To strip audio from an MP4 file on Ubuntu, you can use the command-line tool **FFmpeg**. This program is very versatile and can handle a wide range of audio and video conversions.
—–
### 1\. Install FFmpeg
First, you’ll need to install FFmpeg if you don’t already have it on your system. You can do this by opening a terminal (press `Ctrl + Alt + T`) and running the following command:
“`bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ffmpeg
“`
You may be prompted to enter your password to proceed.
—–
### 2\. Strip the Audio
Once FFmpeg is installed, you can use a single command to extract the audio from your MP4 file. The most common format for extracted audio is **MP3**.
The basic command is as follows:
“`bash
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame output.mp3
“`
Here’s a breakdown of the command:
* `-i input.mp4`: This specifies the input file. You should replace `input.mp4` with the actual name of your video file.
* `-vn`: This stands for “video no” and tells FFmpeg to disable the video stream. This is what effectively **strips the audio**.
* `-acodec libmp3lame`: This specifies the audio codec to use for the output file. `libmp3lame` is the library for encoding MP3s.
* `output.mp3`: This is the name of the output audio file. You can name it whatever you like, but it should end with `.mp3`.
For example, if your video file is named `vacation_video.mp4`, you would use this command to create an audio file named `vacation_audio.mp3`:
“`bash
ffmpeg -i vacation_video.mp4 -vn -acodec libmp3lame vacation_audio.mp3
“`
After running the command, FFmpeg will process the file, and you will find the new `.mp3` file in the same directory as the original video.