How to remove music from a video

First, work out how the music got there

What you can do depends on whether the music is a separate track or baked into the same audio as everything else.

• Separate track: you added the song in an editor such as CapCut, Clipchamp or iMovie, or in the Instagram or TikTok editor, and you still have the project or draft.
• Mixed in: the music was playing in the room while you filmed, or you received a finished video file. Voices and music are now one audio signal.

If the music is a separate track

1. Open the original project or draft, not the exported video.
2. Find the music on the timeline. It usually sits on its own row below the video.
3. Select the music clip and delete it, or mute it with the speaker icon.
4. Play the video to check that voices and other sounds are still there.
5. Export a new copy.

In the Instagram Reels editor, music sits on the right side of the Audio panel, separate from your Camera Audio, and you can turn its bar down or remove it before sharing. In TikTok, you can replace or remove an added sound from the Sound option on the editing screen.

If the music is mixed in with voices

A normal mute can’t tell music and speech apart. For that you need a source-separation tool, which uses AI to split a mixed recording into voice and everything else.

• CapCut (desktop): right-click the clip on the timeline and use the vocal isolation option to keep the voice. CapCut lists this as a Pro feature, so it may require a subscription.
• DaVinci Resolve Studio: the Voice Isolation effect reduces everything except speech. It’s only in the paid Studio edition, not the free version.
• Online stem separators: many websites split audio into vocals and instruments. Most upload your file to their servers, so check their privacy terms first.

Sung lyrics count as vocals, so voice isolation keeps the singing and removes only the instruments. Expect some artifacts, such as a watery or thin sound, especially when the music was loud.

If you don’t need any of the original sound

Sometimes the cleanest option is to remove the whole audio track and add new music or a voiceover afterwards. That removes the music completely, with no artifacts. On iPhone, Photos can mute a video (Edit, then the speaker icon); on Mac, QuickTime Player has Edit > Remove Audio; in a browser, MuteVideo removes every audio track without re-encoding.

Removing music doesn’t guarantee a video won’t be flagged for copyright, especially if any trace of the song remains. When you post, use music the platform licenses or that you have the rights to.