Convert M4A to MP3 online

Your M4A file is converted to MP3 right here in your browser, using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Nothing is uploaded to us, the audio never leaves your device. Quality is preserved and the download is ready in seconds.

What is an M4A file?

M4A is the MPEG-4 audio container, almost always holding AAC-encoded audio. It is what an iPhone produces: Voice Memos, iTunes purchases and most Apple-ecosystem audio are M4A files.

iPhone Voice Memos records M4A, which makes it one of the most common interview and meeting formats in the real world. Many Android recorder apps also default to it.

Why MP3?

MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is the format that made digital music portable in the late 1990s, and it remains the most universally supported audio format ever made. It compresses audio by discarding detail the ear is least likely to miss, at bitrates typically between 128 and 320 kbps.

Convert to MP3 when compatibility matters more than anything else, sending audio to someone whose device you don't know, uploading where only MP3 is accepted, or shrinking a large recording down to an email-friendly size. M4A support outside the Apple world is good but not universal, some older car stereos, players and upload forms only take MP3 or WAV.

Frequently asked questions

Will converting M4A to MP3 lose quality?

A small, one-time generational loss is unavoidable. Both M4A and MP3 are lossy, so re-encoding discards a little more detail. The converter uses high-quality settings to keep it inaudible for speech, but if you still have the original uncompressed source, converting from that instead is always better.

Is it free?

Yes, completely, with no account and no watermark. The conversion runs on your own device, so it costs us nothing to let you use it. The only limit is file size: up to 50 MB, which is what a browser can hold in memory comfortably.

Do I need to install anything, or upload my file?

Neither. It runs entirely in your browser using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Your audio is never sent to us, which is also why it works on a slow connection, only the page downloads, not your file.

Need a transcript of the audio?

Autrans also transcribes audio in Nigerian English, Pidgin, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, French, and Spanish.