Guide
Remove audio from a video: the sound is deleted, the picture stays as it was
Drop a video above and press Remove the sound. You get a silent copy in seconds, with the picture exactly as it was.
In short
- This free tool removes the sound from a video and gives you a silent copy in seconds.
- The picture is copied as it is, so the quality does not change.
- The sound is deleted from the file, not turned down, so nobody can turn it back on.
- It works on MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM, MKV and AVI files.
- Your video is never uploaded, and you need no account.
Mute video
Runs in your browser · files never leave this page
Drop a video here
or
The audio track is removed from the file, not turned down. The picture is copied frame for frame, so this takes seconds.
Want the sound and not the picture? Extract the audio as an MP3 first, then mute the video here.
Your file never leaves this page. The engine downloads once, the work happens in this tab, and there is no upload, no account and no storage. Close the tab and the file is gone unless you downloaded the result.
More free tools: Video compressor · Video resizer · Video to MP4 · Video to MP3 · Video clipper · Video stitcher · Video to GIF · Video speed changer · Rotate video · all tools
- The video engine your browser downloads once per visit
- 32 MB
- File size above which the tool warns you
- 500 MB
- Saved for each minute of sound recorded at 128 kbps
- 960 KB
How to remove audio from a video
Drop your video in the box above and press Remove the sound. The tool writes a new file with the picture and without the sound. Your original file is not changed.
It takes seconds, even for a ten-minute video, because the picture is copied into the new file without being decoded. Only some older formats take longer, and the note says so.
- The note under the result names the sound track that was removed, such as AAC.
- If your video has no sound to begin with, the note tells you so.
- MP4, MOV and M4V files come back as MP4. WebM and MKV files keep their own format.
- An AVI with an older codec inside is re-encoded once to H.264, which takes about as long as the video plays.
What happens to each file type
The tool reads the file first. The note says which row applied.
MP4, MOV, M4V
- Picture
- Copied
- You get
- MP4, in seconds
WebM
- Picture
- Copied
- You get
- WebM, in seconds
MKV
- Picture
- Copied
- You get
- MKV, in seconds
AVI or other, with H.264 inside
- Picture
- Copied
- You get
- MP4, in seconds
AVI or other, older codec
- Picture
- Re-encoded to H.264
- You get
- MP4, about as long as it plays
| Picture | You get | |
|---|---|---|
| MP4, MOV, M4V | Copied | MP4, in seconds |
| WebM | Copied | WebM, in seconds |
| MKV | Copied | MKV, in seconds |
| AVI or other, with H.264 inside | Copied | MP4, in seconds |
| AVI or other, older codec | Re-encoded to H.264 | MP4, about as long as it plays |
Is the sound deleted or only muted?
There are two ways to make a video silent. One sets the volume to zero and keeps the sound inside the file. The other takes the sound out of the file.
This tool takes the sound track out completely. The new file holds only the picture. There is nothing for a player to unmute and nothing for an editor to recover.
- A private conversation in the background is gone for good, not only hidden.
- A video with the volume at zero still carries the sound, and anyone with a video editor can turn it back up.
Volume at zero or sound removed
This tool does the right-hand column.
Sound still in the file
- Volume at zero
- Yes
- Sound removed
- No
Can someone get it back
- Volume at zero
- Yes, in a video editor
- Sound removed
- No
What is left in the file
- Volume at zero
- The picture and a silent sound track
- Sound removed
- The picture only
| Volume at zero | Sound removed | |
|---|---|---|
| Sound still in the file | Yes | No |
| Can someone get it back | Yes, in a video editor | No |
| What is left in the file | The picture and a silent sound track | The picture only |
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
How much smaller the file gets
Removing the sound saves only the size of the sound, which is its bitrate times its length. Next to the picture, that is usually a few percent of the file.
The result panel shows the size before and after. So muting is not a way to shrink a video. To make it smaller, use a compressor where you type the size you need.
- Phone sound at 128 kbps takes up 16,000 bytes a second, which is 960,000 bytes a minute.
- To make a video small enough to send, use our free video compressor and type the size you need.
