTube/Vimeo to MP3 by VLC in the same way mentioned above. What you only need to do is to download the videos, and drag them to VLC in the right form. If the downloaded videos’ cannot be opened by VLC, you can try Doremisoft Video Converter (Video Converter for Mac) which can also help you conduct the conversion perfectly.

In addition, the iTunes can also enable users to convert songs in the iTunes library to another format. The converting will generate a copy of the audio in the format you’ve chosen, which gives you the alternative to either keep or delete the original file. When you convert an audio from a compressed to uncompressed one (for example, from MP3 to AIFF) you wouldn't notice any reduction in sound quality. However, while converting from an uncompressed to compressed format (eg. from AIFF to MP3, AIff to AAC), you should note that it will inevitably lose the sound quality.

Know More about the Online Video Sharing Sites

Do you know YouTube and Vimeo? OK, I know I was asking a silly question just now. Forgive me! YouTube and Vimeo are so popular worldwide now! But as we are talking about YouTube and Vimeo here, it’d be better to list some basic knowledge, wouldn’t it?

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, VEVO, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos. ---from Wikipedia

Vimeo, like YouTube, is a popular video sharing website, providing many high-quality videos available for viewing online. Of course, users are also allowed to download Vimeo videos for enjoying yourself and your family together offline. It is a U.S.-based video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. It was founded by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein in November 2004. They left the company in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The name Vimeo was created by Lodwick and is a play on the word video, inserting the word "me" as a reference to the site's dedication to user-made video and is also an anagram of the word "movie". ---also refers to Wikipedia

Many people share their wonderful video clips on YouTube, but videos have to be converted to the supported format first. Meanwhile, YouTube videos can be viewed on computers or portable devices connected to the internet, and we can even personalize our own homepage for the site to remember our personal preferences. Well are these all the good stuffs of them? Do you want to enjoy more from YouTube and Vimeo, like downloading YouTube/Vimeo videos to their PC or MAC or transfer them to their iPhones, iPads, etc. for enjoyment? Watching them when you are not near an internet connection, like on a bus or a train? Or transferring Vimeo, YouTube to iTunes? How about to import the videos from Vimeo/YouTube to Windows Movie Maker for a DIY editing? OK, if you’ve already been imaging that alongside my words, you should continue reading this page.

If you want to enjoy more from YouTube and Vimeo like what I said above, one thing you should keep in mind. That is YouTube and Vimeo videos are mostly in FLV format, which will not be recognized by the majority of devices and applications, including iTunes and Windows Movie Maker. In this circumstance, you will need to use a third-party YouTube/Vimeo Video Converter to help you finish this task. Personally speaking, I would prefer Doremisoft Video Converter (Video Converter for Mac) for the perfect conversion rate.

Moreover, some online sharing sites are applied with the HTML 5 standard, which will adopt videos in WebM format. WebM is not a commonly used file format, so it is also not accepted by most players and apps. But with the help ofthe converter mentioned above, you can help you convert WebM to other popular formats like converting WebM to FLV.