Extract one channel from a stereo recording

Interview recorded with the mic on the left only? Pull that channel to mono — or isolate mid/side for analysis.

Tools used in this guide

Audio channel extractor

The job

Stereo files carry two (or more) channels, and sometimes only one is usable — a dead channel, a one-sided interview, or content you want isolated as mid (L+R)/2 or side (L−R)/2.

Pick the operation

Mono averages every channel into one. Left/right keep a single channel. Mid keeps what both share; side keeps the difference — a quick karaoke-style probe. Output is always a mono 16-bit WAV.

Worked example

A stereo phone recording where only the left mic worked: extract left and the voice comes back at full level instead of half-panned. On a music file, side removes most center-panned vocal content — the rest of the instrumental leaks through.

Scope

Files up to 200 MB that decode within a 256 MiB PCM budget (about 12 minutes of 44.1 kHz stereo). Left/right/mid/side need a stereo source; a mono file can only be re-exported as mono. Uncompressed WAV out — no format conversion quality loss.