A method for providing audio-only recording is disclosed. According to the method, a combined video stream and an audio stream are received from a source. The audio stream is digitized, if in analog form. The digitized audio stream is compressed using an audio encoding engine. The encoded audio stream is saved in a storage device. The storage device can be local or on a network. In the case of the input A/V signal being a multiplexed and compressed digital signal, the audio segment(s) are separated using a demultiplexer and saved in a storage device. The encoding format of the stored audio data follows that of the original audio data embedded in the multiplexed A/V stream. To store the audio data in a different encoded format, the audio data is first decoded using an appropriate audio decoder and then re-encoded in the desired encoding format. Alternatively, an audio transcoder can be used to store the audio data in the desired encoding format.