H.264 is a popular video compression standard for high-definition digital video. An increasing number of people would like to watch movies, TV episodes, music videos, etc. encoded with H.264. Besides MP4, however, H.264 videos are also packaged in AVI, MKV, AVCHD, MPG, TS, M2TS, FLV, MOV, VOB, etc. Which is not compatible with popular mobile device and video editors like premiere. Another issue is that H.264 videos come in large size, occupying a good amount of space. To make H.264 videos more compatible and even smaller in size, you'd better convert H264 to MP4 format. How to convert H264 to MP4 and what're the best H264 converters for Mac, Windows, and Android? Move on to get details.
H.264 also named MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 Part 10. It is one of the frequently-used video codecs, which was jointly developed by the ITU-T and ISO/IEC. It's a well-known compression to encode high definition videos in relatively low bitrates. H.264 is widely applied to iTunes, online video streaming, HDTV, Blu-ray, HD DVD, AVCHD camcorders, and so on.
MP4, also named MPEG-4 Part 14, is a digital multimedia container format to store a movie or video clip. It’s able to contain multiple videos, audio, subtitles, images, etc., and can be played on many devices, like iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Android, and more. MP4 is generally encoded with H.264/HEVC/MPEG-4 video codec and AAC audio codec.
To put it simply, MP4 is a container format, while H.264 is a video codec that requires a video container to host the encoded video. Commonly, H264 is pakaged in MP4 format, but some times it will also in AVI, MKV, MOV, AVCHD etc. format, in this situation, you need to convert the h264 video in MKV, AVI, MOV, or AVCDH,etc. to MP4 for better compatibility and smaller file size.
Cisdem Video Converter is a powerful and feature-rich program that makes H.264 to MP4 conversion fast, simple, and trustworthy. Plenty of files can be converted simultaneously, even if they are not in the same format. Not only is it an H264 converter for Mac or Windows, but also a video downloader/editor/combiner and DVD ripper. Also, you can easily use Cisdem Video Converter to reduce the size of your h264 video.
In addition to converting H264 to MP4, Cisdem Video Converter supports conversions between an impressive number of file formats, including 4K-capable codecs like H.265, H.264, MP4, HD MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, RMVB, MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, AC3, WAV, etc.
It’s packed with a huge of optimized preset formats for iPhone, iPad, Xbox 360, PSP, iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, Walkman, etc.
It can convert your homemade DVD to any format, like MP4, MKV, AVI, etc., or the preset profiles for easy playback and sharing.
This H264 converter lets you download videos from popular sites, like Youtube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Crunchyroll, Hulu, Nico video, LiveLeak, Periscope, Wistia, Facebook, Twitter, MyVideo, FunnyOrDie, GodTube and more.
Before you convert H264 to MP4 on computer, edit videos using the built-in video editor if needed. You can trim videos to delete unwanted segments, add external watermarks & subtitles, enhance video with special effects and filters, enable 3D effects, and so on.
H264 video files can be converted to MP4 with 98% quality reserved.
Large-sized H264 or HD videos can be converted to MP4 and the size will be reduced by 40%-50%, or even more.
Download the Cisdem H264 converter on your Mac or Windows, then Install and fire up it.
The software will bring you to the “Convert” tab by default.
Drag & drop the file or open the library (by clicking the button in the upper right corner) to import the H.264 file for conversion. In case of batch conversion of H.264 files, drag & drop multiple videos to the program.
Click the format icon to open up the format list. Choose MP4 from either of the “General Video”, “4K Video” (if your input video is 4K or higher), and presets category, depending on your requirement. Under these tabs, choose your favorite MP4 format for output.
Tip: H.265 creates somewhat smaller file sizes, but not all devices can play it. To compress H.264 videos, navigate to “General Video” > “MP4 HEVC Video”.
Once you are satisfied with your selection, click the icon next to the format to go to the “Advanced Settings” window. Now you can choose the quality, codec, Bit Rate, Sample Rate, etc.
Select the destination folder. After that > click the button to start the conversion process of H.264 files to MP4 format.
If you just need a shorter part of the video for editing, uploading, or emailing. you can use the trim function of Cisdem Video Converter.
VLC should be one of the best free H264 converters you can take into consideration. Don't be misled by its name, it’s not just a video player software but a video & audio transcoder. It’s available on multiplatform- Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.
Note: On Mac, the output video will be in M4V format. To produce a genuine MP4 format, make sure you check the "Keep original audio track" box under the “Audio codec” tab. And finally, rename the output extension from M4V to MP4. Your MP4 video should work normally and be compatible with various MP4 players.
Handbrake is a decent H.264 encoder that has been around for over many years. It has the ability to convert the most common multimedia files and DVD/BluRay sources to MKV/MP4/presets for devices. It works on Windows (7, 8.1, 10), macOS (10.11 or later) and Linux as well.
Video.online-convert.com is an all-around online converter that can convert video, audio, image, eBook, document, and more. This online H264 converter boasts optional settings, which lets you tweak the video and audio parameters.
Visit https://video.online-convert.com/convert-to-mp4.
Zamzar is a powerful web-based service for file conversions. As same as online-convert.com, this H.264 encoder is also dedicated to conversions between many file types. Zamzar makes working easier with a few mouse clicks.
Open Zamzar official site.
Media Converter is an open-source and FFmpeg-build converter for Android that aims to convert all sorts of media formats to other popular ones like MP4 (MPEG4/H264, AAC). You can also specify the output file parameters of this H264 converter. Besides video conversion, it empowers you to crop/rotate video, extract audio to make a ringtone as well.
In the above article, we have discussed how to convert H264 to MP4 on Mac, Windows, and Android. If you are looking for an easy way, the online H264 converters are enough. But if you find an easy yet professional, reliable method, the program like Cisdem Video Converter is the best out of the lot. It ensures batch conversions between different formats, preserving the original quality.
Peter has always had great enthusiasm for writing, programming and web development. He likes writing about software and technology, his works are featured on some tech blogs or forums like Tom's Hardware, CNET, etc.