Convert M4V to WMA — Free Online Tool
Convert M4V video files to WMA audio by extracting and re-encoding the AAC audio track into Windows Media Audio format using the wmav2 codec. Ideal for pulling iTunes-compatible video content into a Microsoft-native audio format for Windows Media Player or legacy Windows workflows.
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FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
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Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
M4V is a video container developed by Apple that typically carries H.264 or H.265 video alongside AAC audio. WMA is a purely audio format — it has no video track capability — so this conversion is not a remux but a full audio transcode. The M4V file's AAC audio stream is decoded and then re-encoded using the wmav2 codec at the target bitrate (128k by default). The video stream is discarded entirely, and any M4V-specific features like chapters, multiple audio tracks, or iTunes DRM metadata cannot be carried over into the WMA container, which supports only a single audio stream with basic metadata tags.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg program, the open-source multimedia processing engine that powers this conversion both in the browser via WebAssembly and on the desktop via a local installation. |
-i input.m4v
|
Specifies the input file — an M4V container that may contain H.264 or H.265 video, AAC audio, chapters, and possibly multiple audio tracks. FFmpeg will read and demux all streams from this file. |
-c:a wmav2
|
Sets the audio encoder to wmav2 (Windows Media Audio version 2), the standard codec for WMA output. This encoder re-encodes the M4V's AAC audio into the WMA format that Windows Media Player and WMA-compatible devices expect. |
-b:a 128k
|
Sets the audio bitrate to 128 kilobits per second for the wmav2 output, controlling the tradeoff between WMA file size and audio quality. This is a reasonable default for speech and general audio from M4V sources, though music converted from high-bitrate AAC will benefit from 192k or higher. |
output.wma
|
Defines the output filename and tells FFmpeg to write the result as a WMA file (ASF container with a wmav2 audio stream). The video and any subtitle or chapter streams from the source M4V are implicitly dropped because the WMA container can only hold a single audio stream. |
Common Use Cases
- Stripping the audio from an iTunes-purchased TV show or movie download to create a WMA file playable on older Windows Media Player-based devices or car stereos that only accept WMA input
- Converting M4V lecture or educational video downloads into WMA audio for listening on Windows-based portable media players that lack AAC support
- Extracting the audio commentary track from an M4V file and saving it as WMA for archival in a Microsoft-centric digital library or SharePoint document store
- Preparing audio from Apple-formatted video files for use in older Windows enterprise environments where Windows Media Player and WMA remain the standard playback infrastructure
- Converting M4V audio content from an iOS screen recording or FaceTime export into WMA for distribution on a Windows intranet portal that streams WMA natively
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — this is a lossy-to-lossy transcode, which means a generation of quality is lost. The original AAC audio in the M4V is decoded to raw PCM and then re-encoded as WMA using wmav2. Even at the same bitrate (128k), some audio fidelity is sacrificed because you are transcoding between two different lossy codecs rather than copying the stream. To minimize quality loss, increase the WMA bitrate to 192k or 256k if your use case allows it.
Basic textual metadata like title, artist, and album may be carried over since WMA supports metadata tags. However, iTunes-specific tags, chapter markers, multiple audio track labels, and embedded cover art from the M4V container are not guaranteed to transfer correctly, and album art in particular is often dropped during this conversion. You may need to manually tag the resulting WMA file using a tool like Mp3tag after conversion.
They are completely discarded. The FFmpeg command targets only the audio stream for output into the WMA container, which is audio-only by design. Subtitles, closed captions, and chapter data that exist in the M4V file are not written to the output. If you need to preserve subtitles or video, WMA is not an appropriate output format.
No. DRM-protected M4V files purchased from the iTunes Store cannot be processed by FFmpeg directly. FFmpeg will be unable to read the encrypted audio stream, and the conversion will fail or produce silence. Only DRM-free M4V files — such as those you recorded yourself, ripped from DVD, or downloaded from DRM-free sources — can be converted with this tool.
Replace the value after '-b:a' in the command with your desired bitrate. For example, to encode at 256 kbps, use: ffmpeg -i input.m4v -c:a wmav2 -b:a 256k output.wma. The wmav2 codec supports bitrates from 64k up to 320k. For most music or spoken-word content from M4V sources, 192k offers a good balance between file size and perceived quality when transcoding from AAC.
Yes, on a desktop you can use a shell loop to process multiple files. On Linux or macOS, run: for f in *.m4v; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "${f%.m4v}.wma"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.m4v) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "%~nf.wma". This browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the desktop FFmpeg command is the practical choice for bulk conversions.
Technical Notes
The wmav2 codec (Windows Media Audio version 2) is the default and strongly preferred encoder over wmav1 for this output format — wmav1 is an older codec with lower efficiency and should only be chosen for compatibility with extremely legacy devices. WMA's container is based on the Advanced Systems Format (ASF), which is fundamentally different from M4V's MPEG-4 Part 12 container, so no stream copying is possible. The M4V's AAC audio must be fully decoded and re-encoded, making this one of the more quality-sensitive conversions. If the source M4V contains multiple audio tracks (common in iTunes movie downloads with alternate language tracks), FFmpeg will select the first audio stream by default; use '-map 0:a:1' to explicitly target a different track before running the command on your desktop. WMA files are not supported by most modern web browsers natively, Apple devices, or streaming platforms, so this format is best suited for closed Windows-based playback environments.