Remove the audio from a video
Drop the sound track and keep every frame exactly as it was. Lossless, instant, and the file gets smaller by the size of the audio. Nothing is uploaded.
Processed on your device. Your video is never uploaded. How we know
Drop a video to remove its audio
Drop a video here, paste it with Ctrl+V, or choose one from your device.
ClipHeron runs in your browser. We don’t receive your videos, their names or anything in them. Ads on this page load separately and are not given your files. What happens to your video
How to mute a video or remove its sound without re-encoding
Muting a video should not mean re-encoding it. A video file is a box with separate tracks inside, and the sound is one of them; taking it out is a matter of copying the other tracks into a new box and leaving that one behind. ClipHeron does exactly that, in your browser, so the picture is not decoded, not re-encoded and not changed in any way. The job takes a moment however long the video is.
People mute videos for good reasons: wind noise over a scenic clip, a conversation in the background of a screen recording, music you do not have the rights to post, or a clip that will get a voiceover later. If you want to keep the sound as its own file first, the extract audio tool copies it out losslessly; the bitrate guide explains how much of a file the audio usually accounts for.
- 1
Add the video
Drop or choose an MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. The file card lists the audio track: codec, sample rate, channels and bitrate, and roughly what share of the file it is.
- 2
Check the plan
For MP4, MOV and H.264 MKV the note says “instant and lossless”. For VP8 or VP9 WebM it says the video will be converted to H.264, because MP4 cannot carry those codecs as they are.
- 3
Remove and download
Press Remove audio. The result card shows the new size next to the old one, a lossless badge where it applies, and the muted video in a player. Download the MP4.
What this tool does
- Lossless: the audio track is removed and the video samples are copied byte for byte, so the picture cannot change
- Instant: no decoding, so a 2 GB file takes about as long as reading it
- MP4 and MOV directly; H.264 MKV and WebM copied into an MP4 without re-encoding
- VP8 and VP9 WebM converted to H.264 with no audio track, so the result is still a standard MP4
- The file card shows the audio track’s codec, bitrate and roughly what share of the file it is before you click
- Phone footage keeps its rotation flag, so portrait video stays upright
- A clear message when the video has no audio to remove, instead of an identical copy
What muting saves
| Source | Audio track | Path | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone clip, 1080p, 2 minutes, 180 MB | AAC 128 kbps, about 1.9 MB | Lossless | 178 MB MP4, every frame identical, done in well under a second |
| Screen recording, MKV from OBS, 1.2 GB | AAC 160 kbps stereo | Lossless (H.264 copied into MP4) | An MP4 about 1.17 GB with the video stream untouched |
| Browser recording, WebM (VP9 and Opus), 40 MB | Opus 96 kbps | Convert | H.264 MP4 with no audio track; a real encode, with progress and time left |
| Time-lapse exported without sound | None | Refused | “This video has no audio track”, so nothing is made |
The saving is the audio bitrate times the length: 128 kbps is 0.96 MB a minute, so muting rarely makes a big file small. If size is the goal, the compressor has a Remove audio option that mutes and compresses in one pass.
Why this is lossless, and why most online tools are not
Most “mute video” sites upload the file and run it through a general converter, which decodes and re-encodes the picture even though nothing about it needs to change. That costs time, costs quality, and means your video sat on someone else’s server. The ClipHeron engine works at the container level instead: it indexes the file, writes a new MP4 index that lists only the video track, and copies the video samples across unchanged. The result plays everywhere the original did, has the same frames in the same order, and is smaller by exactly the audio track.
Because nothing is decoded, the format of the video does not matter on this path: H.264, HEVC and even 4K HDR MP4s come out as they went in. The only files that need a real encode are WebM or MKV with VP8, VP9 or AV1 video, which MP4 cannot hold; those take the same path as the converter with the audio left out.
Mute, extract or replace?
If the sound has value, extract it before you mute: the extract audio tool copies an AAC track into an M4A with no quality loss, or writes a WAV for editing. If you want different sound on the video, that is a replace, which this release does not do; an editor on your device is the right tool for laying a new track and checking sync. If the real problem is that the file is too big to send, muting alone saves only the audio’s share; the compressor with Remove audio ticked gets you to a target size and drops the sound in the same pass.
Good to know
- Only the first video track is kept; subtitles, chapters and extra audio tracks are listed on the file card as not carried over.
- A video with no audio track is refused rather than copied, so you never download a duplicate thinking it changed.
- The output is always MP4. An MKV or WebM source with H.264 video is copied losslessly into that MP4; the container changes, the frames do not.
- Protected (DRM) files are refused.
Related tools and guides
Questions people ask
Does removing the audio change the video quality?
No. The video samples are copied byte for byte into the new file; nothing is decoded or re-encoded. The only exception is VP8 or VP9 WebM, which has to be converted to H.264 because MP4 cannot carry those codecs.
How much smaller will the file be?
By the size of the audio track, which the file card estimates. Stereo AAC at 128 kbps is about 1 MB a minute; a 10-minute video loses about 10 MB. For big savings, use the compressor.
Can I keep the audio as a separate file?
Yes: run the video through the extract audio tool first. For AAC sources that is a lossless copy to M4A; for others, a WAV.
Can I replace the audio with music or a voiceover?
Not in this release. Replacing audio needs a second file and a sync check, which belongs in an editor. This tool only removes.
Why did my WebM take a while when the page says instant?
Instant applies to files whose video can be copied into an MP4: MP4, MOV and H.264 MKV or WebM. VP8 and VP9 WebM cannot, so the video is converted to H.264 with the audio left out, and that is a real encode.
Will the muted video still play on my phone and TV?
Yes. A video-only MP4 is a normal MP4; every player handles it. Some platforms show a muted icon on upload, which is expected.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Muting happens in your browser and we never receive the file or its name. The how it works page explains how to confirm this with your browser’s network log.
What happens to your video
Processed on your device. Your video is never uploaded. ClipHeron runs in your browser. We don’t receive your videos, their names or anything in them. Ads on this page load separately and are not given your files.
The engine indexes the file in a background worker, writes a new MP4 that leaves the audio track out and copies the video samples across. On the lossless path nothing is decoded at all. The MP4 is assembled in the browser’s private temporary storage and handed to your download, then deleted. Nothing about the file is remembered.
The page does load advertising and analytics scripts, separate from the tool and described in our privacy policy. They are never given your files.
Sources and review
Page reviewed by the ClipHeron team · How it works · Changelog · Report a problem