M4A to WAV
Convert M4A to WAV to open an iPhone voice memo or an AAC recording in software that wants uncompressed audio.
How the files you choose are handled is set out in the privacy policy.
How to convert M4A to WAV
- Tap Choose an M4A file and pick the file.
- To keep only a section, type its start and end under Part to save.
- Press Convert to WAV, listen to the result, then save or share it.
Where M4A files come from
M4A is the audio-only member of the MP4 family. The sound inside is almost always AAC. You meet it as:
- Voice Memos recorded on an iPhone, iPad or Mac
- recordings from call recorders, meeting apps and dictation apps
- music bought from the iTunes Store or ripped by Apple software
- podcast and audiobook downloads, the latter sometimes with the ending .m4b
Phones and media players handle M4A well. Problems appear in professional and specialist software.
Who asks for WAV
| Task | Why WAV |
|---|---|
| Transcribing an interview or lecture | Many transcription programs and speech tools take WAV and nothing compressed |
| Editing a podcast or recording | Edits on uncompressed audio do not add loss with each save |
| Court, medical and research recordings | Archives and evidence systems often specify WAV |
| Loading into a sampler or music app | Hardware and many plug-ins read WAV only |
| Phone system greetings and hold messages | Telephone equipment expects WAV |
What you get
The AAC sound is decoded and written as a 16-bit WAV at the same sample rate and with the same channels as the recording. A voice memo, which is mono, gives a mono WAV of about 5 MB a minute. Stereo music gives about 10 MB a minute.
The WAV sounds the same as the M4A. Decoding does not add quality, and it does not remove any.
Long recordings
M4A files are read a piece at a time, so a two-hour meeting is fine. The result will be large: two hours of mono is roughly 600 MB. If you need one passage, type its start and end under Part to save, such as 41:10 to 44:30, and only that is converted.
Files that will not convert
- Protected purchases. Songs bought from iTunes before 2009, and audiobooks from some stores, are copy-protected and cannot be decoded. Those usually end in .m4p or .aax.
- Apple Lossless. Some M4A files hold ALAC, not AAC. Whether that decodes depends on the browser. If it does not, the tool says the sound could not be read.
Other routes
If the goal is just to trim a recording and keep it small, there is no need for WAV: the audio converter can cut an M4A and save it as M4A with no loss. Sound that is inside a video is covered by MP4 to WAV.
Questions
How do I convert an iPhone voice memo to WAV?
Share the memo to Files or to your computer, choose it here, and press Convert to WAV.
Does M4A to WAV lose quality?
No. The WAV holds exactly what the M4A decodes to.
How large will the WAV be?
About 5 MB a minute for a mono voice recording and 10 MB a minute for stereo.
Why can a song from iTunes not be converted?
Older purchases are copy-protected. Protected files cannot be decoded.
Can I convert only part of a long recording?
Yes. Type the start and end times under Part to save.
Related converters and guides
- Audio converterConvert audio files, or the sound of a video, to WAV or M4A.
- MP4 to WAVPull the sound out of an MP4 video as an uncompressed WAV.
- MP3 to WAVUnpack an MP3 into an uncompressed WAV for editing or burning.
- Video to audioSave the sound from a video as M4A or WAV. AAC sound is copied without re-encoding.