Convert MOV to WAV — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert audio from MOV video files into WAV format using uncompressed PCM audio (pcm_s16le, 16-bit signed little-endian). WAV is the go-to format for audio editing, broadcast workflows, and any application that requires lossless, uncompressed audio without re-encoding artifacts.
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FFmpeg Command
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Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
MOV files typically store audio in compressed formats such as AAC or MP3 alongside video streams. During this conversion, FFmpeg discards the video stream entirely and decodes the compressed audio from the MOV container, then re-encodes it into uncompressed 16-bit signed little-endian PCM (pcm_s16le) wrapped in a WAV container. Because the source audio is usually lossy (AAC being the most common in MOV files), the resulting WAV is not bit-for-bit identical to the original recording — but it is a lossless representation of the decoded audio signal, with no further generation loss introduced by this conversion step. The output is a flat, headerless PCM stream with a standard WAV RIFF header, making it immediately compatible with virtually any audio editor or broadcast tool.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg command-line tool. In this browser-based tool, the same command runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly, so no files leave your device. |
-i input.mov
|
Specifies the input file — a MOV (QuickTime) container, which may hold video streams alongside audio encoded in formats like AAC, MP3, or FLAC. FFmpeg reads all streams from this file before applying the output mapping. |
-c:a pcm_s16le
|
Decodes the MOV's audio (typically AAC) and re-encodes it as uncompressed 16-bit signed little-endian PCM — the standard, widest-compatibility audio codec for WAV files, producing CD-quality uncompressed audio. |
output.wav
|
Defines the output file. The .wav extension tells FFmpeg to wrap the PCM audio stream in a RIFF WAV container with the appropriate file header, making it immediately openable in any DAW, audio editor, or media player. |
Common Use Cases
- Sending a voice-over or narration recorded in Final Cut Pro (which saves as MOV) to an audio engineer who works in Pro Tools or Adobe Audition and requires uncompressed WAV files.
- Extracting the audio from a QuickTime screen recording to produce a clean, uncompressed transcript source for automatic speech recognition tools that perform better with WAV input.
- Preparing audio from a MOV interview recording for broadcast delivery, where broadcasters commonly mandate WAV (PCM) files at specific bit depths for compliance.
- Stripping the audio track from a large MOV video file to reduce the asset size before importing just the audio into a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) for music or sound design work.
- Converting MOV-based camera footage audio to WAV so it can be synced with separate audio recorder files (e.g., from a Zoom H6) using clapper board sync in post-production software.
- Archiving the audio track from a MOV file in an uncompressed, widely readable format to ensure long-term accessibility without dependence on codec support.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your MOV file's audio is encoded in a lossy codec like AAC (the default for MOV), some quality was already lost at the time of the original recording — that cannot be recovered. However, converting from AAC to WAV PCM introduces no additional quality loss: FFmpeg decodes the AAC audio to a raw PCM signal and writes it directly into the WAV container without any further compression. The WAV file will be a perfect, lossless representation of what the AAC decoder produced.
MOV files with AAC audio use compression ratios of roughly 10:1 or higher, while WAV with pcm_s16le is completely uncompressed. A 10-minute stereo audio track at 44.1 kHz will occupy roughly 100 MB as uncompressed WAV but may only be 8–12 MB as AAC inside a MOV. The WAV file also no longer contains any video data, but the uncompressed audio alone is the dominant reason for the size difference.
Yes. By default, FFmpeg preserves the source audio's sample rate (e.g., 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz) and channel layout (mono, stereo, or surround) when converting to WAV. Only the codec changes — from compressed AAC to uncompressed pcm_s16le. If you need a specific sample rate, you can add '-ar 48000' to the command, and for channels you can add '-ac 2' for stereo.
By default, FFmpeg selects only the first (default) audio stream from the MOV file. WAV does not support multiple audio tracks in a single file. If you need a specific audio track — for example, the second language dub — you can modify the command to add '-map 0:a:1' to select the second audio stream (zero-indexed) before the output filename.
The command uses pcm_s16le, which produces 16-bit audio — the standard CD-quality bit depth and the most universally compatible WAV format. If your workflow requires higher fidelity, you can replace '-c:a pcm_s16le' with '-c:a pcm_s24le' for 24-bit or '-c:a pcm_s32le' for 32-bit integer PCM. Professional audio editors and broadcast environments often prefer 24-bit WAV for headroom during editing.
Yes. On macOS or Linux you can run a shell loop: 'for f in *.mov; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16le "${f%.mov}.wav"; done'. On Windows Command Prompt, use: 'for %f in (*.mov) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a pcm_s16le "%~nf.wav"'. Each MOV file will be processed sequentially, producing a matching WAV file — this is especially useful for batch-exporting audio from a Final Cut Pro project folder.
Technical Notes
The pcm_s16le codec produces signed 16-bit little-endian PCM, the dominant WAV subformat and the one expected by the broadest range of software and hardware. MOV files sourced from Apple devices or Final Cut Pro will almost always carry AAC audio at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz; cameras like DSLRs and mirrorless bodies often record at 48 kHz, which is the broadcast standard. FFmpeg will faithfully carry that sample rate through to the WAV output. Metadata such as chapter markers, timecodes, and subtitle tracks are not transferable to WAV, as the format has no container-level support for these structures — only basic ID3-style or BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) metadata can be embedded. If you need BWF metadata for broadcast delivery (SMPTE timecode, originator fields), you would need additional post-processing with a tool like BWFMetaEdit. MOV files that store audio as FLAC or PCM natively (less common but possible) would technically allow a copy operation ('-c:a copy') to WAV if the codec is compatible, but using pcm_s16le decoding is the safer, universally correct default for this conversion.