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Need help?Convert HEVC to MP3 online, free. This HEVC to MP3 converter extracts the audio track from a video encoded with HEVC (H.265) — an iPhone .mov, an .mp4, .m4v or .mkv — and encodes it as MP3. Keep the Very High quality preset or set a constant, variable or custom bitrate, switch to mono, change the sample rate, or convert only a time range.
How to convert HEVC to MP3
- Upload the video: Drag the .mov, .mp4, .m4v or .mkv file onto the page or click Add Files. Several videos can go in one job; each produces one MP3.
- Choose the quality: File Compression is on the Quality Preset Very High. For a specific figure, switch to Constant Bitrate (128 kbps is pre-selected, 8 to 320 kbps on offer), Variable Bitrate, Custom Bitrate or Specific file size.
- Convert and download: Set Audio Channel to Mono for speech, pick an Audio Sample Rate if a device needs one, use Trim for a section, click Convert, and download the MP3.
Quality Preset
The Quality Preset ladder runs Highest, Very High (Recommended), High, Medium, Low, Very Low and Lowest, with Very High selected. A preset sets the encoder's quality level rather than a fixed data rate, so the bitrate of the result varies with the material. Use the bitrate modes when a player or a size limit asks for a specific figure.
Bitrate and file-size modes
Constant Bitrate offers the standard MP3 steps from 8 to 320 kbps: 320 kbps keeps the most of the original, 192 kbps is enough for most listening, 96 to 128 kbps suits speech. Variable Bitrate offers ten ranges from 45–85 kbps up to 220–260 kbps and spends more bits on complex passages. Custom Bitrate accepts any typed value, 128 kbps by default; a rate the codec cannot produce at the current sample rate is adjusted, with a note in the result. Specific file size derives the bitrate from the duration so the MP3 lands at or under the figure you enter (8 MB is pre-filled); File Size Percentage works the same way as a share of the uploaded file's size. For reference, 128 kbps is about 1 MB per minute and 320 kbps about 2.4 MB per minute.
Audio Channel, Audio Sample Rate and Trim
Audio Channel is Original by default; Mono halves the data and is the right choice for interviews, lectures and voice memos. Audio Sample Rate is Original by default, with 8000, 12000, 16000, 24000, 44100 and 48000 Hz available; leave it alone unless a device needs a particular rate. Trim is Unchanged by default; switch it on and enter a start time and a duration, in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss, to convert one part of the video — the duration field is pre-filled with 10 seconds.
When to convert HEVC to MP3
- Dialogue, a lecture or a concert recorded on an iPhone is wanted as audio only.
- A podcast or voice memo was captured as video and should be published as audio.
- A soundtrack has to play on a device or in a program that does not open video.
What to expect
The picture is ignored; only the audio stream is read and encoded. Most HEVC recordings carry AAC audio, which is already lossy, so the MP3 is a second lossy pass; choose 256 to 320 kbps, or the Very High or Highest preset, to keep the difference small, and 96 to 128 kbps mono for speech. A bare .hevc file is a video elementary stream with no audio inside it: the page accepts the extension, but there is nothing to extract and the job cannot produce an MP3. The sound is in the .mov or .mp4 the stream came from — upload that file instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this page accept iPhone .mov and .mp4 files?
Yes. It accepts .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .mkv and .hevc. iPhone recordings are .mov files holding HEVC video and AAC audio; the converter reads the AAC track and encodes it to MP3.
I uploaded a .hevc file and got no MP3 — why?
A .hevc, .h265 or .265 file is a raw H.265 video stream. The standard defines picture only, so the file contains no audio and nothing can be extracted. Find the container file — .mov, .mp4 or .mkv — that the stream was taken from and convert that.
Which bitrate should I choose?
For music, 256 or 320 kbps or the Very High preset; for speech, 96 to 128 kbps with Audio Channel set to Mono. There is no benefit in going above the bitrate of the source audio.
Will the audio lose quality?
A little. The AAC in most HEVC videos is already lossy, and MP3 is a second lossy encode. At 256 to 320 kbps the difference is small for most listeners.
Can I extract only part of the audio?
Yes. Switch Trim on and enter the start time and duration of the part you want. For several sections from one recording, convert the whole file and cut it with the Audio Cutter.
Does XConvert keep my files?
Files are processed on our servers and deleted automatically after a few hours.
Related tools
- HEVC to MP4 — keep the picture and make the video playable everywhere
- MOV to MP3 — the same extraction for any .mov, whatever its codec
- MP4 to MP3 — the same extraction for any .mp4
- HEVC to WAV — uncompressed audio for editing
- Audio Cutter — cut the finished MP3 into pieces
References
- ITU-T H.265, High efficiency video coding: https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265
- ISO/IEC 11172-3 (MPEG-1 Audio, Layer III): https://www.iso.org/standard/22412.html
- LAME MP3 encoder: https://lame.sourceforge.io/