MP4 to WAV Converter

What happens when you convert MP4 to WAV

• WAV holds sound only, so the picture is discarded and the soundtrack is encoded as 16-bit PCM, the same sample rate as the source.
• If the MP4 has several audio tracks, the first one is used.

How to convert MP4 to WAV online

1. Press "Choose MP4 files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. You can add files of any size your device can hold in memory.
2. Adjust the settings if you need to: the bitrate controls quality and size. The defaults suit most people.
3. Press "Convert to WAV". The first audio or video conversion downloads the converter engine, about 32 MB, which your browser then keeps for next time.
4. Save each WAV with its download button. Close the tab and every trace of the files is gone from memory.

Why convert MP4 to WAV?

MP4 files usually come from phone videos, YouTube uploads, social media and streaming. People convert them to WAV because WAV opens in every audio editor and is what many phone systems, samplers and broadcast tools require.

In short, MP4 is good at what it was made for, and WAV is the more practical choice when the file has to play on another device or app. MP4 plays in every browser, phone and smart TV, while WAV plays in every browser and audio editor.

How to convert MP4 to WAV on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

On Windows

Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your MP4 files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each WAV is saved to your Downloads folder. If you prefer a desktop program, VLC can also convert MP4 to WAV: choose Media, then Convert / Save.

On a Mac

Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the MP4 files from Finder onto the drop zone and the WAV files land in Downloads.

On iPhone and iPad

Open the page in Safari and tap Choose MP4 files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted WAV appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.

On Android

Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose MP4 files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The WAV is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it. Keep the screen on while a long video converts, because Android may pause a tab in the background.

Best settings for MP4 to WAV

WAV is lossless, so there is no quality setting: every sample of the decoded MP4 is kept. What changes is size. CD-quality stereo, 44.1 kHz at 16 bits, takes about 10 MB per minute as uncompressed PCM.

Since the MP4 was lossy, the WAV will sound identical to it, not better. Convert to WAV when a program requires it, not to improve quality.

MP4 vs WAV: the differences

About MP4 and WAV files

What is an MP4 file?

MP4 is the most widely supported video format, and H.264 video with AAC audio inside it plays on essentially every device made in the last fifteen years.

What is a WAV file?

WAV normally stores raw, uncompressed samples: about 10 MB per minute of CD-quality stereo. Editors prefer it because nothing is lost between saves, and it is why a song is ten times larger than as MP3.

MP4 to WAV not working? Common problems

• The conversion is slow. Audio and container changes take seconds, but re-encoding video runs on your own processor. Lower the resolution to 720p, close other tabs, and keep the device plugged in.
• The tab stops or reloads on a very large file. Browsers limit how much memory one tab can use, around 2 GB and less on phones. Split long recordings or convert them on a computer.
• Song titles are missing. Tags such as title and artist are copied when WAV can store them, but cover art is not carried over.

Convert MP4 to WAV with ffmpeg

This converter runs ffmpeg inside your browser. If you would rather use the ffmpeg command line on your own computer, this command produces an equivalent WAV with the same kind of settings:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vn -c:a pcm_s16le output.wav

Replace input.mp4 with the name of your file. For a whole folder of MP4 files, run the command in a loop, or drop them all on the converter above, which processes them one after another.