Free converter · Extract audio
Convert MOV to WAV
Short answer
Drop your MOV file into the converter below and download the WAV file. It runs in your browser with FFmpeg, for files up to 100 MB; nothing is uploaded. Only the sound is kept: the video track is dropped and the audio is saved as 16-bit PCM audio in WAV.
Maximum file size: 100 MB. The first conversion loads a ~30 MB converter engine, once per visit. Nothing is uploaded - conversion runs on your device.
Extract audio from MOV into WAV. · Extract audio · Browser-side via FFmpeg WASM - nothing uploaded.
Key takeaways
- The video is dropped and the sound is written as uncompressed 16-bit PCM at the source's sample rate and channel count.
- Measured: 10 seconds of 48 kHz stereo is 1,921,102 bytes (1,536 kbps); the same sound with 6 channels is 5,763,174 bytes (4,608 kbps).
- WAV cannot bring back detail that the MOV's AAC audio already discarded; the file is about 8 times the size of the AAC stream it came from.
- Use WAV for editing and tools that need PCM; use MP3 or M4A when size matters.
Measured: what WAV costs
Measured on the soundtrack of a 10 second excerpt of Big Buck Bunny (animated film; (c) Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0), stereo, 48 kHz, using the same ffmpeg arguments this converter passes to its WebAssembly build, run with ffmpeg 6.1.1. Results describe this file.
| Source audio in the MOV | WAV output | Bitrate | Time (native) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAC 192 kbps, stereo, 48 kHz (about 243 KB) | 1,921,102 bytes | 1,536 kbps, pcm_s16le | 0.12 s |
| AAC, 6 channels (5.1), 48 kHz | 5,763,174 bytes | 4,608 kbps, pcm_s16le | not timed |
The size follows from the format: 48,000 samples per second × 2 bytes × channels × seconds. For stereo that is 192,000 bytes per second, so 1,920,000 bytes for 10 seconds plus a 1,102 byte header.
MOV vs WAV
| MOV | WAV | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | QuickTime File Format (Apple) | Waveform Audio File Format |
| What is inside | H.264, HEVC or ProRes video with AAC or PCM audio | Uncompressed PCM audio |
| Compression | Depends on the codec inside | Uncompressed |
| Best for | iPhone recordings and Final Cut Pro projects | Editing and mastering, where every sample matters; very large files |
What you get
16-bit PCM audio in WAV. Extract audio from MOV into WAV.
What the converter does with sample rate and channels
It keeps both. A stereo source gives a stereo WAV and a surround source gives a surround WAV, which is three times bigger in our test. Sample rate also stays as it was; downmixing or resampling needs a terminal: ffmpeg -i in.mov -vn -ac 2 -ar 44100 out.wav.
Why WAV does not improve the sound
The MOV's audio was already compressed with a lossy codec (AAC). Decoding it to WAV stores every decoded sample exactly, but it cannot recreate what AAC removed. If you need the best possible copy, extract the AAC stream without re-encoding: ffmpeg -i in.mov -vn -c:a copy out.m4a.
Size for longer files
| Length | Stereo 48 kHz WAV | 5.1 48 kHz WAV |
|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 11.5 MB | 34.6 MB |
| 3.5 minutes | 40.3 MB | 121 MB |
| 10 minutes | 115 MB | 346 MB |
Computed from 192,000 and 576,000 bytes per second.
Questions people ask
Is this MOV to WAV converter free and private?
Yes. It is free, needs no account and runs entirely in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.
Will converting MOV to WAV reduce quality?
The audio is re-encoded to WAV.
Is there a file size limit?
Files up to 100 MB. The first conversion downloads a converter engine of about 30 MB once per visit; larger files are better handled by a desktop app such as HandBrake or FFmpeg.
Is MOV to WAV lossless?
The WAV stores the decoded audio exactly, but if the MOV used AAC, quality cannot be better than that AAC.
Why is the WAV so big?
WAV is uncompressed: 1,536 kbps for 48 kHz stereo, against 192 kbps for the AAC in our MOV.
Does the converter keep surround sound?
Yes. Our 6-channel source produced a 6-channel WAV of 5.76 MB for 10 seconds.
What if I only want the original audio track?
Copy the stream: ffmpeg -i in.mov -vn -c:a copy out.m4a keeps the AAC unchanged.
More converters
Sources and how we checked
- MDN: Media container formats
- MDN: Web audio codec guide
- MDN: Image file type and format guide
- FFmpeg documentation: stream copy
- FFmpeg Documentation: ffmpeg (stream selection, -map, -c copy) (read 2026-10-08)
- Blender Foundation: Big Buck Bunny (CC BY 3.0), the clip used for the measurements (read 2026-10-08)
Reviewed October 8, 2026. What the converter writes was measured with ffprobe on the same FFmpeg build your browser downloads; format descriptions follow MDN's media guides.