The aim of this study was to examine experienced sadness and changes in mood as a result of exposure to sad excerpts presented through different modalities. Also, the aim was to investigate the relationship between experienced sadness and current mood, emotional use of music, absorption in music, liking, and familiarity of excerpts. 134 participants took part in the study and they completed the emotional use of music scale and absorption in music scale, after which they were assigned to one of three conditions of excerpts presentation (music excerpts, video excerpts with music, and video excerpts without music). Participants’ task was to assess felt emotions evoked by excerpts, and familiarity and liking of each excerpt. Before and after exposure to excerpts, the participants assessed their mood. Felt sadness was in consistent positive correlation with liking, while other correlations were mostly absent. The excerpt presentation condition had an effect on felt sadness only for some excerpts, where the felt sadness was more or less pronounced when participant were presented with a video excerpt with music. Participants’ mood changed due to exposure to excerpts only when they were presented with video excerpts, where positive affect decreased and negative affect increased after exposure to video excerpts with music, while positive affect decreased after exposure to video excerpts without music. Results of the study imply that the condition of excerpt presentation can influence emotional experience and mood change, but the idiosyncrasies of music and video excerpts may affect this relationship in different ways.