How to extract or demux audio or video from a mp4 file using VLC player

If you need to separate/demux the audio, video or both of the components without re-encoding from a mp4 file, here is a simple way to do it using the VLC player open source software (Download VLC from their official website: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html).

In this example, I will be using the VLC version 3.0.1 64 bit windows version of the VLC player to perform the extraction/demux. I believe you do not need to have the same exact version in order to do this. I have tested this method using an older 2.2.4 32bit windows version and it worked fine.

The following example are for audio extraction. For video extraction, it should be somewhat similar.

In order to extract the original format out from the mp4, the first step is to identify what are the individual stream made of. You can use the following method to identify them.

 - Load your source mp4 file into VLC player.

 - From the top menu, goto Tools>Codec Information.

You should see a screen similar to the following:

 - In the above example, my mp4 file contain a AAC audio track and the video is a H264 video.

Next, from the top menu, goto Media>Convert/Save. Click on the “+Add” button and load the source mp4 file.

Like so. The “Convert/Save” button will also be enabled.

Next, click on the “Convert/Save” button drop down menu and select “Convert”.

You should see something like this:

The next step is to create a new “Profile” as the default profiles did not contain the AAC audio codec for my sample mp4 file. To create a new profile, click on the “create a new profile” button. If the audio codec that you need is in the list of profile, you should be able to use that.

Assign a profile name (I use “Extract RAW audio”) and check on the “Audio” and “Keep original audio track” check box. Click save once you are done.

Once you have the right profile, click on “Browse” to indicate filename and where you would like to save it to. One thing to note is that the destination file file-extension needs to be defined manually. In this example, I have entered AAC as the file extension instead of leaving it as mp4. Click on “Save” and you are done. The extraction should be quite fast as there are no re-encoding required during the extraction process.

Finally, check that your output file is correctly extracted by playing it with the VLC player again.

That’s it. Hope this helps.