How to get the audio from a screen recording

Can you get the sound back from a screen recording?

Yes, if the recording has sound in it: whatever the phone or computer captured while recording is in the video file, and Extractune saves it as an audio file. Play the recording first. If you hear it, you can extract it.

If the recording is silent, the sound was never captured, and no tool can bring it back. That happens when the microphone or device audio was off, or when the app you recorded keeps its sound out of recordings, as many streaming apps do. Turn the right sound on and record again.

First, make sure the recording has sound

On iPhone, long-press the screen recording button in Control Center and check the microphone setting; system sound is recorded by default in most apps, but some apps block it. On Android, the screen recorder asks whether to record media sound, the microphone, or both. On a computer, many recorders capture the microphone only unless you choose system audio.

If a recording has no sound at all, Extractune tells you straight away, instead of handing you a silent file.

Where your screen recordings are

iPhone: in Photos, as MOV videos. Android: usually in your gallery, in a Screen recordings album, as MP4. Mac: the Screenshot toolbar saves MOV files to the Desktop unless you picked another folder. Windows: the Xbox Game Bar saves MP4s to Videos, in Captures. Recording apps like OBS often save MKV or MP4. All of these work.

Turn a screen recording into an audio file, step by step

1. 1Open extractune.com/extract in your browser: Safari on iPhone, Chrome on Android, any recent browser on a computer. There's no app to install.
2. 2Tap Choose a file and pick the screen recording, up to 500MB and 20 minutes. It opens with its video, ready to play.
3. 3Drag the two handles under the video to keep only the part you need; the times show as you drag.
4. 4Tap Extract audio. Only the stretch between the handles comes out.
5. 5Tap Download MP3 at the top of the studio. For WAV or WebM, pick it on the Convert tab first.

Keep just the part you want

Recordings often start with you opening the app and end with you stopping the recorder. The trim under the video shows the whole recording, with a handle at each end: drag them in, and only that stretch is extracted. It's the same on a phone and a computer.

Need another part of the same recording? After extracting, tap Extract another and choose another part of the same video, without picking the file again.

Which format to pick

MP3 if you just want to listen or share: it plays on anything. WAV if you'll edit the audio in a music or video app, since it isn't compressed again. WebM is the original extract, the smallest and quickest to save, and fine for most modern players. Here is how big each one is:

Where the file goes

On iPhone, downloads land in the Files app, in Downloads. On Android, in your Downloads folder. On a computer, wherever your browser saves downloads.

To find it again later on a phone, open the Files app (on Android it may be called Files or My Files) and look under Recents or Downloads. From there you can share it with the share button, send it in a chat, or move it into a folder of your own so it doesn't get lost among other downloads.

Your voice and the app's sound together

A screen recording with the microphone on holds both sounds in one track: your voice and whatever the app played. Extracting gives you that same mix. If you want them apart, for example your commentary without the game music, or a song without you talking over it, split the extracted audio into voice and music (below). The split works on the mix, so it does best when the two are clearly different, like speech over music, and can't pull apart two people talking. Splitting runs on your device too, so nothing is uploaded for it.

On a computer

On a Mac, Shift-Command-5 opens the Screenshot toolbar, whose Options menu is where you choose a microphone before you record. On Windows, the Xbox Game Bar records with Windows key + Alt + R and saves to Videos, in Captures. Either way, open extractune.com/extract in Chrome, Edge or Safari and drop the recording straight onto the page; the trim under the video makes trimming to the exact second easy with a mouse.

If something doesn't work

This video doesn't have an audio track to extract: the recording has no sound at all. See the first section above for how to record with sound.

That file is over the 500MB limit, or longer than the 20-minute limit: long screen recordings get big quickly. Trim the recording in your phone's Photos app first, or record a shorter stretch.

Couldn't read this file from your device: the recording is stored in the cloud, like Google Photos or iCloud. Download it to your phone first, then pick it again.

The sound is there but faint, or only your voice: the recording captured the microphone but not the device's own sound, or the other way round. Check the recorder's sound setting and record again.

Only want the voice, or only the music?

After extracting, tap Split voice & music to separate the voice from the music, up to 10 minutes at a time where the browser can use the graphics chip, on your device. Keep just the voice of a call you recorded, or just the song playing under it. A split takes a while on a phone: about four and a half minutes for three minutes of sound, on average, on visitors' phones with a graphics chip.

Want the words instead?

Tap Get the words to get a transcript you can copy, and subtitles. This is the one feature that sends audio out: the compressed audio (never the video) goes to be transcribed, and a 20-second clip to check whether it's a known song. Nothing is kept afterwards.

A note on what you record

Only record and reuse what you have the right to: your own calls with the other person's permission, content you made, or material you're allowed to use.