Converting Embedded Powerpoint Audio to .mp3

In my continuing quest to get a Master’s in Software Engineering, I am enrolled in SENG 6270. Software Verification and Validation at East Carolina University. As a distance student, one of the most useful techniques I have found for studying is converting any lectures to regular compressed audio, so I can listen to them during my daily commute. This particular class has the base lectures going up as PowerPoint files. In this post, I will describe how to take a PowerPoint presentation and convert it to .mp3 (or whichever audio format you desire).

Step 1: Extract WAV audio from PowerPoint

The easiest way to access the audio from a PowerPoint file is to save it as a webpage.  Unfortunately, Microsoft hid this option ins PowerPoint 2010, so here is the workaround.  Load up your PowerPoint file in Microsoft PowerPoint and complete the following:

1. Press ALT+F11
2. Press CTRL+G
3. In the immediate window type the following:

ActivePresentation.SaveAs “<Drive>:\users\<username>\desktop\<filename>.htm”, ppSaveAsHTML, msoFalse

1. Press ENTER.

You should now have something like the following:

Inside the folders you will find the .wav files:

Step 2: Merge WAV files and convert to MP3 using foobar2000

1. Download and install foobar2000.
2. Download and install the LAME binary. This is used to convert .wav to .mp3 using foobar.
3. Fire up foobar2000 and drag all of the .wav files into it.  It should look like the following when done:

1. Select all the files using Ctrl+A.  Right click on the selected files and choose “Convert“.  Select the “…“.

You will be presented with this windows, where you can configure settings:

Make sure to click and configure “Output format” and “Destination“.  “Output format” lets you choose your destination audio format.  If you choose .mp3 it will ask for the location of your lame binary, which you previously downloaded.  In “Destination” make sure that “merge all tracks into one file” is selected:

Click “Convert”.  BAM.  Done.