4 Best Ways to Convert M4A to MP3 Without Audio Quality Loss
M4A is a type of audio format developed by Apple. All types of music files purchased through iTunes Store were in M4A format since 2007. Similar to MP4, M4A is also based on the MPEG-4 codec. But M4A is only a file comprising of audio.
M4A is superior to MP3 in terms of the scale of compression and audio quality. M4A is a lossless audio format which does not carry any Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection. It can offer the original audio quality while being compressed. However, many players and devices can’t support M4A.
Are you facing the situation that your device can’t play the M4A files? Here in this post, we will show you 4 simple ways to free convert M4A to MP3 for better playback. You can pick your preferred method to make the audio conversion from M4A to MP3.
Part 1. How to Free Convert M4A to MP3 Online
When you Google how to convert M4A to MP3 on the Internet, you can see many searching results are related to free online audio converters. Here at the first part, we like to show you the most popular online audio converters to help you convert M4A to MP3 for free.
1. FVC Free Audio Converter
As one of the most powerful online audio converter, FVC Free Audio Converter is absolutely the best free audio converter you can find. It enables you to convert all your audio/video files into MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, AC3, AIFF, FLAC, etc. with ease. You are even allowed to convert a bunch of files at one time with no size limit. Besides, this audio converter is surprisingly easy to use.
Step 1. Use the link above to go to FVC Free Audio Converter. Click the Add Files to Convert button and select all the M4A files you want to convert.
Step 2. When the uploading process is done, click on the MP3 format. Then click the Convert button to start the conversion. After the conversion, you can enjoy the MP3 audio file on any devices or share it on YouTube, Facebook, etc.
2. Convertio
Convertio is a very famous online video, audio and document converting tool. It is able to convert your M4A file to MP3 audio with ease. The following guide will show you how to make the audio conversion with Convertio.
Step 1. Open your browser and navigate to the official site of Convertio. You can directly go to the M4A to MP3 Converter page. This free audio converter is designed with a concise interface. But you can see some ads in this site.
Step 2. Click the Choose Files button to upload the M4A file you want to convert. Here you are allowed to add file from computer, Google Drive, Dropbox or URL. After that, you can click Add more files button to load more M4A files to this converter.
Step 3. Make sure the output format is MP3 and then click the Convert button to start converting your M4A file to MP3. It will take some time to complete the audio uploading and converting process. Be patient. After converting, you can click Download button to save the converted MP3 file on your computer.
Part 2. How to Change M4A to MP3 Free with iTunes
If you get iTunes installed on your computer, you can also choose to convert a song in M4A format to MP3 with iTunes.
Step 1. Open iTunes on your computer and import your M4A file to it. You need to sign in with your Apple ID and password. You can click File and then open Add Folder to Library to choose the folder where the M4A files are saved. Then click Open to add these M4A file to iTunes.
Step 2. Click Edit in the menu bar and then choose Preferences from the drop-down menu. If you are converting M4A to MP3 with iTunes on Mac, here you can click the iTunes in the top menu bar.
Step 3. When you enter the main Preferences window, click Import Settings in the lower-right area of the General tab. In the Import settings dialogue, select the MP3 Encoder .
You can choose a suitable bitrate based on your need. You should know that, higher quality MP3 files will sound better but cost more space. Click OK to confirm the operation.
Step 4. In the iTunes music library, click the file you want to convert to MP3 and select it. After that, you can click the File menu in the top-left of iTunes and choose Convert from the drop-down list. Then select the Create MP3 version option.
After all these operations, iTunes will make a MP3 copy of the original M4A file. By doing so, you can handily convert M4A to MP3 with iTunes.
Part 3. Professional Way to Free Convert M4A to MP3 Without Quality Loss
To free convert M4A to MP3, you can also rely on some professional audio converter. Here we strongly recommend a powerful video and audio converter, Free FLV to MP3 Converter for you to change your M4A file to MP3 without quality loss.
Free Video Converter highly supports any popular video and audio formats including M4A, MP3, AAC, FLAC, MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV and more. With the adoption of the advanced accelerate technology, it can give you a super-fast M4A to MP3 converting speed.
Free DownloadFor Windows 7 or laterSecure Download
Free DownloadFor MacOS 10.7 or laterSecure Download
Step 1. Double click the download button above to free install and launch this free M4A to MP3 converter on your computer.
Step 2. Click Add File(s) button to load the M4A file(s) you want to convert to MP3. This free M4A to MP3 converter has a batch conversion feature which enables you to convert one or more M4A files at a time.
Step 3. Choose and set MP3 as your target format from the drop-down list of Output format . Then click Convert button to start converting M4A to MP3.
Before the final audio conversion, you can also click Settings icon next to the audio format to custom more audio settings. You can easily adjust audio encoder, sample rate, audio bitrate, channels and more.
Part 4. FAQs of Converting M4A to MP3
Question 1. How to convert M4A to MP3 with Windows Media Player?
If you get Windows Media Player installed on your computer, you can also rely on it to convert M4A to MP3. Open Windows Media Player and import the M4A file to it. Click Organize > Options > RIP Music > Format and then set MP3 as the output format.
Question 2. Which is better, MP3 or M4A?
As it mentioned above, M4A is compressed with lossless quality. So it can offer you higher audio quality with smaller file size. If you are an iOS user, you can simply change the file extension from M4A to M4R, and then set the audio from the M4A as your iPhone ringtone. In that case, you can see that M4A is better than MP3.However, M4A can only be supported by a limited number of devices. In contrary, MP3 is compatible with almost all devices and players. When you get an unsupported M4A file, you can convert it to MP3 for better playback. So when it comes to supporting aspect, MP3 is better than M4A.
Question 3. Does converting M4A to MP3 lose quality?
You should know that, most M4A files result from lossy compression. That means M4A file is a lossless file with a low-quality. Converting M4A to MP3 will aggravate the sound quality even more. So there will be audio quality loss during the M4A to MP3 conversion.