M4A vs WAV
M4A (MPEG-4 Audio (usually AAC)) is the default for iPhone Voice Memos, Apple Music purchases and many Android recorders. WAV (Waveform Audio File (PCM)) is uncompressed, bit-for-bit PCM audio that every editor and DAW opens.
WAV is what you want when the audio is going into an editor, a DAW, a video timeline or a speech-analysis tool, because there is no decoding step and no further quality loss.
iPhone voice memos are M4A, so this is the quickest way to get a memo into a format Windows apps and older players accept.
Settings that work
- Output is 16-bit PCM at the source sample rate, the most compatible WAV flavour.
- Tick Mono for speech analysis or transcription tools that expect a single channel.
Questions
How do I convert M4A to WAV?
Drop your M4A files into the converter above. WAV is pre-selected; press Choose files and each converted file downloads automatically.
Will converting M4A to WAV lose quality?
No further quality is lost: WAV stores the decoded audio exactly.
Is it safe to convert private recordings here?
Yes. Conversion runs entirely in your browser with the Web Audio API and a JavaScript encoder, and nothing is uploaded to a server.