Extract Audio from HEVC to WMA — Free Online Tool
Extract audio from HEVC (H.265) video files and save it as WMA using the wmav2 codec — ideal for pulling audio tracks from high-efficiency video content into a Windows-compatible audio format. This tool runs entirely in your browser via FFmpeg.wasm, so your files never leave your device.
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FFmpeg Command
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Settings
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
HEVC video files store video and audio as separate streams within the container. This tool discards the H.265 video stream entirely using the -vn flag and re-encodes only the audio stream into WMA format using the wmav2 codec at 128k bitrate. Because WMA is a fundamentally different audio codec from whatever was originally embedded in the HEVC file (commonly AAC or AC3), the audio must be fully decoded and re-encoded rather than simply copied — this is a lossy transcode step. The output is a standalone .wma file containing only the audio, with no video data whatsoever.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg binary — the open-source multimedia processing engine that powers this conversion. In the browser, this runs as FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly. |
-i input.hevc
|
Specifies the input file — in this case an HEVC video file. FFmpeg reads and demuxes this file, separating the H.265 video stream and any embedded audio stream for individual processing. |
-vn
|
Stands for 'video none' — this flag tells FFmpeg to completely ignore and discard the H.265 video stream from the HEVC file, ensuring the output WMA file contains only audio data. |
-c:a wmav2
|
Sets the audio encoder to wmav2, the second-generation Windows Media Audio codec. This re-encodes whatever audio codec was in the source HEVC file (often AAC or AC3) into the WMA format compatible with Windows Media Player and Windows-based audio systems. |
-b:a 128k
|
Sets the audio bitrate for the wmav2 encoder to 128 kilobits per second — a standard quality level for WMA that balances file size and audio fidelity. Increasing this value (e.g., to 192k or 256k) will improve quality at the cost of a larger output file. |
output.wma
|
Defines the output filename and format. The .wma extension signals FFmpeg to wrap the wmav2-encoded audio in an ASF container, which is the native container format for Windows Media Audio files. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting narration or commentary audio from H.265 screen recordings or lecture captures to use in Windows Media Player or legacy Windows-based media workflows
- Pulling the audio track from an HDR or 4K HEVC video to distribute as a lightweight WMA file for streaming on older Windows devices or platforms that support Windows Media Audio
- Stripping audio from HEVC-encoded drone or camera footage to use as a standalone backing track in a Windows-centric video editing pipeline
- Converting HEVC video audio to WMA for use with devices or software that support DRM-enabled WMA but cannot play AAC or other modern audio formats
- Archiving the audio commentary or soundtrack from a high-efficiency HEVC video file into a small, portable WMA format for distribution via older Windows Media-based systems
- Extracting audio from HEVC clips recorded on modern smartphones or cameras for use in corporate or enterprise environments where Windows Media Audio is a mandated format
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, there will be some quality loss because the audio is being decoded from its original codec (typically AAC or AC3 inside the HEVC container) and then re-encoded into WMA using wmav2 at 128k bitrate. Each lossy encode introduces generational quality degradation. If the original audio was already compressed at a similar or lower bitrate, the difference may be imperceptible, but for high-quality source audio, you may want to increase the bitrate to 192k or 256k for better fidelity.
HEVC video files most commonly contain AAC, AC3 (Dolby Digital), or E-AC3 audio tracks, as these are efficient modern codecs suited for video distribution. WMA (specifically wmav2) is a proprietary Microsoft codec designed for Windows ecosystem compatibility and streaming. Unlike AAC, WMA is not natively supported on most non-Windows platforms, so this conversion is best suited for workflows locked into Windows-based playback or distribution systems.
Replace the -b:a 128k value in the command with your desired bitrate. For example, use -b:a 192k or -b:a 256k for higher quality output, or -b:a 96k for a smaller file size. The full command at 192k would look like: ffmpeg -i input.hevc -vn -c:a wmav2 -b:a 192k output.wma. Higher bitrates increase file size but reduce the perceptible quality loss introduced during the wmav2 re-encode.
Yes, on desktop you can use a shell loop to process multiple files. On Linux or macOS, run: for f in *.hevc; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -vn -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "${f%.hevc}.wma"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.hevc) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -vn -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "%~nf.wma". The browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the FFmpeg command is especially useful for bulk operations on large collections.
FFmpeg will attempt to copy compatible metadata from the source HEVC container to the WMA output, but metadata support depends on what tags are present in the original file. HEVC files primarily store video-centric metadata, so audio-specific tags like artist or album may be absent or inconsistently mapped. WMA does support metadata tags natively via the ASF container format it uses, so if the source has relevant tags, they should carry over — but you may want to verify or add tags manually using a tool like Windows Media Player or Mp3tag after conversion.
Some HEVC files — particularly raw .hevc bitstream files — contain only a video stream with no embedded audio track at all. If the source file has no audio, FFmpeg will produce an error or an empty WMA file because there is nothing to extract. You can verify whether your file contains an audio stream by running ffmpeg -i input.hevc in a terminal and checking the stream list in the output. If no audio stream is listed, the file genuinely has no audio to extract.
Technical Notes
HEVC (.hevc) files can appear as raw H.265 bitstreams or wrapped in containers like MP4 or MKV with an .hevc extension in some workflows — this tool assumes a file with an extractable audio stream. The wmav2 codec used for output is the second-generation Windows Media Audio codec, which offers better quality than the older wmav1 at equivalent bitrates and is the standard choice for WMA encoding. WMA files use the ASF (Advanced Systems Format) container, which supports metadata tags and is natively handled by Windows Media Player and many Windows applications. However, WMA has limited cross-platform support — macOS, Linux, and mobile devices may require additional codecs. Because this is a full decode-and-reencode transcode (not a stream copy), processing time scales with the length of the audio, and quality is capped by the 128k default bitrate. Notably, WMA does not support multi-channel audio beyond stereo in standard wmav2, so if your HEVC source contains 5.1 surround sound, it will be downmixed to stereo during conversion. There is no lossless WMA output option in this tool, as wmav2 is inherently a lossy codec.