Convert MP4 to WAV
Free online converter for MP4 files. Uncompressed PCM audio for editing and mastering. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
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Upload a MP4 file to convert it to WAV. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About MP4 and WAV
MP4 .mp4
The universal video container, normally holding H.264 video and AAC audio. If a device plays video at all, it plays MP4.
Good for
- Plays on effectively every device, browser and editor
- Excellent compression at high quality
- Streams well, and seeks quickly
Trade-offs
- H.264 carries patent licensing obligations
- Lossy — quality drops each time it is re-encoded
- Less flexible than MKV for subtitles and multiple tracks
video/mp4
WAV .wav
Raw uncompressed audio samples in a thin container. Exactly what came off the recorder, at roughly 10 MB per minute of stereo CD-quality sound.
Good for
- Bit-for-bit perfect — nothing is discarded
- No decoding overhead, so editors handle it fastest
- The standard working format for recording and editing
Trade-offs
- Very large — around 10 MB per minute
- No built-in tags for artist or album
- Impractical for distribution or streaming
audio/wav
MP4 and WAV side by side
| MP4 | WAV | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy (usually H.264) | Uncompressed PCM |
| Transparency | No | n/a |
| Typically used for | Everything — the safe default for video | Recording, editing, mastering |
What changes when you convert MP4 to WAV
Only the sound is kept
This takes the audio track out of the MP4 and writes it as WAV. The picture is discarded entirely, and no conversion back will return it — keep the MP4 if you still need the video.
This is a re-encode, not a repackage
Some tools can move a stream into a different container untouched when the codecs happen to line up. We do not — every job here is decoded and encoded again, so the conversion takes time in proportion to the length of the file and costs a small amount of quality even where a repackage would have been possible. In exchange the output is predictable: it plays everywhere, rather than inheriting whatever the source happened to contain.
What your WAV will contain
The output is 16-bit PCM — as uncompressed 16-bit PCM, the format CDs use. There is no quality setting because nothing is being decided: every sample is stored literally. Expect around 10 MB per minute of stereo audio, which is the price of a format that every editor and every piece of hardware will open.
Other MP4 conversions
Other ways to get WAV
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