Convert WebM to MP3
Drop a WebM, such as a video saved from the web, a screen recording, or a voice recorded in a browser, and get its sound back as an MP3 that every phone, car, and music app plays. Pick a bitrate and the MP3 is made again, with its size shown before you download it.
Play or drag the video to a moment, then press Set from video to use that time as the start or the end. Times can be typed too.
The result appears here once a video is open.
How to use it#
- Drop a WebM onto the box above, or click it to choose one. A WebM holding sound alone works too.
- Pick a bitrate. 192 kbps suits most music and speech.
- To keep only part of the sound, set the start and end, typed or taken from the preview with Set from video.
- Play the MP3 in the preview, then download it.
What happens to the sound#
A WebM holds its sound as Opus or, in older files, Vorbis. Neither can go into an MP3 as it is, so the sound is decoded and encoded again as MP3 with LAME, the long-established MP3 encoder, which runs inside this tab. The picture is never decoded, so the time goes on the sound alone.
Each re-encode loses a little, which at 192 kbps and above is very hard to hear. Opus is an efficient format, so a WebM often sounds better than its size suggests, and the MP3 comes out larger than the sound it came from at the same quality.
Recordings made in a browser#
Browsers record a microphone or a screen as WebM, so voice notes from web apps, meeting recorders, and screen capture extensions often arrive in this format, sometimes with no picture at all. A WebM of sound alone works here the same way as a video, and the preview shows a player instead of a picture.
Some recorders write a WebM without its length in the file, which makes a player show no duration or a duration that keeps growing. The sound in it converts all the same, and the MP3 knows its own length.
Choosing a bitrate#
128 kbps is plenty for speech, such as a lecture, a meeting, or a voice note, and makes the smallest file, about 1 MB a minute. 192 kbps is the default and suits music for most listeners. 256 and 320 kbps are for music you will listen to closely, at about 2 and 2.4 MB a minute.
An MP3 cannot sound better than the sound it came from. A video saved from the web carries sound compressed for streaming, so 320 kbps from it mostly makes a bigger file. When in doubt, 192 kbps is the setting nobody regrets.
Frequently asked questions#
Does converting WebM to MP3 lose quality?
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A little, because the Opus or Vorbis sound has to be encoded again as MP3. At 192 kbps or more the difference is very hard to hear.
Which bitrate should I pick?
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192 kbps for most things. Pick 128 kbps for speech, where it saves a third of the size with no audible cost, and 256 or 320 kbps for music you want at its best. A higher bitrate than the original sound had only makes a larger file.
Can I take only part of the sound?
#
Yes. Set the start and the end, typed in seconds or taken from the preview with Set from video, and only that part goes into the MP3. It suits one song from a longer video or one answer from a recorded meeting.
Does it work with an OGG or Opus file?
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No. This page takes WebM files. An OGG, or an OPUS file such as a WhatsApp voice note, holds the same kinds of sound in a different container, which this page does not read.
Why does the page say it cannot read the sound?
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The page checks the sound before it starts, so it never makes an empty MP3. When the browser cannot decode the sound in the file, the page says so and suggests a current Chrome, Edge, or Safari.
Is my video uploaded?
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No. The sound is read from the file and converted inside this browser tab, and the MP3 is handed straight to your downloads. Nothing is sent to a server.