Convert Audio Files for Blankie

Blankie works with the most common audio formats on its own: M4A, MP3, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, OGG, CAF, AAC and AU. Two things still need a step first: a video you only want the sound from and a Windows Media (WMA) file. Here's how to handle each.

Pull the audio out of a video

Got a video and only want its sound? A video of rain, a clip with good ambience in the background, a screen recording? Apple's Shortcuts app can pull the audio into an M4A on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, no extra software needed.

The easy way is a ready-made shortcut. Add Convert Video to Audio, then use it whichever way suits the device:

• On Mac, right-click a video in Finder and choose Quick Actions → Convert Video to Audio.
• On iPhone or iPad, share a video to it from the share sheet, or open the shortcut and pick the video from Photos or Files.

It saves an M4A into a "Converted" folder and opens the result, ready to import into Blankie.

You can also build your own version. In the Shortcuts app, add Encode Media with Audio Only turned on, feed it a video from Select Photos or Select File, and finish with Save File.

Alternatively, you can use free browser-based tools like Convertio to pull out just the audio, or if you're at a computer use Audacity with its free FFmpeg add-on. Import the result like any other sound.

Convert an unsupported format (like WMA)

WMA is far less common of a format than it used to be, but it's just about the only one Blankie can't read. The fastest and easiest option (and only one on iPhone and iPad) to make it Blankie-compatible is to use a free, browser-based converter. Load up Convertio, or one of the many sites like it, in your browser, choose M4A or MP3 as the output and then download the result.

If you have a computer, Audacity is a free audio editor, but you'll need to install the free FFmpeg add-on (a one-time setup) before it can read and convert a WMA file. After that's set up, open the file, choose File → Export Audio, and then pick M4A or MP3. Both are compact, and Blankie reads them natively.