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I have a number of sound-only .mov files that I need in an audio format, preferably .wav or .ogg. What are the options to achieve this conversion on a Mac?

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QuickTime Pro can export the audio from a .mov file. I know it can export as .wav, maybe .mp3 as well.

You can also use VLC to export the audio from a .mov file on OS X. These directions reference the Windows version of VLC but should get you pretty close to how to do it on OS X.

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Opening the MOV directly with Audacity worked fine for me. Also, I wanted to have that audio on Audacity for some processing, so it was just about ideal.

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Check out Fission by Rogue Amoeba, a lossless editor as well as converter. It's shareware.

I just tested it on a MOV file, and it saved the audio as ogg with no problem. (I checked the ogg audio with VLC, and could hear no difference from the original MOV.)

I also checked two of the free alternatives (XLD and Max), but they choked on the input format. There are probably others, and one may work. But Fission definitely works.

[Followup - IanC has it. VLC will export to ogg.]

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  • Thanks for the suggestion and for testing it. However, given that I had VLC installed already, so I tried it first. Since that worked fine, Fission's note on the download page stating "Before purchase, audio saved with Fission will be degraded with a series of audio fades." did not seem particularly inviting, so I did not try it. Sep 19, 2010 at 12:50
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MediaCoder Media transcoder, it can extract audio from a video file, and can make a number of conversions, it will also run on a mac (sort of, but has decent support to make it work).

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  • Thanks - this seems to be an interesting option for the long run. Will keep it in mind for upcoming file conversions, but did not try it this time. Sep 19, 2010 at 12:53
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GarageBand also works for pulling the audio out of a .mov file. You have to create a movie project, which then displays the audio beneath the video track. In the Track menu, you select the option to Hide Video Track. I think the keyboard shortcut is Option + Command + B. This removes the video and changes the project into a regular audio project, and you can export the song to iTunes, etc. I'm using GarageBand '11 (6.0.5), so depending on your version, the option might not be there. I don't know which version was the first one to include support for video projects.

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How to convert a .mov file to an audio file:

  • open the file in QuickTime Player
  • go to File > Export…
  • for Format, select "Audio Only"

Then you can convert it to MP3 in iTunes

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