Extracting Audio

Sometimes you don't need the video — just the audio. Maybe you want to save a song from a music video, grab a podcast episode for your commute, or extract the audio from a lecture to listen while you walk. Fetchii makes this easy.

Downloading Audio Only

The fastest way to get just the audio is to skip the video entirely. In the New Download sheet (File > New Download… or the options button in the link field), choose Audio only next to Download. Fetchii will download only the audio track, giving you a much smaller file (typically 10-50 MB instead of 500 MB or more for video).

If you mostly want audio, set Settings > Downloads > Quality & Format > Default download type to Audio only — new downloads and browser-extension downloads then start that way.

This works great for:

Music videos where you just want the song
Podcasts that were uploaded as video
Interviews and talks
Audiobooks or spoken content

Choosing an Audio Format

Fetchii can save audio in several formats, each with its own strengths:

Format	Best For	Notes
M4A/AAC	iPhones, iPads, Apple Music	Great quality, widely supported
MP3	Everything	Universal compatibility (audio-only downloads)
FLAC	High-quality archiving	Lossless but larger files
WAV	Audio editing	Lossless, very large files (extraction only)
Opus	Modern apps and players	Best quality per file size

For audio-only downloads, set your format in Settings > Downloads > Audio > Audio format (M4A, MP3, Opus or FLAC; M4A by default). When you extract audio from a video you've already downloaded, you choose M4A (AAC), Opus, FLAC or WAV each time.

Audio Quality

Audio quality is measured in bitrate (kbps). Higher bitrate means better quality but larger files:

Quality	Bitrate	5-minute file size	When to use
Low	128 kbps	~5 MB	Voice content, podcasts
Medium	192 kbps	~7 MB	General listening
High	256 kbps	~9 MB	Music
Best	320 kbps	~12 MB	Maximum quality MP3

For downloads, pick Audio quality in Settings > Downloads > Audio (Best by default). When extracting, choose 128-320 kbps, or Auto (Original) to keep the source's quality.

For spoken content like podcasts or lectures, 128-192 kbps is plenty. For music, go with 256 kbps or higher if you care about quality.

Extracting Audio from Downloaded Videos

Already downloaded a video but now want just the audio? No problem — you can extract it after the fact.

Right-click a downloaded video in your list and choose Convert > Extract Audio. Choose the Format and Audio quality, and click Start. Fetchii pulls out the audio track and saves the new file next to the original video; in History it appears under its source video.

Want it even faster? Select the video and choose Convert > Quick Extract Audio in the menu bar, then M4A (AAC), Opus, FLAC or WAV. It starts right away and keeps the original audio quality.

Extraction works on videos Fetchii downloaded, one at a time.

Keeping Things Organized

Audio-only downloads carry the video's details as tags when Embed metadata and Embed thumbnail are on in Settings > Downloads > Metadata (both are on by default):

Title becomes the track name
Channel/uploader becomes the artist
Video thumbnail becomes album art

This means your audio files show up nicely in music players with proper titles and artwork.

Audio you extract from a downloaded video keeps the text tags embedded in that video, but not its thumbnail.

Audio Normalization

Ever notice how some audio is too quiet and some is too loud? You can have Fetchii even out the volume.

For audio-only downloads, turn on Settings > Downloads > Audio > Normalize audio volume. When extracting, turn on Normalize in the Extract Audio sheet. Either way you won't be constantly reaching for the volume control — normalizing just takes a little longer.

Common Uses

Saving music: Paste a music video URL in the New Download sheet, choose Audio only, and use M4A or MP3 as your audio format. Done — you have the song.

Podcast archiving: Download as Audio only with Medium or Low audio quality. The smaller file size makes it practical to save many episodes.

Lecture audio: Extract audio from recorded lectures or presentations. Great for studying on the go without staring at a screen.

Creating ringtones: Extract audio, then use another app to trim it down to ringtone length.

If Something Goes Wrong

No audio stream available: Some videos don't have a separate audio track. Try downloading the full video first, then extracting the audio.

Poor audio quality: The source video might just have low-quality audio. Try checking if a higher-quality version exists.

Sync issues: Very rare with direct extraction. If you encounter this, try extracting again with different settings.