Removing audio from a video — what happens to the quality?
A video file contains separate tracks for picture and sound. To mute a video, this tool simply writes a new file with the picture track copied exactly as it is and without the audio track. Because nothing is re-encoded, the video quality is identical to the original and the process takes only seconds.
To mute only some parts or change the volume, only the audio is decoded, edited and encoded again (as AAC, Opus or the original codec where possible). The picture is still copied untouched.
Some platforms and editing apps expect a video to have an audio track. If a muted video causes problems, choose Keep a silent audio track — the file then contains silence instead of no audio at all.
Which option should I use?
| Goal | Option | Video quality |
|---|---|---|
| Post a video without sound | Remove audio | Unchanged (copied) |
| Hide a word or a noise | Mute parts | Unchanged (copied) |
| Background music is too loud | Change volume | Unchanged (copied) |
| App requires an audio track | Remove audio + silent track | Unchanged (copied) |
| Keep only the sound | Extract audio | Audio copied losslessly |
Tips
- Want to turn the muted clip into a GIF? Use Video to GIF.
- Cut away the start or end first with the Video Trimmer.
- Removing audio also makes the file a little smaller; for much smaller files use the Video Compressor.
- Check which audio codec a file uses with the Video Metadata Viewer.