What the sound weighs
128 kbps is a common bitrate for the sound in a phone video.
| Sound at 128 kbps | Size |
|---|---|
| One second | 16,000 bytes |
| One minute | 960,000 bytes, a little under 1 MB |
| Share of a phone video | A few percent |
Sound at 128 kbps: One second
- Size
- 16,000 bytes
Sound at 128 kbps: One minute
- Size
- 960,000 bytes, a little under 1 MB
Sound at 128 kbps: Share of a phone video
- Size
- A few percent
When to remove the sound, and when to keep it
Remove the sound when it works against the clip, or when the clip will play under a voice-over or music. Room noise under a voice-over makes the voice harder to follow.
Keep the sound when someone speaks to the viewer. And if the problem is noise behind a voice, muting removes the voice too. That needs noise reduction in a video editor.
- If you only need the sound, our free video to MP3 converter saves it as an MP3 and drops the picture.
- To keep both, save the MP3 first, then remove the sound here.
Remove the sound or keep it
| Situation | Remove the sound? |
|---|---|
| Wind or traffic noise | Yes |
| A conversation that is not yours to publish | Yes |
| A song playing in the room that a platform could flag | Yes |
| The clip will play under a voice-over or music | Yes |
| Someone speaks to the viewer | No, keep it |
| Noise behind a voice | No, muting removes the voice too |
Situation: Wind or traffic noise
- Remove the sound?
- Yes
Situation: A conversation that is not yours to publish
- Remove the sound?
- Yes
Situation: A song playing in the room that a platform could flag
- Remove the sound?
- Yes
Situation: The clip will play under a voice-over or music
- Remove the sound?
- Yes
Situation: Someone speaks to the viewer
- Remove the sound?
- No, keep it
Situation: Noise behind a voice
- Remove the sound?
- No, muting removes the voice too
Nothing is uploaded, and the limits
The tool runs ffmpeg, a free video program, inside your browser. It downloads once, about 32 MB, and then opens your video in this tab. Nothing is sent to a server or stored.
Copying is the lightest job the tool does, because the frames are not decoded. It still warns above 500 MB, because the new file is held in the tab.
- One run removes the sound from the whole video.
- To silence one part only, cut the video with our free video trimmer, remove the sound from that part, then join the parts again with our free video joiner.
- The joined video is re-encoded once, because a silent part and a part with sound no longer match.
From a silent clip to a finished video
A silent clip often ends up as b-roll: footage that plays while a voice tells the story. In Cutroom that voice is yours, and b-roll plays over the phrases you highlight.
Film one clip of up to three minutes and upload it. It comes back as a finished 9:16 video in about a minute. The mute tool above stays free either way.
- Cutroom cuts the pauses, adds captions timed to your voice, adds b-roll and writes an opening headline.
- The video fits Reels, TikTok and Shorts, which all use 9:16.
- Your first video is free, with no card, and you have seven days to make it.
- The free video carries a Cutroom mark. Lite at $19.99 a month removes it.
B-roll over your own voice
Your voice carries the video, and b-roll plays over the phrases you highlight.
Questions people ask
- How do I remove audio from a video?
- Drop the video in the box above and press Remove the sound. You get a silent copy in seconds, with the same picture. Download it, and your original file stays as it was.
- Does removing the audio reduce the video quality?
- No. The picture is copied byte for byte into a new file, and only the sound is left out. The one exception is an older format that has to be re-encoded, and the note under the result tells you when that happened.
- Can someone turn the sound back on in the muted file?
- No. The sound track is no longer in the file, so there is nothing to unmute or recover. Setting the volume to zero is different, because it keeps the sound inside the file.
- Is my video uploaded to remove the audio?
- No. The tool runs in this tab after a one-time download of about 32 MB. Your file is read from your disk, and the silent copy comes back as a download. Nothing is sent and nothing is stored.
- How do I remove the sound from only part of a video?
- Split the video first. Cut it into parts with our free video trimmer, remove the sound from the part you want silent, then join the parts again with our free video joiner. The joined video is re-encoded once, because the parts no longer match.
- Can I replace the sound with music here?
- No. This tool removes the sound and adds nothing. Adding music means mixing a second file under the picture, which is a job for a video editor. A silent copy is a good starting point for that.
- Who should not remove the audio from a video?
- Anyone who wants to keep the voice and lose the noise behind it. That is noise reduction, and muting removes both. If the video is you talking to the camera, keep the sound and let Cutroom add captions from it.
Remove the sound above, or turn a video of you talking into a finished video with Cutroom. Your first video is free.