How-to guide
How to remove vocals from an Apple Music song
Songs from Apple Music subscriptions are DRM-protected and cannot be used in a vocal separator. If you own the song (purchased from the iTunes Store, or ripped from your own CD), VocalSplit accepts the M4A directly.
Tracks from your Music library saved from an Apple Music subscription are .m4p — protected and unusable. Songs you purchased outright are .m4a and work perfectly. Check the file extension before trying.
Step-by-step
- Verify the song is a purchase, not a subscription stream. In Finder, the file extension should be .m4a, not .m4p. If it is .m4p, you bought it pre-2009 or streamed it — neither works for separation.
- Export the M4A from your Music library. Right-click the song in Music or iTunes then Show in Finder, and drag the file to your Desktop.
- Open VocalSplit.io. Any browser — no install, no account.
- Upload the M4A. Drag and drop. VocalSplit reads M4A directly; no conversion needed.
- Pay $0.99 and download stems. About 15 seconds of processing, and you have vocals and instrumental as lossless 24-bit WAV.
Tips for better results
- iTunes Plus purchases (256 kbps AAC) give noticeably cleaner stems than 128 kbps files.
- If you bought an album on CD, ripping to Apple Lossless (ALAC) gives the best possible source.
- Apple Music's lossless streams cannot be saved as files — only subscription cache, which is DRM-protected.
Try VocalSplit free
Upload a song and get clean vocals and instrumental stems in under 15 seconds. First split is $0.99.
Split a song