MPEG to MP3
MPEG to MP3 for old .mpg and .mpeg videos: camcorder clips, TV recordings, lectures. Free, unlimited, no sign-up, and the file never leaves your device.
Your file is converted in your browser and never uploaded to our servers.
How to convert MPEG to MP3
Everything happens in this browser tab, from picking the file to saving the audio.
- 1
Add the .mpg or .mpeg file
Drag it onto the box or tap to browse. Files ending in .mpe, .m1v or .m2v are accepted too. The first run fetches the converter once, about 9 MB.
- 2
Choose MP3 and a bitrate
192 kbps is preselected. Drop to 128 kbps for a talk or lecture, go to 320 kbps for a music recording, or switch to WAV or M4A.
- 3
Save the audio
The result keeps the old file name, so MOV00042.MPG becomes MOV00042.mp3 and still sorts next to the original.
Why convert MPEG to MP3 in your browser
Home movies stay at home
FFmpeg runs as WebAssembly inside your browser and reads the file from your disk. Nothing is uploaded, which matters for family footage and private recordings.
Tested on MPEG-1 with MP2 audio
That is the classic pairing in early-2000s .mpg files. In our test run it came out as a valid MP3 and a valid WAV.
Keeps the source's sample rate
We don't force 44.1 kHz stereo. A mono camcorder track stays mono and a 48 kHz track stays 48 kHz, the most an MP3 can hold.
No price, no cap
No account, no watermark and no daily limit on conversions. Work through a box of old clips one file after another.
Says so when there is no sound
Some old captures were saved without audio. Then you see "This video has no audio track" rather than a silent MP3.
MPEG-1 vs MPEG-2 files vs the MP3 you get
Both kinds of MPEG video can end in .mpg, so the extension alone won't tell you which one you have.
| MPEG-1 video | MPEG-2 video | Your MP3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical source | Digital cameras, early camcorders, CD-ROM era clips | TV tuner cards, hard-disk recorders, tape captures | Converted on this page |
| Audio inside | Usually MP2 (MPEG Layer II) | MP2, AC-3 or PCM | MP3 (MPEG Layer III) |
| Channels | Mono or stereo | Stereo, sometimes 5.1 | Mono or stereo only |
| Plays in phone galleries and browsers | Often not | Often not | Almost everywhere |
| Size | Large for the picture quality | Larger still | About 1.4 MB per minute at 192 kbps |
Old videos people convert from MPEG to MP3
Most .mpg files today sit in backup folders, and the sound is often what people want back.
2000s camcorder and camera clips
Many digital cameras of that era recorded short movies as MPEG-1 with MP2 sound. Pull out a birthday song or a first word as an MP3.
TV and tuner recordings
PC tuner cards and hard-disk recorders saved broadcasts as MPEG-2. Keep a radio-style copy of a concert or interview you recorded off the air.
Old training and lecture videos
Company courses and recorded seminars from the 2000s often shipped as .mpg. As audio, they play on a phone during a commute. 128 kbps is plenty for one speaker.
Digitized home movies
VHS and Hi8 tapes captured to a computer were often saved as MPEG-2. Grandparents' voices and holiday sing-alongs become small files anyone can play.
School, church and club events
Recitals, sermons and award nights filmed years ago. An MP3 is easy to email or share in a group chat, unlike a large .mpg.
MPEG to MP3 format: the names explained
MPEG is not one format. It is the name of the Moving Picture Experts Group and of the family of standards it wrote: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and more. A .mpg or .mpeg file is a video using MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.
MP3 belongs to the same family. Its full name is MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III. So asking for MP3 from an MPEG video makes sense, but it is still a conversion. The soundtrack of an old .mpg is usually Layer II audio (MP2) or Dolby AC-3, not MP3. The converter decodes that track and encodes it again with the LAME MP3 encoder, and drops the picture.
Mistakes when you convert MPEG to MP3
Mistake: Assuming a file labeled MPEG audio needs converting.
Do this instead: MP3 files are reported as audio/mpeg. If it already ends in .mp3 and plays, it is an MP3; convert only the .mpg or .mpeg videos.
Mistake: Picking 320 kbps to rescue a hissy camcorder track.
Do this instead: A higher bitrate can't remove noise or add detail. 128 or 192 kbps holds everything an old mono microphone captured.
Mistake: Expecting 5.1 surround from a TV recording in the MP3.
Do this instead: MP3 holds at most two channels, so the converter folds a 5.1 mix down to stereo. If the surround mix matters, pick WAV or M4A, which keep all six channels, or keep the original MPEG file.
Mistake: Converting a re-compressed copy instead of the first capture.
Do this instead: Every lossy step costs a little. Start from the earliest .mpg you have, not a version shrunk for email years ago.
Mistake: Running a multi-gigabyte tape capture on a phone.
Do this instead: Phones with little memory can fail on very large files. Move long captures to a computer and convert them there.
Privacy, cost and what it won't do
Your file stays put
Cloudflare serves this page and jsDelivr serves the open-source FFmpeg files. Your MPEG reaches neither; it is read and converted on your own machine.
Free for good
Every conversion is free and unlimited. There is no paid plan and nothing to sign up for.
The limits
One file at a time, first audio track only, no trimming. We haven't measured a maximum size. For a whole folder of MPEG to MP3 jobs, desktop VLC or FFmpeg can batch convert.