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MyMP3 Converter

How to convert a video to MP3 on iPhone (and keep only the part you need)

Tap the video on the Videos tab, choose MP3 under Select format, pick 128 kbps for Quality and tap Convert to Audio. The MP3 lands on the Audio tab a few seconds later, ready to share or save to Files.

4 min read · Updated 2026-09-16

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Why you need an app for this

Photos will play your video fine, but there’s no button anywhere in it to save just the sound. That matters for a long lecture recording you want to listen to like a podcast on your commute — the video app simply has no path for that. Same problem if you need the audio for an editor or an upload form that only takes MP3.

This app does that extraction on the phone itself, nothing uploaded. It reads the MOV files the iPhone camera records, plus MP4 and M4V.

Extracting the audio, step by step

  1. Open the app on the Videos tab; your clips are listed newest first. Video in the Files app instead? Tap + at the top right and pick it there.
  2. Tap the video. The editor opens with a player and a waveform of the sound.
  3. Want only part of it? Drag the Start and End handles on the waveform; the times update live as you drag.
  4. Under Select format, choose MP3 (or M4A, WAV, CAF, AIFF, AIFC or MP4).
  5. For MP3, pick the bitrate under Quality: 64 or 128 kbps on the free tier, up to 320 kbps with Pro.
  6. Check Audio title. It starts out as the video’s file name, so change it to something you’ll actually recognise later.
  7. Tap Convert to Audio. The button reads Converting... while it works, then the file opens on its own screen.
  8. Share it by AirDrop, Messages or Mail, or use the export button to drop a copy into Files or iCloud Drive.

MP4 to MP3, MOV to MP3: which format should you pick?

The app always pulls the sound out as AAC first, which is exactly what M4A is. Every other format gets made from that one step. So the real question when you pick a format is where the file is going, not how to squeeze out more quality — there isn’t any left to squeeze.

Output formats and their size for a 3-minute clip
FormatGood forSize of 3 minutes
M4ALeast processed; plays on iPhone and most modern playersdepends on the source
MP3 64 kbpsSpeech, lectures, voice notes1.44 MB
MP3 128 kbpsSharing, uploads, any player2.88 MB
MP3 320 kbps (Pro)Services that ask for high bitrate MP37.20 MB
WAV / AIFFAudio editors that need uncompressed files31.75 MB
MP4 (audio)Sites that only accept .mp4depends on the source

The math behind those MP3 numbers is just bitrate times length (128 kbps works out to 16,000 bytes a second). WAV and AIFF run at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo, 176,400 bytes a second, roughly 11 times the size of a 128 kbps MP3 for the same clip.

Worked example: the sound of a 3-minute concert clip

Say you filmed a 3-minute song and need to send it to a friend whose player only reads MP3. Tap the video, pick MP3, leave Quality at 128 kbps and convert: 2.88 MB, done. Only want the chorus? Drag Start and End around it first and the file shrinks right along with the time you kept.

Tips and common mistakes

  • Keep the app open until a long video finishes converting; iOS only gives an app a short window to work in the background.
  • This video has no audio track to extract. usually means exactly that — screen recordings with the mic off, for one.
  • A video that only exists in iCloud Photos has to download first, so that first conversion needs a connection.
  • MKV, WebM and most AVI simply won’t open; iOS can’t read them, and the app can’t get around that.
  • Converting to WAV or 320 kbps won’t make a phone video sound any better. Use it only when something downstream insists on it.

For several videos at once, there’s a separate batch conversion guide — it does whole videos from your library in one run.

Questions and answers

Can I convert a video to MP3 on iPhone for free?
Yes. The free tier converts 3 videos a day in the editor, into any of the formats, MP3 at 64 or 128 kbps. There are ads; Pro removes those and the daily cap.
Can I convert a YouTube video to MP3 with it?
No. There’s no link field and nothing gets downloaded. It only converts files already sitting in Photos or the Files app.
Does it convert MOV files from the iPhone camera?
Yes. The iPhone camera records MOV, and those show up on the Videos tab ready to go, right alongside MP4 and M4V.
Can I extract the audio from only part of a video?
Yes. Drag the Start and End handles on the waveform before tapping Convert to Audio; only what sits between them gets saved.

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