Why a Reddit video has no sound after you save it

Last updated: 21 September 2026

If you saved a Reddit clip and the picture is fine but there is no sound, the file is probably not broken. Reddit’s player stitches two streams while you watch. A naive save grabs only one of them. This page explains the split. The tool that muxes the tracks is the Reddit video downloader.

A silent original post stays silent. No downloader can invent a soundtrack Reddit never published.

What Reddit stores

Hosted uploads live on v.redd.it as DASH or CMAF tracks: a video file (often named like DASH_720.mp4) and, when the post has sound, a separate audio file. The official player plays both. Your browser’s “save video” control usually sees the video track only.

Some posts are genuinely silent — GIFs, screen recordings without a mic, or videos uploaded that way. Crossposts inherit silence if the original never had audio.

What Downaro can do

The Reddit downloader reads the public post JSON. When Reddit advertises both a picture track and an audio track, Downaro muxes them into one MP4. It also lists the audio file and any public images.

A silent file after that usually means the original post had no soundtrack. That is the product working, not a missing “add sound” button.

What to paste

Use the reddit.com comments permalink, not a raw v.redd.it URL. The post is what points at both tracks. A /s/ share card is expanded to that post when Reddit advertised it. Crossposts are walked back to the original public post when Reddit includes that data.

If the file has sound but Photos is empty

That is Safari putting the MP4 in Files, not a Reddit audio problem. Use save video to iPhone Photos. Related: save a Reddit video.