shycut

Convert MP4 to M4A

M4A is the sound-only sibling of MP4. Drop a video here and keep its sound as an M4A, the format Apple devices use for audio.

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Drop your video here

Choose your video

MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. It opens right here, on your device.

  • Nothing uploaded
  • No sign-up
  • No watermark

Tested in the browser

BrowserResultWhat came out
Google Chrome 155ConvertedM4A: AAC sound
WebKit 27.2 (Safari’s engine)ConvertedM4A: AAC sound

On October 24, 2026, a 10-second 1280×720 MP4 (H.264 video, AAC sound) went through this page’s button in each browser, and what came out was read back with ffprobe.

The test file carried a location tag; no converted copy kept it.

When to turn MP4 into M4A

Most MP4s already carry AAC sound, and M4A is that same kind of sound in a file of its own. Apple’s apps, most podcast tools and modern players open it.

Shycut encodes the sound again as AAC at the quality you choose, so you decide the size. For an old car stereo or a player you don’t know, MP3 is the safer pick.

MP4 and M4A, in short

MP4
The format that plays almost everywhere: phones, browsers, TVs, editing apps and every social platform take it. Inside is usually H.264 video and AAC sound.
M4A
AAC sound in an MP4 container, Apple’s usual audio format. It plays on iPhones, Macs and most players, and is smaller than an MP3 of similar quality.

How to convert

  1. Open the MP4

    Press the button and drop the file, or pick it from your files. It opens in this browser tab: nothing is uploaded, so there is no upload limit to hit.

  2. M4A is already chosen

    The save window opens set to it. Change the file name or the quality if you like.

  3. Save

    The new file is written on your device and downloaded. Several files? Drop them together and they are converted one after another.

What changes, what stays

Picture
Left out: only the sound is saved.
Sound
The first sound track, at its own level, in stereo at most.
Quality
Small 96 kbps · Balanced 160 kbps · High 256 kbps: a minute of M4A at Balanced is about 1.2 MB.
Details about you
The file is written from scratch, so none of the original’s metadata comes along: no location, no camera or phone model.

Questions

M4A or MP3?

M4A sounds better at the same size; MP3 plays on more old devices.

Is M4A the same as AAC?

M4A is the container and AAC is the sound inside it. A file ending in .aac is the same sound without the container.

Is the sound copied untouched?

It is decoded and encoded again, so it isn’t a bit-for-bit copy. Pick High to keep it closest to the original.

Your video stays with you.

Open Shycut, drop the video in and export. Free, with no account, and your video never leaves your device.

Choose your video

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