Convert any video file to M4A format online for free. Fast, secure, and easy-to-use video to M4A converter with no software installation required.
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Max file size: 50 MBMax duration: 30 min
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Drag and drop your MPEG file, or click to browse for it.
Choose M4A as the output and click Convert. The conversion runs on our servers, so your device does none of the work.
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Your file is used only to make your conversion. It is never published or shared, and the download link expires after one hour.
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How the two formats differ on the things that change your result.
| Specification | MPEG (source) | M4A (result) |
|---|---|---|
| Container | MPEG-1/2 Program Stream | MPEG-4 Part 14 |
| Developed by | MPEG | Apple / MPEG |
| Introduced | 1993 | 2003 |
| Audio codecs | MP2, MP3 | AAC-LC, HE-AAC, ALAC |
| Compression | Lossy | Depends on codec |
| Typical bitrate | 128–384 kbps | 96–256 kbps |
| Approx. file size | 15–68 MB per minute | 0.72–1.92 MB per minute |
| Metadata / tags | — | MPEG-4 iTunes-style atoms |
| Licensing | Patents expired | Patent-licensed |
| Plays natively on | Native: Windows · Needs a player: macOS, iOS, Android, Smart TVs | Native: Web browsers, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Smart TVs |
| Best for | broadcast, legacy archives, DVD authoring | the Apple ecosystem, music libraries, audiobooks |
This extracts the audio and discards the video entirely. The soundtrack inside a MPEG file is typically MP2, and it is re-encoded to AAC-LC on the way out.
Expect a much smaller file. Video accounts for most of the bytes, so about 41 MB per minute becomes roughly 1.3 MB per minute of M4A.
When a video holds several audio tracks, the main one is extracted; alternate language tracks are not merged into the result.
Extracting M4A audio from a MPEG video pulls the soundtrack out of the MPEG-1/2 Program Stream container and writes it as a standalone MPEG-4 Part 14 file. The video stream, which holds most of the data, is discarded.
Developed by MPEG in 1993, MPEG carries MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video and MP2 or MP3 audio. That combination sets the upper bound on what any conversion can preserve.
M4A was introduced by Apple / MPEG in 2003. It holds audio in whichever codec it was encoded with (AAC-LC, HE-AAC, or ALAC) and plays natively on web browsers, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and smart TVs.
After converting your file, you can use Scriptivox transcription services to convert your audio to text. Perfect for meetings, interviews, podcasts, and more.
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