Getting Audio from Video Files

This can either be really easy or slightly tricky depending on what your source file is.

Hence, the guide will have the following sections:

1) Getting audio from AVI and mpeg1 video files using VirtualDubMod
2) Using mpeg2 audio from mpeg2 video files using DGIndex.
3) Getting audio from locked video codecs such as RealMovie


Let's go!

1) Getting audio from avis and mpeg1 files using VirtualDubMod

Load your avi or mpg file into VirtualDubMod.

Go to 'Streams' and select 'Stream List'

Select the audio stream you want and choose Save WAV to save the stream as an uncompressed wav file (recommended) or choose Demux to get the compressed version of the audio.

With any luck you should have your audio.

2) Using mpeg2 audio from mpeg2 video files using DGIndex (not AC3 - see DVD guide).

Load DGIndex… click File -> Open

You may need to select "*.* all files" if your mpeg2 video is a .mpg or .dat file.

Select the area for extraction using the slider and the "["and "]" buttons (optional).

Select Audio -> Track Number -> 1 (or other if you have a multiple audio channel file)

Select Audio -> Output Method -> Demux

Now choose File -> Save Project and you will get a dvd2avi project file and a nice .mpa (MPEG audio) file that once renamed to .mp2 can be converted with winamp or dBpowerAMP Music Converter.

3) Getting audio from locked video codecs such as RealMovie

Basically, with any locked codec you are going to have to do it the hard way and sample the audio directly. See the last part of the Using Downloaded Audio guide for a solution to extracting audio from locked sources.

AbsoluteDestiny - September 2004