| File extension | .m4a |
| Category | Music 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 |
Convert M4A file
View other music 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 |
