How to Convert Audio Files with VLC

VLC is best known as a video player, but its desktop app hides a full converter behind one menu item. It turns almost any audio file into MP3, WAV, FLAC or Ogg, and it pulls the soundtrack out of a video file too. The catch is that the settings are buried, and the MP3 default is lower quality than most people expect. This guide covers the exact menus on Windows, Linux and Mac, the one setting worth changing, and the fixes for the problems people hit most often.

Can VLC convert files to MP3?

Yes. VLC's desktop app includes a converter, and MP3 is one of its built-in output profiles. It reads nearly every audio format you are likely to have — MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC, Ogg, WMA, AIFF and more — and it can take a video file as the input and keep only the audio. You do not need a plugin or an extra download; the converter ships with the standard install.

What VLC does not do well is explain itself. The converter lives in a dialog it shares with streaming, the profile names are terse, and the quality settings sit behind a small wrench icon. Once you know where those three things are, a single file takes about a minute.

Convert a file to MP3 on Windows or Linux

• Step 1. Open VLC and choose Media > Convert / Save, or press Ctrl+R.
• Step 2. On the File tab, click Add and pick the file you want to convert.
• Step 3. Click the Convert / Save button at the bottom of the dialog.
• Step 4. In the Profile list, choose Audio - MP3.
• Step 5. Under Destination, click Browse, choose a folder, and type a file name that ends in .mp3.
• Step 6. Click Start. The seek bar in the main window shows progress, and the new file appears where you saved it.

Step 5 matters more than it looks. If the destination name has no extension, or keeps the original one, VLC can write a file that other apps refuse to open. Always type the full name, such as song.mp3.

Convert to MP3 on a Mac

The Mac version uses a different window, but the idea is the same.

• Step 1. Choose File > Convert / Stream.
• Step 2. Click Open media and pick your file, or drag it into the window.
• Step 3. Under Choose Profile, select Audio - MP3.
• Step 4. Click Save as File, then Browse, and give the file a name ending in .mp3.
• Step 5. Click Save. VLC converts the file and writes it to the folder you chose.

Turn a video into an MP3

This is the reason many people open VLC's converter in the first place. Use the same steps as above, but add a video file — an MP4, MKV, MOV or AVI — instead of an audio file. Because Audio - MP3 is an audio-only profile, VLC drops the picture and writes just the soundtrack.

A few things are worth knowing. The result can only be as good as the audio inside the video, so a phone clip recorded in a noisy room stays noisy. If the video carries more than one audio track, such as two languages, VLC normally uses the default one. And if you want the audio kept at full quality rather than re-encoded as MP3, choose Audio - FLAC instead, which writes a lossless copy of whatever the video contained.

If you would rather not install anything, the same job works in a browser with our video to MP3 converter, which reads the file on your own device instead of uploading it.

Change the bitrate (the default is 128 kbps)

VLC's Audio - MP3 profile encodes at 128 kbps by default. That is fine for speech, but it sits noticeably below what most people use for music. To raise it:

• Next to the Profile list, click the wrench icon (Edit selected profile).
• Open the Audio codec tab.
• Set Bitrate to 192, 256 or 320 kb/s, and leave the other settings as they are.
• Click Save.

A practical rule: 192 kbps for everyday music, 256–320 kbps if you care about quality, and 128 kbps or less for podcasts and voice notes where file size matters more. Raising the bitrate above the source adds nothing. A 128 kbps file converted at 320 kbps is simply a bigger 128 kbps file, so match or stay below what you started with.

If you convert to MP3 often, save your edited settings as a new profile with a clear name, such as MP3 320. VLC keeps it in the list, so you only set this up once.

Which VLC profile to choose

VLC ships with several audio profiles. These are the four worth knowing.

Lossless formats such as FLAC and WAV keep every detail of the source, but they are much larger than MP3. They only preserve quality when the source was lossless too: converting an MP3 to FLAC does not bring back what the MP3 already threw away.

Batch-convert several files

VLC can convert a whole list of files in one job, though the route differs from a single file.

• Choose Media > Open Multiple Files.
• Click Add and select every file you want.
• At the bottom of the dialog, click the arrow beside Play and choose Convert.
• Pick your profile, then click Start.

VLC works through the list one file at a time. By default it saves each result next to its original, with -converted added to the name, so song.flac becomes song-converted.mp3. Large batches take a while because nothing runs in parallel.

Fixing common VLC conversion problems

The output file is empty or 0 bytes. This is the most common complaint. Check that the destination name ends in the right extension, that the folder exists and you can write to it, and that you are not saving over a file open in another app. A fresh file name usually fixes it.

The output has no sound. Open the profile's settings and confirm the Audio codec tab is switched on. If you started from a video profile, switch to one of the audio profiles listed above.

Conversion stops early. This usually points to a damaged input file. Play it in VLC first. If playback also stops at the same point, the problem is the file, not the conversion.

The result plays too fast or too slow. VLC occasionally misreads the sample rate of unusual files. In the Audio codec tab, set the sample rate to match the source — most often 44100 or 48000 Hz.

When VLC is not the easiest option

VLC is a strong choice when it is already installed and you convert files now and then. It is less convenient on a phone, a Chromebook, or a work computer where you cannot install software, and it has no way to trim or normalize audio before converting.

In those cases a browser-based tool is simpler. The converters on our tools page run inside the browser and process the file on your own device, so nothing is uploaded. For a quick job on a computer that already has VLC, VLC is perfectly good.