How to Convert Video to Opus Online
- Upload Your Video File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select any video. The tool accepts 35+ container and codec combinations: MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WebM, FLV, WMV, MPEG, MTS/M2TS, 3GP, OGV, AVCHD, HEVC, AV1, DivX, Xvid, VOB, ASF, RM/RMVB, and more. Batch is supported.
- Pick a Quality Preset or Custom Bitrate: Default is the "Very High (Recommended)" Quality Preset. For tighter targets, switch to Constant Bitrate (32-384 kbps), Variable Bitrate, Custom Bitrate (any kbps value), Specific File Size (MB/KB target), or File Size Percentage (1-100% of source audio size). Opus stays transparent for music around 96-128 kbps and excellent for voice as low as 24-32 kbps.
- Set Audio Channel and Sample Rate (Optional): Audio Channel defaults to ORIGINAL — change to Mono to halve size for voice, or Stereo to force two channels. Audio Sample Rate defaults to ORIGINAL; Opus is internally a 48 kHz codec, so 48000 Hz is the natural match. 16/24 kHz are fine for speech-only material.
- Trim and Convert (Optional): Switch Trim from "Unchanged" to "Trim" and enter Start Time + Duration (seconds, or HH:MM:SS.sss). Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.opus`.
Why Convert Video to Opus?
Opus is the modern royalty-free audio codec from the Xiph.Org Foundation, standardized by the IETF as RFC 6716 in September 2012. It combines Skype's SILK speech codec with Xiph's CELT music codec into a single bitstream that adapts to whatever content you throw at it. For extracting audio from video, Opus produces noticeably smaller files than MP3 or AAC at matched perceptual quality — typically 20-30% less data for the same listening experience. Common reasons to extract video audio as Opus:
- Lecture, podcast, and interview archives — A 1-hour MP4 lecture often carries 50-80 MB of audio at MP4 defaults. Re-encoded to 32 kbps Opus mono it lands around 14 MB while remaining crystal-clear for speech.
- Music videos to portable audio — Extract the soundtrack from a music video at 96-128 kbps Opus and you get effectively transparent quality at roughly half the size of an equivalent 192-256 kbps MP3.
- WebRTC, Discord voice, and real-time apps — Opus is the mandatory audio codec for WebRTC per IETF RFC 7874, and Discord uses Opus internally for voice. Native Opus assets skip the transcode step entirely.
- OGG/WebM-native playback in browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera have supported Opus since 2013-2014, and Apple finally added full Opus support to iOS Safari 18.4 (March 2025). Self-hosted audio on a modern site can ship Opus and skip MP3 fallback for most visitors.
- Game asset and embedded device audio — Unity, Godot, and most modern engines decode Opus natively. Smaller assets mean smaller installs and faster streaming over LTE/5G.
- Storage savings on long recordings — A 2-hour Zoom or OBS recording exported as MP4 can shed 60-70% of its audio bytes when extracted to 24-48 kbps Opus mono, with no audible loss for spoken content.
Opus vs MP3 vs AAC for Audio Extraction
| Property | Opus | MP3 | AAC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standardized | 2012 (RFC 6716) | 1993 (ISO/IEC 11172-3) | 1997 (ISO/IEC 13818-7) |
| Bitrate range | 6-510 kbps | 8-320 kbps | 8-529 kbps |
| Voice quality at 32 kbps | Excellent | Poor | Fair |
| Music quality at 96 kbps | Transparent for most material | Audible artifacts | Good |
| Music quality at 128 kbps | Indistinguishable from source | Good | Very good |
| Minimum algorithmic latency | 5 ms (CELT mode) | ~150-200 ms | ~20-100 ms |
| Royalty / licensing | Royalty-free, open | Patents expired April 2017 | Patents still apply |
| Mandatory in WebRTC | Yes | No | No |
| iOS Safari native playback | 18.4+ (March 2025) | All versions | All versions |
| Container | .opus (Ogg) or WebM |
.mp3 |
.m4a, .aac, .mp4 |
Opus Bitrate Quick Guide for Video Audio
| Bitrate | Channels | Best for | 1-hour file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16-24 kbps | Mono | Voice memos, low-bandwidth speech | 7-11 MB |
| 32 kbps | Mono | Lectures, podcasts, audiobook ripping | ~14 MB |
| 48 kbps | Mono/Stereo | High-quality voice, interviews | ~22 MB |
| 64 kbps | Stereo | Casual music, mixed content | ~29 MB |
| 96 kbps | Stereo | Transparent music for most listeners | ~43 MB |
| 128 kbps | Stereo | Audiophile-grade transparency | ~58 MB |
| 192+ kbps | Stereo | Diminishing returns; archival only | 86+ MB |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why pick Opus over MP3 when extracting audio from video?
