FLV to MP3 Converter
FLV files are what is left of the Flash era: saved web videos, webcam messages and stream recordings that modern players often refuse. Upload them here to keep the sound as a regular MP3.
Video to Audio
or drop MP4, MOV, MKV … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Keep the source rate unless a device or app asks for one. 44.1 kHz is CD standard, 16 kHz is enough for speech recognition.
Mono halves the size of lossless files and is fine for speech.
16-bit is CD quality. Choose 24-bit only if you will edit or master the audio.
Videos with several languages or a commentary have more than one track. 1 is the main track.
Optional. Seconds (e.g. 75) or minutes:seconds (1:15). Leave empty to start at the beginning.
Optional. Same format as the start time. Leave empty to keep everything up to the end.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the FLV files
Add up to 20 .flv files from an old hard drive, a backup disc or a stream recorder, each up to 95 MB.
- 2
Leave 128 kbps or raise it
Flash video rarely carried audio above 128 kbps, so this page uses 128 kbps and 44.1 kHz. Pick 192 kbps for music videos saved in later H.264 FLVs.
- 3
Extract to MP3
Press Extract to MP3 and save the files. They play in any music app, no Flash plug-in involved.
How do I get MP3 audio from an FLV file without Flash Player?
Upload the .flv here and press Extract to MP3. The audio track, whether MP3, AAC or a Flash speech codec, is decoded on the server and saved as a 128 kbps MP3; you do not need Flash or any plug-in.
What an FLV file is and what audio it holds
FLV, short for Flash Video, was created by Macromedia, later bought by Adobe, to stream video into the Flash Player plug-in. For most of the 2000s it was how video worked on the web. Early FLV files paired Sorenson Spark or On2 VP6 video with MP3 sound; later ones used H.264 with AAC, the same codecs as an MP4.
Flash also had its own speech codecs, Nellymoser and later Speex, for anything recorded through a microphone in the browser. That is why FLV files from webcam recorders and chat apps of the time sound thin even after conversion: the source was compressed for voice at very low bitrates.
The format has not disappeared completely. RTMP, the protocol many streaming services still use for live ingest, carries FLV-packaged audio and video, and some stream tools save recordings in it. Either way, the extraction here reads the audio stream and re-encodes it as MP3.
Flash video in five dates
2002
Video in Flash
Flash Player 6 adds Sorenson Spark video; FLV files soon follow as a separate download format.
2005
VP6 and YouTube
Flash 8 brings On2 VP6, and YouTube launches the same year on Flash-based video.
2007
H.264 and AAC
Flash Player 9 Update 3 plays H.264 video with AAC sound, the codecs MP4 still uses.
2008
Speex arrives
Flash Player 10 adds the Speex speech codec for microphone input.
2015
YouTube switches
YouTube makes HTML5 video its default player, and Flash video starts its decline.
2020the year Adobe ended support for Flash Player
FLV
Flash Video
FLV is the Flash Video container that Macromedia, later Adobe, introduced in the early 2000s for streaming video in Flash Player. It powered early YouTube and many video sites, and the FLV format is still used by some RTMP live-streaming tools. With Flash Player discontinued in 2020, browsers and phones no longer play FLV files. VLC and other desktop players still open them.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- Macromedia (now Adobe)
MP3
MP3 audio
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is a lossy audio format developed largely at the Fraunhofer Institute and standardised by MPEG in 1993. It removes sounds the ear is unlikely to notice, shrinking music to about a tenth of CD size at 128–320 kbps. All patents have expired, and every phone, car stereo, browser and media player supports it. Quality loss is audible at low bitrates and accumulates with re-encoding.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1993 · Fraunhofer IIS / MPEG
People convert FLV to MP3 to save interviews, songs and webcam messages from old Flash-era downloads before the files become unplayable, keeping only the audio in the most widely supported format.
FLV to MP3 questions
Why can't I play FLV files anymore?
Browsers played FLV through the Flash Player plug-in, and Adobe ended Flash Player support at the end of 2020. Desktop apps such as VLC still open many FLV files, but phones, TVs and the default players in Windows and macOS generally do not.
What bitrate should an MP3 from an old FLV use?
Match the source, which is usually 64–128 kbps for Flash-era web video. Encoding a 96 kbps track at 320 kbps only makes the file larger. For music videos from the H.264 years, 160–192 kbps is a sensible ceiling.
What are Nellymoser and Speex in an FLV file?
They are speech codecs that Flash used for microphone input, for example in webcam messages, video chat recorders and browser games. They were designed for voice, so the MP3 will sound like a phone call no matter which bitrate you choose.
Can I extract the audio from an OBS recording saved as FLV?
Yes. OBS Studio can record to FLV, and those files carry AAC sound, which converts cleanly. Recording to MKV or MP4 is the more common choice today because those formats support more audio tracks.
Should I convert the FLV to MP4 instead?
If you want to keep watching the clip, yes: FLV to MP4 re-encodes the picture into a format every device plays. Use this page when the sound, a speech, a song or an interview, is the only part you need.
Does this page handle SWF files too?
No. An .swf is a Flash application or animation rather than a plain video, and it may contain sound only as part of interactive content. Try SWF to MP4 first, then extract the audio from the MP4.
Convert other video files to audio
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- WebM to MP3 ConverterConvert WebM to MP3 online: turn browser recordings and web video into MP3 that plays in iTunes, car stereos and old players. 192 kbps, 44.1 kHz, 20 files.
- SWF to MP4 ConverterConvert SWF to MP4 so Flash-era cartoons, intros and e-learning clips play on phones and browsers again, years after Flash Player was shut down.
- MP4 to FLV ConverterTurn an MP4 into an FLV with AAC audio for an RTMP test stream, a flv.js page or an old Flash-era player that will not take MP4. 20 files per batch.