Convert M4A to WMA - online and free - this page also contains information on the M4A and WMA file extensions.
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How to convert a M4A to a WMA file?
- Choose the M4A file that you want to convert.
- Select WMA as the the format you want to convert your M4A file to.
- Click "Convert" to convert your M4A file.
Zamzar Pro Tip: The default player for M4A files is through Apple iTunes, however you can also use Quicktime.
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Zamzar has converted over 510 million files since 2006
Zamzar has converted over 510 million files since 2006
| File extension | .m4a |
| Category | Audio File |
| Description | M4A files are a type of audio file developed and popularised by Apple. Since 2007, music purchased through the iTunes store has been in m4a format, therefore accounting for over 15 billions files worldwide. MP4 and M4A files are often confused, and the two are quite similar, being both based on the MPEG-4 codec. However, M4A is a file comprising solely of audio, whereas MP4 may also contain video. |
| Actions | M4A to WMA - Convert file now View other audio file formats |
| Technical Details | M4A files are superior to MP3 in terms of the scale of compression and audio quality. The M4A file uses Apple's codec and resides within the MPEG-4 container. The main benefit of M4A is that files are compressed but are lossless. This means they can be decoded back to the original quality they were at the point of compression. Another benefit of M4A files are that do not carry any Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection associated with other files meaning they are less restricted. |
| Associated programs | Apple QuickTime Player Apple iTunes Microsoft Windows Media Player |
| Developed by | Apple |
| MIME type | audio/mp4a-latm |
| Useful links | Detailed guide to M4A More detail on the MPEG4 format Convert M4A file |
| File extension | .wma |
| Category | Audio File |
| Description | Developed by the Signal Processing Group at Microsoft, the WMA file format is part of the Windows Media framework and was first released commercially in 1999, with support for playback of WMA encoded files as part of Windows Media Player. Creation of WMA files did not come until Windows Media Player version 7. The original codec was targeted as a direct competitor to the MP3 and RealAudio formats, and has achieved a broad level of adoption thanks to support for playback on numerous DVD players, Nokia mobile handsets and Playstation portable devices. |
| Actions | Convert WMA file View other audio file formats |
| Technical Details | In almost all circumstances WMA files are part of the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container, a proprietary container format developed by Microsoft for both digital video and digital audio. Every WMA file contains an audio track encoded in one of four mutually distinct codecs - WMA, WMA Voice, WMA Lossless or WMA Pro - WMA is the most commonly found of the four, but is a lossy codec, with the ability to encode audio signals sampled at up to 48 kHz. WMA Pro is an improved version, allowing sampling up to 96 kHz, but has achieved little hardware and software support. WMA Lossless is designed to compress audio signals with no loss of quality from the original source (up to 96 kHz) and is used in some Windows Mobile devices as well as the Logitech Squeezebox Touch. Finally, WMA Voice is a lossy codec optimized for low-bandwith voice playback applications, with mono sampling support up to 22.05 kHz - it is perhaps most well known for being used by the BBC World service for streaming Internet radio. |
| Associated programs | MPlayer Realplayer VLC Media Player Windows Media Player Windows Movie Maker |
| Developed by | Microsoft |
| MIME type | audio/x-ms-wma |
| Useful links | Encoding Audio and Video with Windows Media Codecs Microsoft overview of ASF Format Differences between ASF and WMV/WMA files WMA format information from the Library of Congress Convert WMA file |
Convert M4A file
Using Zamzar it is possible to convert M4A files to a variety of other formats
- m4a to aac (Advanced Audio Coding File)
- m4a to ac3 (AC3 Audio File)
- m4a to flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
- m4a to m4r (iPhone Ringtone File)
- m4a to mp3 (Compressed audio file)
- m4a to mp4 (MPEG-4 Video File)
- m4a to ogg (Ogg Vorbis Compressed Audio File)
- m4a to wav (Windows audio file)
- m4a to wma (Windows Media Audio)