Convert M4A to MP3

This page opens with MP3 already selected. Drop a file in and convert it straight away. Everything happens inside your browser, so your file is never uploaded.

When you need MP3 instead of M4A

M4A (AAC) is what iPhones and other Apple devices record by default. It sounds better than MP3 at the same size, but not everything can play it. Converting to MP3 helps when:

• An older car stereo or music player has to read the file from a USB stick. Many of them only handle MP3.
• Someone asked you for an MP3 — transcription services and podcast hosts often specify it.
• You do not know what the other person uses. MP3 is the format that plays almost everywhere.

What happens to quality and file size

Both M4A and MP3 throw away part of the sound to save space, so converting M4A to MP3 compresses it a second time. The result will never sound better than the original. Pick the bitrate like this:

• Speech and voice memos: 128 kbps is plenty — about 1 MB per minute.
• Music: 192 or 256 kbps. If the original M4A is 256 kbps or higher, choose 256 kbps.
• A higher bitrate will not restore quality that was already lost. It only makes the file bigger.

This tool keeps the original sample rate (44.1 kHz, for example) instead of resampling it. Only a rate MP3 cannot store is moved to the nearest one it can, and the page tells you when that happens.

Converting an iPhone voice memo

1. In Voice Memos, select the recording and choose Share → "Save to Files".
2. Drop that file onto this page. It works in Safari on the iPhone itself, too.
3. Choose a bitrate, press Convert, and save the MP3.

Questions

Want something other than MP3? Change "Convert to" above. The full description of the tool is onConvert audio. If your recording is a WAV, see Convert WAV to MP3, and to pull the sound out of a video, use Extract audio.