M4A to WAV converter
Your M4A goes in and a WAV comes out. WAV is audio stored exactly as it was recorded, with nothing thrown away. Your file never leaves your computer.
Need the other direction? Convert WAV to M4A
How to convert M4A to WAV
- 1 Drop your M4A .m4a file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Check the options. Nothing is thrown away on the way to WAV, so there is no quality dial to set.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the WAV, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert M4A to WAV
- Exactly as recorded, with nothing to unpack before it plays.
- Universally readable by audio software.
- Sample libraries and game audio assets.
- M4A: the Apple lossless option is less widely supported than FLAC.
M4A compared with WAV
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | M4A | WAV |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .m4a | .wav |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Uncompressed |
| Typical file size | Depends on mode | Largest |
| Introduced | 2001 | 1991 |
| Developed by | Apple / ISO | Microsoft and IBM |
Quality and what changes
WAV stores the same content under a different set of rules, so what matters here is compatibility rather than picture quality. Convert once from the best source you have rather than through a chain of intermediate files.
- One WAV limitation to keep in mind: the classic format caps out at 4 GB per file.
Questions about M4A to WAV
Is my M4A file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your M4A is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a WAV. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several M4A files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate WAV downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.