M4A to WAV Converter
Convert M4A audio into a plain 16-bit PCM WAV file that any editor, DAW or sampler will open, keeping the original sample rate and channel count. Note the fixed bit depth: even a 24-bit ALAC track comes out at 16 bits.
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What an M4A is, and what the WAV gives you
M4A is a container, not a codec. Most .m4a files hold AAC audio from an iPhone voice memo, a music download or a Mac export, while files ripped in Apple Lossless hold ALAC instead. Either way, the audio is wrapped in an MP4 structure that older hardware samplers, transcription tools, broadcast systems, Windows utilities and some plugin hosts will not touch. WAV is the opposite: an uncompressed PCM file with a simple header that practically everything can read and seek through instantly.
Our converter runs ffmpeg 5.1.9 on the server. It decodes the M4A, whether that means AAC-LC, HE-AAC or ALAC, and writes RIFF WAV using ffmpeg's default PCM codec, 16-bit little-endian. The sample rate and channel count come through untouched, so a 48 kHz stereo voice memo stays 48 kHz stereo and a 96 kHz ALAC rip keeps its 96 kHz rate. No gain change, resampling request, noise reduction or trimming is applied, and there are no options to set: every file goes through the same command.
Two things get smaller or disappear. Bit depth is capped at 16, so 24-bit ALAC loses precision in the WAV; choose FLAC output instead if you need those extra bits intact. And the file gets much bigger, because PCM spends the same number of bytes whatever the source bitrate was, roughly 10 MB per minute for 44.1 kHz stereo. Title, artist and album are written into a RIFF INFO chunk, which some editors show and others ignore. Embedded cover art is always discarded, and chapter markers from an audiobook-style file are not carried into WAV at all.
This pair is popular for a reason: once audio is PCM, editing, slicing, time-stretching and loading into Audacity, Reaper, Pro Tools, a hardware sampler or a transcription pipeline stops being a codec problem. Conversions on this page are quick, too; a typical few-megabyte M4A spends a fraction of a second in the converter, so the upload is usually the slowest part.
Step by step
- Confirm your file is a regular .m4a. Protected purchases such as .m4p or Audible .aa and .aax are not accepted and cannot be decoded, protected or not.
- Drop the files into the dropzone or browse for them. Several M4A files can go in one request (10 per batch on the free tiers), and other audio formats that list WAV as a target are accepted on the same page if your folder is mixed.
- Watch the per-file size cap: 50 MB without an account, 100 MB with a free one, 200 MB on Plus, 1 GB on Pro. Long audiobook chapters recorded at high rates can exceed the guest limit.
- Convert, then download each WAV from the results. Each file keeps its original name with .wav in place of .m4a.
- Move the downloads into your project straight away. Our copy of the output is deleted after about four hours.
Specifics of this conversion
- Uncompressed 16-bit PCM WAV with a standard RIFF header that opens in any editor
- Original sample rate and channel count preserved, from 44.1 kHz mono up to 96 kHz multichannel
- Handles both AAC and Apple Lossless inside the M4A container, plus HE-AAC voice memos
- Title, artist and album written as RIFF INFO tags in the output
- Several files per request, each converted and downloaded individually
- No trimming, fading or level changes: the whole file is converted exactly as it is
Video Tutorial
Watch this step-by-step tutorial to learn how to convert M4A files to WAV format online for free using MiConvert.com. No software installation required.
M4A to WAV questions
Does converting M4A to WAV improve the sound?
No. If the M4A held AAC, the audio was already compressed with loss and the WAV just stores that same audio uncompressed. What it does give you is a format that survives editing and re-saving without adding another round of lossy compression, which is why DAWs prefer it.
Can I get a 24-bit or 32-bit WAV?
Not from this page. The WAV writer here uses 16-bit PCM for every job, so a 24-bit ALAC source is reduced to 16 bits. If you need the full depth of a lossless M4A, convert it to FLAC instead, where 24-bit and the original sample rate both survive.
Why is the WAV file so much bigger?
PCM stores every sample in full rather than compressing it, so size depends only on rate, depth and channels: about 10 MB per minute for 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo, regardless of whether the M4A was 96 kbps or 256 kbps. Expect roughly a tenfold jump for typical music files.
My Apple Music or Audible file will not upload.
Protected .m4p, .aa and .aax files are refused, and we have no way to strip DRM. If a protected file slips through under another extension, the conversion fails with a DRM or undecodable message. The workaround is a copy you own outright, for example a file you exported yourself or an unprotected download.
Do tags, artwork and audiobook chapters survive?
Text tags are written into the WAV as a RIFF INFO chunk, though not every player displays them. Cover art is dropped on every conversion we run. Chapters are not supported by WAV either, so for a chaptered audiobook convert to MP3 or M4B instead, where chapter marks do carry over.
Can I convert a whole folder or an album at once?
You can queue up to 10 files per request on guest and free accounts, 25 on Plus and 50 on Pro, with 10 conversion jobs allowed per hour from one IP address on the free tiers. Each WAV is downloaded separately; there is no zip-all button, and there is no watch-folder or recursive mode.
Is this easier than importing M4A into Audacity?
Often, yes. Audacity needs the optional FFmpeg library installed before it will import M4A, and plenty of people hit that wall mid-session. Converting to WAV first means Audacity, Reaper or a sampler reads the file with no extra components. Nothing here needs installing, and no account is required for files under 50 MB.
Where does the conversion happen and how long do you keep my audio?
On our servers, not in your browser: the M4A is uploaded over HTTPS, converted in a worker and offered back as a download. Your upload is deleted as soon as the job finishes, and the WAV is removed automatically after about four hours. File names, sizes and conversion outcomes are logged for troubleshooting.