Export audio as M4A from Vegas Pro V18

Mathew-Dickerson wrote on 5/3/2021, 12:12 AM

I have video files that I have created in Vegas Pro and I now need just the audio as a standalone file from them. I can export them as .MP3 or .WAV etc. but I would like to export them as .M4A but I can't find an option for that. .AAC would also be acceptable but when I choose that option the file is a .MP4 file. Is there a way I can export the audio as M4A? Thanks.

Comments

rraud wrote on 5/3/2021, 2:15 PM

Encode an audio-only MP4 (AVC/AAC) (or use a muxer on your video to convert to audio-only). Change the file's extension to <.m4a>... done.
M4A files use the AAC audio codec, or in some cases ALAC for Macs

JMacSTL wrote on 5/15/2021, 3:43 PM

Great solution @rraud. For year after mixing sound for video, I'd use QT Pro to add my mix as a stereo WAV file to the editor's video file (.mov or .mp4 Using QT Pro allows me to 'mux' them without having to re render the video (quicker and no loss in quality). BUT, now that I've been working from home the past yr, I've noticed my upload times for the resultant video file is longer due to the fact I'm adding a WAV file (2 channel, PCM uncompressed) file to it, making the new video file larger. Not a biggie if the it's a :30 spot, but if it's an hour long show, it's a significant size difference. So I started making .mp4 audio-only files to stick to the video. I never thought about changing the extension to something else, cuz QT doesn't seem to care. The only issue is when I send this file to an editor, they freak out cuz it ain't a wav file! ohwell. fun times, eh?

jmm in stl.

 

jmm in stl

Windows10 with Vegas 11 Pro (most recent build). Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz 3.90 GHz, 32GB ram, separate audio and video disks. Also Vegas 17 Pro on same system. GPU: NVDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. Dynamic RAM preview=OFF.

rraud wrote on 5/16/2021, 10:36 AM

@JMacSTL, changing an audio file's extension will not change the size or quality. PCM files are inherently larger than AAC, MP3 and other data compression (lossy) audio formats.

By using a single-channel mono lossy audio file type, quality will be better at about the same file size as a two-channel stereo. That can be ok for spoken word material, but for music and most S/FX, any spacial content (stereo) will be lost. Re-encoding lossy files will not increase quality no matter what.
For PCM files, converting to mono, will half the file size. Quality is retained.. but as in the other scenario, any spacial content is removed.