If the M4A is 48000, this will default to making the MP3 at 48000. If the M4A bitrate is higher than 320kbps, you should choose 320kbps for the MP3, which is the maximum for the MP3 standard and will keep as much quality as possible.Īlso M4A is usually sampled at 48000 while most MP3s are sampled at 44100 like CDs.

Where it shows 'Optimal' it uses 256kbps or the lower rate of the original if the original is lower. Then, it will show you the sample rate and bitrate of the M4A, and has several choices for which MP3 bitrate to convert to. It's just installing two different parts, so let each installation install. If your M4A file is using lossy compression, our M4a to MP3 converter is the best choice for you.Probably the easiest free one is FreemakeįREE Audio Converter | MP3 Music Converter by Freemakeīe careful as its current installation (I just tried) appears to install twice - that is, it installs then appears to start a second installation. This is the best choice if you want to convert an uncompressed M4A file since the WAV format does not apply any compression either. This converter allows you to convert M4A to WAV. If your player does not support M4A converting the audio files to more common formats is a good option, and you arrived at the right place to do so. If you want to play M4A files with Windows Media Player 11, you need to install the K-Lite Codec Pack first. Many programs support M4A files like iTunes, the QuickTime Player, or the Windows Media Player starting at version 12.

Therefore, M4A is a very flexible audio format and can store audio streams at high-quality levels, but also supports smaller, compressed audio files with less quality. The AAC standard applies lossy compression to the audio data, while ALAC is a lossless compression standard.

The M4A format supports different audio codecs like AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), or ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) specifications. M4A is an audio container format which is a pure audio version of the MPEG-4 format that can contain both, audio and video data. What M4A files are and how to convert them:

Best m4a to mp3 converter free