Convert M4V to MP4
Convert an M4V into a plain MP4 that players and upload forms will accept. M4V is Apple's variant of MP4, used by iTunes and by Apple devices, and the two are close enough that the difference is usually just the extension — which is exactly why the conversion is worth doing, because a great deal of software decides what a file is by reading its name rather than its contents.
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Add to Chrome — freeDrop your M4V file here, or click to browse
Up to 50 MB. Deleted automatically after 30 minutes.
What it does
- Re-encoded to H.264 video and AAC audio
- Removes the extension that upload forms reject
- Handles iTunes and Apple TV exports
- No watermark and no sign-up
How to use M4V to MP4
- 1
Add the M4V
Drop the file in or choose it from your computer, up to 50 MB, no account required.
- 2
Convert
The video and audio are written into a standard MP4 container as H.264 and AAC.
- 3
Use it without argument
The MP4 is accepted by upload forms, Android players and anything that was reading the extension rather than the file.
The same file with a different name
M4V is one of the very few format questions with an anticlimactic answer. It is
MP4. Apple adopted the extension to distinguish video from audio in iTunes, where
.m4a already meant an audio file, and to mark content that carried FairPlay
protection. An unprotected M4V generally holds H.264 video and AAC audio, which
is precisely what an MP4 holds.
So why convert at all? Because an enormous amount of software identifies files by
extension. Upload forms check a list of permitted endings. Some Android players
scan a folder and skip anything they do not recognize. Smart televisions and
media servers vary wildly. None of these are reading the file; they are reading
its name, and .m4v is not on the list they were given.
Try renaming first
Genuinely — rename a copy to .mp4 and open it. If it plays, you are done, and
you have lost nothing at all because no re-encoding has taken place. This is the
only conversion on this site where the honest first advice is to not use the
converter.
It fails in two situations. The file carries DRM, in which case nothing will help. Or it holds something a strict MP4 player will not accept — an unusual audio track, or chapter and subtitle structures Apple software writes and others do not expect.
How it works
When renaming is not enough, the video is decoded and re-encoded as H.264 with AAC audio into a plain MP4 container. That costs a little quality, as any re-encode does, and produces a file with no Apple-specific structures left in it.
The result is deliberately unremarkable: an ordinary MP4 that no player, form or device has an opinion about. For a format whose whole problem was its name, that is the entire goal.
Why Apple made a second extension at all
The reason is duller than it looks and worth knowing, because it explains why the
difference is so slight. When Apple built iTunes around the MP4 family, it needed
a way to tell audio and video apart at a glance in a library of thousands of
files. .m4a already meant an audio track. .m4v became the video counterpart,
and .m4p the protected audio one.
None of those are separate formats in any meaningful sense. They are labels on the same container, chosen so that software and users could sort a library without opening every file. The cost of that convenience shows up years later, every time something outside Apple's world reads the label and decides it does not know what the file is.
What DRM changes
If the M4V came from the iTunes Store as a purchase or a rental, it may carry FairPlay protection, and that is a genuinely different situation. A protected file is encrypted, and the key lives with your Apple account rather than in the file. No converter can read it, and one that claims otherwise is either wrong or describing something it should not be doing.
The test is simple: if the video plays on a device signed in to your account and refuses on one that is not, it is protected. Home videos, exports from Apple software and anything you recorded yourself are not.
Examples
A video an upload form refuses
The most frequent reason anyone converts M4V. The form checks the extension against a list, .m4v is not on it, and the file is rejected without ever being read.
An Apple export for an Android phone
Android players are inconsistent about M4V. Some open it, some show it in a file listing and refuse to play it, and MP4 removes the question entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Is M4V actually different from MP4?
Barely, in technical terms. M4V is Apple's name for an MP4 that typically holds H.264 video and AAC audio — the same things a normal MP4 holds. Apple introduced the extension mainly to mark video content in iTunes and to carry its own DRM where that applied. For an unprotected file the practical difference is the four letters after the dot.
Can I just rename the file to .mp4?
Often, yes, and it is worth trying before converting anything. If the M4V is unprotected and holds H.264 and AAC, renaming it usually works immediately and costs nothing in quality because nothing is re-encoded. Convert when renaming does not work, which normally means the file holds something a strict MP4 player will not accept.
What if iTunes says the video is protected?
Then it carries FairPlay DRM and cannot be converted here or anywhere else without its license. Purchased and rented video from the iTunes Store was protected this way. A file that plays only when you are signed in to your Apple account is protected, and that protection is doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Will converting reduce the quality?
Slightly, because the file is re-encoded rather than repackaged. This is the one case where renaming really is better if it works — you get the identical file with a different name and no loss at all. Converting is the fallback for when the contents, not just the extension, need changing.