Tool 19 · M4A to MP3 · Free · No signup
M4A to MP3.
M4A is Apple's audio file: iTunes purchases, Voice Memos, GarageBand and Logic exports. MP3 is the one every car stereo, old player and upload form takes. Drop one M4A or a whole album, and each MP3 keeps its title, artist and cover. Converted on your own machine.
01 Files
MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and Opus, or a video for its sound, as many as you like. The files are read on your device and never upload.
02 Convert to
192 kbps is transparent for most music; 320 if it is going back into an editor; 128 is plenty for speech. Title, artist, album and cover are carried over. Each file downloads as it finishes.
Converted, then a video
A song on its way to YouTube, TikTok or Reels still needs a picture there. Above, a frame from our music visualizer, which turns the converted file into a video that moves with it. For a cover held still with the sound, use MP3 to MP4; for a voice recording, the waveform video maker.
How to convert M4A to MP3
An M4A is AAC audio in an MPEG-4 file, and it plays on anything Apple makes. The trouble is everything else: older MP3 players, car stereos reading a USB stick, some Android apps, and ringtone and upload forms that only list MP3. Converting decodes the AAC and encodes it again as MP3 with LAME, in your browser, and copies the tags across, so an album keeps its names, track numbers and artwork on the car's screen.
- Drop the M4A files anywhere on the page, or click to choose them, one or a whole folder. Each shows its format, sample rate and length at once. No file to hand? Try the sample.
- Keep MP3 and pick the bitrate: 192 kbps for music, 320 if it is going back into an editor, 128 for speech.
- Press Convert. The files go one after another, each with its own progress line, and each MP3 downloads under the original name as soon as it is done.
Related
- Audio converterEvery format in, MP3, WAV or M4A out, and what each one does.
- WAV to MP3The same converter for a WAV file.
- FLAC to MP3The same converter for a FLAC file.
- OGG to MP3The same converter for a OGG file.
- Opus to MP3The same converter for a OPUS file.
- AAC to MP3The same converter for a AAC file.
- M4A to WAVThe same file as WAV instead.
- MP3 to MP4The converted file with a cover, as a 1080p video.
- MP3 tag editorFix the title, artist or cover in the MP3.
- Audio trimmerOnly need part of it? Cut it down first.
Questions
Does converting M4A to MP3 lose quality?+
A little, in principle: AAC and MP3 are both lossy, so this is a second lossy pass. In practice an iTunes purchase (256 kbps AAC) converted at 320 kbps is not something you will hear, and 192 kbps is fine for a phone or a car. What no converter can do is add quality back: a 320 kbps MP3 made from a 128 kbps M4A sounds like the 128 kbps M4A, in a bigger file.
Are the title, artist and album art kept?+
Yes, tested: the title, artist, album, track number, year, genre and the embedded cover are read from the M4A and written into the MP3's ID3 tag, so a car stereo or a phone shows the right names and artwork. The MP3 tag editor on this site fixes anything the M4A had wrong.
Can I convert songs from Apple Music?+
Not songs downloaded with an Apple Music subscription: those are protected with DRM, they will not decode here, and the row says it cannot read them. Music bought from the iTunes Store has been DRM-free since 2009 and converts normally, as do Voice Memos, GarageBand and Logic exports and CDs imported in Apple Music.
My M4A is Apple Lossless. Does it work?+
In Chrome and Edge, no: tested, they do not decode Apple Lossless (ALAC), and the row says so. Safari has its own decoder for it, so open this page in Safari. Or export the track as WAV from Apple Music and convert that.
Can I convert a Voice Memo?+
Yes. Voice Memos are M4A files: share them to Files or AirDrop them to a computer, then drop them here. Pick 128 kbps for speech; a one hour memo comes out at about 58 MB. Files are converted a piece at a time, so a long recording is no problem.
Is my audio uploaded?+
No. Each file is decoded and encoded in your browser, a piece at a time, and the download is made there. Nothing leaves your machine, nothing is watermarked, and there is no queue. The page only counts that a file was converted, with the formats, never a name or the audio.
How fast is it?+
Measured in Chrome on a laptop with a two minute song: WAV to a 192 kbps MP3 in about two and a half seconds, MP3 to WAV in under two. A phone is slower. Files go one at a time, so a batch takes the sum of its files.
Which encoder makes the MP3?+
LAME, the open-source MP3 encoder most audio software uses, compiled to run in the browser. The MP3 is constant bitrate at the source's sample rate (48 kHz for anything above), with an ID3v2 tag.