Opus is roughly 20-30% more efficient than MP3 at matched perceptual quality, and the gap widens at low bitrates. A 64 kbps Opus stereo file is competitive with a 96-128 kbps MP3 for most music, and a 32 kbps mono Opus voice file beats any MP3 at the same rate. Opus is also royalty-free with no licensing footprint — useful if you're shipping audio inside an app, game, or self-hosted player.
What bitrate should I choose for a lecture or podcast extraction?
For pure speech, 24-32 kbps mono Opus is usually all you need — that's where Opus shines hardest relative to MP3/AAC. For interviews with music intros and stings, bump to 48-64 kbps stereo. There is rarely a reason to exceed 96 kbps for voice content; the extra bits aren't audible and just bloat the file.
Can my phone or browser actually play .opus files?
Most can. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera have played Opus since 2013-2014; Android has decoded it natively since Android 5.0 (2014). iOS Safari was the last major holdout — partial support shipped in iOS 11, and full Opus support arrived in iOS Safari 18.4 (March 2025). Desktop Safari is still partial as of caniuse's current data; macOS users may prefer VLC, IINA, or foobar2000 for direct playback. If you need a format every device plays without thinking, extract to MP3 or AAC instead — see Video to MP3.
Does Opus support stereo, or is it only for voice?
Opus is fully stereo (and supports multichannel surround up to 255 channels via channel mapping families). The "voice codec" association comes from its SILK lineage; the CELT side handles full-band music up to 48 kHz sample rate. At 96-128 kbps stereo, listening tests consistently rate Opus at or above AAC-LC and Vorbis. Set Audio Channel to Stereo if you want to preserve the source's stereo image.
Why does the converter list 48000 Hz as the highest sample rate?
Opus is internally a 48 kHz codec — the bitstream always carries 48 kHz frames, regardless of what sample rate you feed in. Lower sample rates (8/12/16/24 kHz) are advertised modes used during encoding to constrain bandwidth, not output rates. Feeding 44.1 kHz source audio works fine but causes a 44.1 → 48 kHz resample. If you have 48 kHz video audio (most modern phones and cameras record at 48 kHz), leave the sample rate as ORIGINAL or pick 48000 Hz explicitly.
Can I trim a long video and extract only one segment as Opus?
Yes. Switch the Trim toggle from "Unchanged" to "Trim" and enter Start Time + Duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss format. Useful for pulling a single song from a concert recording, a quote from a long interview, or a chapter from a recorded webinar. If you need a non-Opus output, see Video to MP3 or Video to AAC.
My source is already an Opus-in-WebM file — can I just remux instead of re-encoding?
This converter re-encodes through the audio pipeline rather than stream-copying. If your source video already contains Opus audio (most WebM files from YouTube downloads do), re-encoding to Opus is essentially a transcoded copy and introduces a small additional generational loss. For lossless extraction from WebM/MKV with native Opus audio, a stream-copy tool like ffmpeg with -c:a copy is the right call. For everything else — MP4/MOV/AVI/MTS/etc. — you have to re-encode, and Opus is an excellent target.
Will Opus files work in iTunes, Apple Music, or on iPods?
Native iTunes and the Apple Music desktop app do not play .opus files. iPods, iPod Touches, and pre-iOS-18.4 iPhones don't play Opus either. For Apple-ecosystem distribution use AAC (.m4a) or MP3 — see Convert Video to MP3. For everything else (Android, Windows, Linux, modern browsers, Discord, game engines), Opus is the better target.
Does the converter strip metadata or chapters from the source video?
The audio extraction preserves Opus-relevant tags (title, artist, album where present) via Vorbis comments inside the Ogg container. Video chapters, subtitle tracks, and video-only metadata fields are dropped — you're keeping only the audio stream. If you need chapter-aware extraction, run the trim step once per chapter using Start Time + Duration. Once you have your .opus file you can also compress it further if you need to hit a specific upload limit.