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Hi,
I'm trying to convert an .mp4 into an .mp3 in VLC Media Player 2.1.3.
I choose Convert, then choose the file to convert and then choose to .mp3 and then I name the new file with an.mp3 extension and click Start but it just shows the word Streaming and when I look on the hard drive it lists the file I was converting to but 0kb and plays nothing.
Is there a better way to convert an .mp4 file into an .mp3?
Thanks so much.
You might try the XMedia Recode Dev Test https://portableapps.com/node/21082 it seems to work pretty well on most conversions
Thank you for sharing that.
I'll check it out.
Another option is Audacity - simply open the file, Select File > Export, and you're in business!
Note that you'll need the LAME and FFmpeg libraries installed as well.
Hmm.
I've used Audacity for digitizing music and it works perfectly but I didn't know it could also convert .mp4 to .mp3.
Where would you suggest as the best place to find and download the LAME and FFmpeg libraries?
Thank you for sharing them!
Hi Gord,
Does the LAME library extract the audio out of an .mp4(video)?
Then and the FFmpeg library imports that audio into an .mp3(audio)?
Thanks so much for sharing these and their links!
Exactly, but the other way around. 
The FFmpeg library is needed to open mp4 files in Audacity e.q. import the audio track (as mp4 is a container format, it can be different types of audio but most of the times it is aac audio).
The LAME library is used to export (encode) the audio track to mp3-format directly.
Thank for for clarifying that.
I'm so grateful to the Audacity developers for creating and sharing such a remarkable program.
Off Topic - would you happen to know how to set or activate e-mail notices on this forum so an e-mail is sent to me when there's been a new response/post to my post or the thread?
Thanks again.
There's a subscribe link in the lower right corner of the main topic post's containing square.
Hi John,
I found a "Subscribe" in red lettering at the bottom of the screen immediately following my original post to start this thread, next to Edit, so I clicked that and then placed a check mark next to the small box which referred to subscribing and then I clicked Save. Let's see if it notifies me of this post.
Thank you.
John,
That did it!
Thank you.
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