Convert MOV to MP4
Convert a QuickTime MOV into an MP4 that Windows, Android and almost every upload form will accept. MOV is Apple's container, and it is what an iPhone and a Mac screen recording produce by default — so the file is usually perfectly good and simply arrives wrapped in something the other machine will not open. The picture and sound inside are often already H.264 and AAC, which is exactly what MP4 carries.
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Up to 50 MB. Deleted automatically after 30 minutes.
What it does
- Re-encoded to H.264 video and AAC audio
- Plays on Windows, Android and every browser
- Handles screen recordings and phone footage
- No watermark and no sign-up
How to use MOV to MP4
- 1
Add the MOV
Drop the file in, or choose it from your computer. Files up to 50 MB, and no account is needed.
- 2
Convert
The video is re-encoded to H.264 and the audio to AAC, the two codecs MP4 is expected to carry. Longer clips take longer; there is no queue to jump.
- 3
Play it anywhere
The result opens in Windows, on Android, in every browser, and on the same Apple devices the MOV came from.
Why the file will not open
MOV is the QuickTime container, and it is the default output of an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac screen recording and most Apple editing software. That is a large share of the video being made in the world, which is why so many MOV files end up in front of a machine that will not play them.
The frustrating part is that the recording is almost always fine. A MOV made by an iPhone in the last decade contains H.264 video and AAC audio — the same two codecs an MP4 contains. The bytes a player needs are there; the wrapper around them is what Windows Media Player, an Android phone or an upload form does not recognize. It is closer to an envelope problem than a document problem.
How it works
The file is decoded and written into an MP4 container with H.264 video and AAC audio. This is a re-encode rather than a repackage, so it takes real time on a long clip and costs a little quality — a re-encode always does, whatever the settings.
A repackage would be faster and lossless where the source is already H.264, and it is not what happens here, because a MOV can just as easily hold ProRes, HEVC or an older Apple codec that MP4 players will not accept. Re-encoding gives one answer that works for every MOV rather than a fast answer that silently fails on some of them.
The audio comes across as AAC at a normal listening quality. If you only wanted the sound, converting to MP3 instead discards the picture entirely and finishes in a fraction of the time.
What to keep
Keep the MOV if the clip matters. It is the original, and every conversion after this one starts from whatever this one produced rather than from the recording. Send the MP4, upload the MP4, and treat it as the copy — the way you would treat a PDF exported from a document you still have.
If the MOV came from a camera rather than a phone
Cameras and editing software produce MOV files too, and those behave differently from phone footage. A MOV out of a professional camera often holds ProRes or a similar editing codec, which stores far more picture information than H.264 can represent — deliberately, so that color grading and repeated edits do not accumulate damage. Converting one to MP4 will produce a dramatically smaller file and a visibly different one.
That is the correct trade when the clip is going to a client, a website or a review, and the wrong one when it is going back into an edit. The rule is the same as it is for photographs: work from the original, and export a copy for whoever is receiving it.
Examples
An iPhone clip a Windows PC will not play
The commonest reason anyone converts MOV. Windows Media Player has no QuickTime decoder, so the file opens to a black frame or an error even though nothing is wrong with it.
A Mac screen recording for a web form
Screen recordings from macOS are MOV, and a great many upload forms — job applications, support tickets, learning platforms — accept MP4 only and reject the extension without reading the file.
Frequently asked questions
Why will my MOV not play on Windows?
Because MOV is Apple's QuickTime container and Windows has no built-in decoder for what is usually inside it. The file is not damaged and nothing has gone wrong with the recording — Windows simply does not know how to unwrap it. Installing a player like VLC will open it, and converting to MP4 solves it everywhere at once rather than on the one machine.
Does the video lose quality?
Some, because the file is re-encoded rather than repackaged. The loss is small at normal viewing sizes and is the price of guaranteeing the result plays everywhere. If you have the original recording, keep it: converting a converted file compounds the loss each time, and the second copy is always the one to discard.
Is MOV actually different from MP4?
Less than the extension suggests. Both descend from the same QuickTime file format, and a MOV very often contains exactly the H.264 video and AAC audio an MP4 would. What differs is what players expect: the extension is the thing being rejected as often as the contents. That is why this conversion feels disproportionately useful for how little changes.
What about ProRes files from a camera?
They convert, but expect a large drop in file size and a real drop in quality, because ProRes is an editing format that keeps far more picture information than H.264 can. That trade is the point if you need to send or upload the clip. If it is going back into an edit, keep the ProRes original and convert only the copy you are sending.