How to convert video files to MP3 on a Chromebook

Do you have some video files you’d like to turn into MP3 files for later listening? Don’t know how to do it on your Chromebook? We’ll show you how. Follow along as we show you how to convert video files to MP3 on a Chromebook.

Enable Linux support on your Chromebook

Before you can use Linux conversion tools to convert video files to MP3 on your Chromebook, you’ll have to enable Linux support. Thankfully, setting up Linux support is pretty easy.

To start, click on the clock icon in the Chrome OS dash. After selecting the clock, locate the gear icon, and click on it with the mouse. Selecting this button will open up the Chrome OS settings area.

In the settings area, find the “Advanced” section, and click on the arrow next to it to reveal its options. Then, look for “Developers,” and click on it. When you select “Developers,” locate the “Linux development environment” area and click on the “Turn on” button to download and enable the container.

After selecting the “Turn on” button, Chrome OS will download the Terminal application to your computer. When the Terminal app is open, find the “Penguin” option, and click on it with the mouse to access the Chrome OS Linux terminal interface.

Inside the Linux terminal interface, use the apt update command. This command will check the Linux container running on your Chromebook for software updates and patches. This command shouldn’t take too long to complete.

sudo apt update

Once you’ve finished checking for software updates, you can install the software updates using the apt upgrade command. These software upgrades are critical, as they’ll keep the Linux container up to date.

sudo apt upgrade

How to install Ciano on Chrome OS

The Ciano app is installable on Chrome OS in two ways. Users can either download an installable DEB package or set it up via the Flathub app store as a Flatpak. In this guide, we’ll cover both methods of installation.

Debian installation

To install the Ciano app as a DEB package on your Chrome OS, you’ll first need to download the package. Open up the Chrome OS terminal app. Once open, find the “Penguin” area, and click on it with the mouse to load up the Chrome OS Linux interface.

After opening up the terminal window, use the wget command to download the latest release of the Ciano from the official website. The download should take only a few seconds to download.

wget https://github.com/robertsanseries/ciano/releases/download/0.1.4/com.github.robertsanseries.ciano_0.1.4_amd64.deb

Once the package is done downloading to your Chromebook, you’ll be able to install the software using the apt install command down below.

sudo apt install ./com.github.robertsanseries.ciano_0.1.4_amd64.deb

With the package installed, you’ll be able to access the Ciano application via the “Linux apps” area of the Chrome OS app menu.

Flatpak installation

Another way to install the Ciano conversion program on a Chromebook is by setting up Flatpak. To use Flatpak, open up the Chrome OS terminal app. Once open, find the “Penguin,” section, and click on it.

After selecting “Penguin,” you’ll need to install the “flatpak” package. This package handles all Flatpak stores and programs. Install the package with apt install command.

sudo apt install flatpak

With the Flatpak package installed, you can enable the Flathub app store on your Chrome OS computer with the flatpak remote-add command.

flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

With Flathub enabled, you can easily install the Ciano application on your Chromebook using the flatpak install.

 flatpak install flathub com.github.robertsanseries.ciano

How to convert video files to MP3 on a Chromebook

To convert video files to MP3 on a Chromebook, start by launching the Ciano application. Once it is open, launch the Chrome OS “Files” app, and place your video files in the “Linux files” folder, so that Ciano can access the files.

Inside of the “Ciano” app, find the “Convert file to” area on the left-hand sidebar. In this sidebar, locate “Music,” and click on the arrow next to it to expand the “Music” options.

Inside the “Music” area, select “MP3.” Choosing “MP3,” will immediately launch a “Convert File” window. Browse for the video file you wish to convert to an MP3, and select it to add to Ciano. Then, choose the “Start conversion” button.

When you select the “Start conversion” button, Ciano will add your video to the queue and begin the conversion process. This process shouldn’t take long, however, do not close Ciano until the conversion is complete.