M4A to MP3 converter
Your files are converted on your device. They are never uploaded.
or drop them here
.m4a.aac.mp4.m4v
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Change M4A files into MP3 for players, cars and websites that won’t take M4A.
M4A is Apple’s everyday audio file: iPhone Voice Memos, songs bought or imported in Music, recordings from GarageBand and many Android recorders. Some car stereos, older MP3 players, hosting sites and online forms still accept only MP3. This converter decodes the M4A (AAC, or Apple Lossless) and encodes an MP3 at the bitrate you pick, keeping the original sample rate. Convert a whole folder of memos at once, trim the silence at the start, and download them as a ZIP. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert M4A to MP3
- Add the M4A files (from Voice Memos via Share › Save to Files, or from your music folder).
- Choose 192 kbps for music, 128 kbps or Mono for voice memos; set start and end times to cut silence.
- Convert and download, one by one or as a ZIP.
What happens to quality, size and metadata
An AAC M4A is already lossy, so the MP3 is a second compression. Matching or exceeding the original bitrate keeps the loss inaudible for most listeners: iPhone Voice Memos are typically mono AAC at a modest bitrate, so 128 kbps mono is plenty, while music from Apple apps is usually 256 kbps AAC and suits 192–256 kbps MP3. Apple Lossless (ALAC) M4As convert from a perfect source, so only the MP3 step loses anything. The title tag is set from the file name; artist, album and cover art from the M4A are not copied in this version, so add them in your music app if you need them.
- Test files
- 3
- Average input
- 246 KB
- Average output
- 290 KB
- Size change
- 1.18× larger
- Time per file
- 439 ms
M4A vs MP3
| Full name | M4A | MP3 |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | MPEG-4 Audio | MPEG-1 Audio Layer III |
| Introduced | 2003 | 1993 |
| Defined by | MPEG · ISO/IEC 14496-14 + 14496-3 (AAC) | MPEG · ISO/IEC 11172-3 |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Lossy |
| Chrome / Edge | Yes | Yes |
| Safari | Yes | Yes |
| Firefox | Partly | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone / iPad | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Typical use | iPhone Voice Memos, music from Apple apps, and audio extracted from MP4 video. | Music, podcasts, voice recordings and any audio that has to play on every device. |
M4A M4A is an MP4 file that contains only sound, nearly always AAC (sometimes Apple Lossless). AAC sounds better than MP3 at the same bitrate. Apple devices use it for voice memos and music, but some older players, car stereos and websites accept only MP3.
MP3 MP3 is the lossy audio format standardised by MPEG in ISO/IEC 11172-3 (1993). Its patents have expired, and practically every player, car stereo, phone and editing app plays it. At 192 kbps most listeners cannot tell it from the original on typical speakers or headphones.
Sources for this table
- www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4337
- www.iso.org/standard/76383.html
- caniuse.com/aac
- developer.android.com/media/platform/supported-formats
- www.iso.org/standard/22412.html
- www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3003
- caniuse.com/mp3
Browser support data: caniuse.com, CC BY 4.0.
Without this site
Mac: in the Music app choose Music › Settings › Files › Import Settings and pick “MP3 Encoder”, then select the songs and choose File › Convert › Create MP3 Version. Windows: the legacy Windows Media Player can’t convert; the free Audacity (with its optional FFmpeg library for M4A) can, via File › Export Audio. iPhone and Android have no built-in M4A to MP3 option; Voice Memos shares M4A only.
Troubleshooting
- Songs bought long ago don’t convert. Old iTunes purchases protected with DRM (before 2009) can’t be decoded by any browser.
- Tags and cover art are missing. Only the title (from the file name) is written. Add artist and artwork in your music app.
- Voice memo sounds tinny. That is the original recording; a higher MP3 bitrate can’t add what wasn’t recorded.
- The file is actually an MP4 video. Videos renamed .m4a work too: the sound is extracted and the picture ignored.
Questions and answers
How do I convert M4A to MP3 on iPhone?
In Voice Memos, tap the recording, then Share › Save to Files. Open this page in Safari, tap “Add files”, choose Browse and pick the M4A. It is converted inside Safari and the MP3 is saved to Downloads in the Files app, ready to share.
Does converting M4A to MP3 lose quality?
Slightly, because AAC is decoded and re-compressed as MP3. At a bitrate equal to or above the original (often 192–256 kbps for music) the difference is practically inaudible. Keep the M4A as your master copy and give the MP3 to devices that need it.
Can I convert many M4A files to MP3 at once?
Yes. Select all the files, or drop a whole folder on a computer. They are converted one after another (several in parallel on fast computers) and you can download everything as a single ZIP named after the date, with the original file names kept.
How do I convert M4A to MP3 on Windows 10 or 11?
Open this page in Edge or Chrome, add the M4A files and press Convert. Windows has no built-in M4A to MP3 converter, and this way you don’t need to install anything. The files are processed on your PC, not on a server.