How to Remove Audio From a Video on iPhone, Mac, or Online

Here's how to remove audio from a video: mute the clip in an editor, or remove the audio track before exporting if you need a file with no audio stream. On an iPhone, open the video in Photos, tap Edit, turn off the speaker icon, and save. On a Mac, use iMovie to detach and delete the audio clip. In a browser, a web editor can export a silent copy. Check the exported file, because muting and removing an audio track are different operations.

Muting vs. removing: pick the right one

These get used as if they mean the same thing, and they don't.

• Muting keeps the audio in the project and turns the volume to zero. You can undo it later. It's what you want when you're adding music or a voiceover over the top.
• Removing the track deletes the audio from the exported file. You want this when the original sound is private (a conversation in the background, say) or you need a truly silent file for a website or a presentation.

If you mute and export, most apps write a silent track into the file anyway. For privacy that's fine, because the original sound is gone. If a platform complains that the file has an audio track, that's why.

On iPhone

Photos app (free, quickest)

1. Open the video in Photos and tap Edit.
2. Tap the yellow speaker icon at the top left. It turns white and gets a line through it.
3. Tap Done. The video now plays silently.

The change is non-destructive. Open Edit again and tap the speaker to bring the sound back.

CapCut

1. Import the clip and select it on the timeline.
2. Tap the Volume or Mute clip audio option and set it to zero.
3. Export.

BlitzCut

BlitzCut has per-clip volume controls, so you can pull a clip's volume to zero before exporting. It's most useful when you're also cutting silence and adding captions to the same video, because you don't need a second app.

On Mac

iMovie (free)

1. Add the video to a project and select the clip.
2. Choose Modify, then Detach Audio. The audio drops below as a green clip.
3. Select that green clip and press Delete.
4. Export with File, then Share.

QuickTime Player (for saving the audio, not removing it)

QuickTime can't strip audio from a video, but it can save the audio on its own. Choose File, then Export As, then Audio Only. You end up with two files: the original video and an audio file.

Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro

Both let you unlink or disable audio on a clip, then export. If you're not already using one of them, iMovie is the faster route for this job.

In a browser

Free web editors such as Kapwing and VEED can mute a clip and export it, usually with a watermark on free plans, and they upload your video to a server. That matters if the sound is the sensitive part.

If you only want the audio, not a silent video, you can do that without uploading anything. The Extract Audio From Video tool runs in your browser and saves the sound as a WAV file.

How to separate audio from video without losing either

Sometimes you want both: a silent video and the original audio on its own, so you can clean it up or transcribe it.

1. Save the audio first. Use the extract audio tool, or QuickTime's Audio Only export on a Mac.
2. Mute or detach the audio in the video using one of the methods above.
3. Keep both files under the same base name so you can line them up later.

Check that the audio is really gone

Don't trust the preview. After exporting:

• Play the file in QuickTime or VLC with the volume up.
• On a Mac, press Command-I in QuickTime Player to open the Movie Inspector. A video with no audio track won't list an audio format.
• If the file has a silent track and a platform rejects it, re-export from an editor that has an option to export video only.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I remove audio from a video for free?

On iPhone, use the speaker icon in the Photos editor. On Mac, use iMovie's Detach Audio. In a browser, a free web editor can mute a clip, though free plans often add a watermark and upload your file.

Can I remove audio from a video without re-encoding it?

Tools like FFmpeg can copy the video stream and drop the audio without re-encoding it, which keeps full quality and is very fast. In graphic editors, expect the app to re-export the video.

How do I remove only the background music, not the voice?

That's a different job. Muting removes everything. Separating voice from music needs an audio-cleanup or stem-separation tool, and results vary with how the track was mixed. If the music was added in an editor you still have access to, deleting that music clip is simpler.

Does muting a video reduce the file size?

Only slightly. Audio is a small share of a video's size, so the file barely changes.

How do I add new audio after removing the old audio?

Import the silent video into an editor, add your music, voiceover, or sound effects as a new audio clip, and export. BlitzCut supports music imports, built-in sound effects, voice recording, and text-to-speech on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

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