By Farrah Penn -
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[VLC Tutorial] Add an Audio Track to a Video with VLC
Please note that VLC cannot save the result file. We recommend you to use a video editor for this.
Being a multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project, VLC acts as a free and open-source media player for multiplatform: Windows, macOS, Linux, BeOS and so on. It supports playing of diverse audio files, video files, and even DVD movies. What differs it from other players is that it is totally free. Apart from these fundamental features as a media player, VLC can help users to perform somewhat editor-like task such as adding audio tracks to video. For example, if your source video file has no background sound (see best places to get free background music for your video), or if you want to add an .mp3 file in another language, you can add an audio file into it and click on Play.
In the next paragraphs, we'll discuss the steps to add audio track to a video in VLC.
How to Add External Audio Track to a Video with VLC
1. Go to Media > click Multiple Files, then a second window will pop up > click Add.
2. Load the target video. Tick "Show more options" and "Play another media synchronously". Then click "Browse" to open another window.
3. Click + Add on the second Open Media window > load the audio files that works on the video selected before.
4. Click Select on the second Open Media window > click Play on the first Open Media window.
5. Go to Audio > Audio track > Track 2. Then the audio files will be added to the video.
Useful Tips:
- You can also add more audio tracks to the video with VL
- You can either overlay or replay the original audio.
Other Features of VLC Related to Audio Editing:
- Webcasting: VLC allows users to enjoy online radio.
- Audio Filtering: VLC allows users to abstract audio track form a video.
- Various supporting formats: AAC, AC-3, DV Audio, FLAC, MP3, Speex, Vorbis etc.
Cons of VLC:
- VLC can help add audios to a video, but cannot save and output it for other uses.
- Notable as VLC is for its multiplatform supporting, there are still some codes/files that are not supported by VLC. Some codec settings must be done in advance for successful playing of the videos/audio.
- Problems such as no sound and subtitle errors also appear sometimes.
- VLC can not help with the playback of M4V or M4A files on Mac computer.
- VLC lacks some crucial features like the adjustment of audio codec, bit rate, sample rate etc.
VLC is absolutely an outstanding media player for you to play diverse media files. As for video audio editing, it can do some simple tasks, and works not bad indeed, but not perfectly enough. And the point is, the audio is added to the video only for playing, not for outputting.
However, if you intend to add audio tracks to a video and do refined editing so as to SAVE the outcome for further use, we recommend you to turn to a professional editing app, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro (X), Lightworks, DaVinci Resolve and Blender.
