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I'm looking for (preferably free) software for Windows 7 that will allow me to fix an AVI file that has audio out of sync with the video. I tried with Windows Live Movie Maker and VirtualDub and couldn't find out how to do it (if at all possible) on both of them. If any of those can help me, instructions for that would also be nice.

Background: I have a RCA-to-USB capture card, which I'm using to transfer VHS casettes and stuff from a video camera to digital format. The problem is that the audio comes out heavily distorted. So instead I connected the audio out from the VCR directly to the computer's line in. This works, but the audio is out of sync, about half a second behind the video. I could spend time trying to fix this issuee, but I think it'll be easier to simply fix the video.

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  • We need a bit more information: what container format are you using (.avi, .mkv, other)?
    – Lukasa
    May 19, 2011 at 20:28
  • If the RCA to USB capture card doesn't work, I'd get a different device. Hauppauge is the standard manufacture for quality recording devices. hauppauge.com
    – Doltknuckle
    May 19, 2011 at 20:37
  • @Lukasa: updated the question; these are AVI files.
    – Javier
    May 19, 2011 at 20:37
  • @Doltknuckle: It does work, it just has this minor issue.
    – Javier
    May 19, 2011 at 20:38
  • Audio is part of the recording process. If the captured audio is distorted there is something wrong with the device. Your solution to avoid that faulty part of the recorder is to use a completely different capture device (computer line in port). Just because you found a way to get a working recording system, doesn't mean the hardware is working properly. I'm glad that you found a way to make this work. If you plan to do this a lot, I would recommend that you get properly functioning equipment so you don't have to find these workarounds. If this is the only time you will use it, don't bother.
    – Doltknuckle
    May 19, 2011 at 20:49

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
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EDIT: These instructions apply for VirtualDub v1.8.11 and VLC v1.1.9.

VirtualDub is definitely the correct choice of program for AVI files. I'll walk you through it.

Run VirtualDub by going to the folder where you saved it and running VirtualDub.exe.

Head to File > Open Video File, and select the AVI file from the file browser, and select Open.

Next, go to the Video drop-down menu, and select Direct Stream Copy (we don't want to re-encode what will be an already pretty poor quality stream).

Next, go to the Audio drop-down menu, and select Direct Stream Copy (with the same rationale as above).

Next, go to Audio > Interleaving. This will bring up a dialog box. Note the box with the label Delay audio track by...

Change the value in this box. If you want to get a good idea of what value to change it to, either keep changing it in VirtualDub and checking the result, or do it in VLC. You can change the audio timings on the fly in VLC by playing the video and then hitting J to reduce the audio offset, and K to increase it. Note the value where they appear to sync up, and then use that in VirtualDub. If you can't get them close enough, you can get more finely-grained control by, still in VLC, going to Tools > Track Synchronization. You can then adjust Advance of audio over video until you sync them up, and then use that value in VirtualDub.

Once done, go to File > Save as AVI, and enter the name you want for the file.

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  • If you can't find these for any reason, let me know and I'll post some screenshots with the route highlighted. It'll take a little bit though.
    – Lukasa
    May 19, 2011 at 20:54
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Found an easier and cheaper way!

  1. Open the movie in Real Player.
  2. Open the "Convert to" and convert the video to WMA (Windows Media Audio).
  3. Open Window Movie Maker and import video.
  4. Mute the volume.
  5. Import the WMA file from Step 3.
  6. Adjust the Start point for the music so that it is correct.
  7. Save the movie again.
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I used YAII to sync audio/video on an AVI file recently - it's pretty easy, you just open the file and head to the Audio sync tab and you can adjust the frame rate (for gradual out-of-sync) or the delay (for constant out-of-sync), then close the app and it'll prompt you whether you want to keep your settings or not.

And best of all, it's free :)

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Avidemux tool available for Windows, Linux, Mac

Very detailed steps to fix the video/audio out of sync, are given below,

https://www.hecticgeek.com/fix-audio-video-sync-save-permanently-avidemux/

Ubuntu:

sudo aptitude install avidemux

Ubuntu(tar.gz), Windows (exe), Max (dmg) Download links are available here,

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You can use audacity to turn the audio from mono to stereo and then you can use Movie maker to add in the audio as a music track. Mute the video track and make sure the music track is at the right volume. From there, you just have to mess with the Start time to sync up the sound.

One good trick to allow you to do this is to add a 10sec dead space at the start of your recording that you can trim off as needed.

There are free video editors out there, but I have never had any luck with getting something of a decent quality out of them. On windows, movie maker is the "best" free one since it is so easy to get and use. I'm sure there are better ones out there, I use Sony movie studio and it works great for under $100.

[EDIT]

The easiest way to separate the audio is to do it at the time of recording. If your video editing suite doesn't allow it, you'll have to use another program. I normally use sony movie studio to do this, but you can apparently use VLC (free) to accomplish this. Here's a random blog post that I found about this.

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/1266-extracting-the-sound-from-a-video-with-vlc

[END EDIT]

Hope this helps

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  • Is there any way to "extract" the audio from the video file so I don't have to record it all over again?
    – Javier
    May 19, 2011 at 20:38
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Here is another good pictorial addressing audio-resync with other file-formats as well Fixing Audio-Video Sync And Saving The Results

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  • External links can break, in which case your answer would not be useful. Please include the essential information within your answer and use the link for attribution and further reading. Thanks.
    – fixer1234
    Oct 5, 2015 at 7:47

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