You can take the sound out of a video on Android and keep it as its own audio file. PlainLoud saves audio only as M4A or WAV. It can also make the sound louder or clearer while it saves. This works well for a recorded talk, a lecture, or a song from a clip you filmed. If you just want the file, you can skip every slider.

The steps match the Play listing as of November 2026. Every feature is free. There is no watermark, no ads, no sign-up, no trial, no subscription, and no in-app purchase.

Save the sound as an audio file

  1. Install PlainLoud.
  2. Pick the video. The app uses Android’s own file picker, so it asks for no storage permission. You can also share a video to it from the gallery or a files app.
  3. To keep the sound as it was recorded, leave the volume alone.
  4. Choose audio only, then M4A or WAV. WAV is uncompressed, so expect a bigger file. Pick it if the next app you use asks for WAV.
  5. Save, and keep PlainLoud open until it finishes. Long files are streamed, not loaded into memory all at once.
  6. Find the new file in Music/PlainLoud. The original video is never changed.

Clean it up before you save

Sound pulled from a phone video is often quiet or muddy. You can fix some of that in the same pass.

  • Auto loudness. The app measures the file and sets the boost for you. It can aim for −16, −14, or −11 LUFS. Pick the one that matches where the audio is going.
  • Manual volume. Boost by up to +30 dB, or turn it down by up to 10 dB. A look-ahead limiter stops loud moments from crackling when the quiet parts come up.
  • Equalizer. Six bands, ±15 dB each. Voice clarity and Podcast are sensible starting points for speech. You can save your own presets.
  • Low cut. This trims low rumble such as wind, hum, and handling noise.
  • Compressor. This evens out the gap between loud and quiet parts.
  • Mono. Use this when the sound only plays on one side.

Tap between Original and Edited to compare. The preview uses the same processing as the saved file, so what you hear is what you get. After saving, PlainLoud measures the new file and shows loudness and peak before and after.

The other way round: keep the picture, drop the sound

Sometimes you want the video without its audio, maybe to add music later in another app. PlainLoud can save a video with the sound removed. The video stream is copied as it is, so the picture, quality, and file size stay the same.

When this is the wrong tool

Some videos carry more than one sound track. PlainLoud only uses the first one. If the track you need is the second, such as another language, this app will not get it out.

Boosting also cannot recover sound that was never recorded. If the voice was far from the phone, it gets louder, and so does the room around it. Your best bet is to clean what is there with the low cut and the Voice clarity preset, then decide if it is good enough.

Privacy

There is no account, no analytics, and no internet permission. The audio file stays on your phone until you share it.

Get PlainLoud on Google Play