converting all the mp4 audio files in a folder to mp3 using ffmpeg

Question

how can I convert all of the mp4 files in a given folder to mp3 using ffmpeg. Almost all of the links I have seen on google is all about converting mp4 video to mp3. I can do this via VLC player but I have got huge collection ~ 1000 mp4 audio files and want this to be done over command line by some script or command. Is it possible to do it via gstreamer?

Answer 1

One method is a bash for loop.

For converting only .mp4 files:

mkdir outputs
for f in *.mp4; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a libmp3lame "outputs/${f%.mp4}.mp3"; done

For converting .m4a, .mov, and .flac:

mkdir outputs
for f in *.{m4a,mov,flac}; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a libmp3lame "outputs/${f%.*}.mp3"; done

For converting anything use the "*" wildcard:

mkdir outputs
for f in *; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a libmp3lame "outputs/${f%.*}.mp3"; done