

MPEG-4 (MP4) is a container video format that can store multimedia data, usually audio and video. Users can also preview M4A files by highlighting the file and pressing the spacebar.Īdditionally, M4A opens in VLC media player, Adobe Premiere Pro, Elmedia Player, Winamp, and a host of other programs.ĭeveloped by: ISO/ IEC, Moving Pictures Experts Group For Windows users, the default program is Windows Media Player. For Apple users, iTunes is the default program to open M4A files. M4A files open in most well-known, audio-playback programs, including iTunes, QuickTime, and Windows Media Player. M4A files are smaller in size while simultaneously better in quality than MP3 files, with which it shares the most similarities, in comparison to all other audio file formats. Because both file elements are compressed, MP4s normally have a smaller file size than many other video formats, but still maintain relatively high quality for sharing online.MPEG 4 Audio (M4A) compresses and encodes audio files by using one of two coder-decoder algorithms: Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). The video part is usually compressed with MPEG-4, and the audio is usually compressed using AAC, which is the audio format associated with iTunes. MP4 videos are made up of video and audio elements that are compressed separately. MP4 is usually the preferred format for uploading videos to YouTube, Vimeo or other websites. As MP4 is a standardised format, it will normally play easily on most devices and media players, including Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and VLC. It was originally developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) but has become an ISO standard, meaning that it’s now maintained by the International Organisation for Standardization. MP4 was developed to be easily played and shared. MP4, sometimes called MPEG4, is one of the most common video formats. By comparison, an MP3 file is universally supported. One downside of an M4A file, especially when compared to an MP3 format, is that it can only be opened by iTunes or Windows Media Player version 12 and later. As more and more music was consumed on the go via devices such as iPods and smartphones, the need for small file sizes became greater, which is why an M4A file has grown in popularity and importance. M4A files tend to be encoded using an AAC codec and are small in size because they have been compressed - often providing a smaller file-size footprint than an MP3 file format, while mirroring, if not improving, the quality of an MP3 file. An M4A file is the go-to audio format for compressed audio, due to the creation and popularity of iTunes. It was developed by Apple, largely as a result of the popularity of the MP3 file. An M4A file format is also called an MPEG-4 audio file, and is an audio file saved in the MPEG-4 standard.
