MP4 is a popular file format that can contain video, audio, text and other rich visual elements. MP3 file, on the other hand, contains audio only. And there are instances when you find yourself needing to convert MP4 to MP3:
So how to do it? As a Mac user, you can convert MP4 to MP3 on Mac in a way delivering the original audio quality. In this post, I will show you 5 ways to get the job done without any hassle.
To preserve the original audio quality of the MP4 resource, you may have to harness the power of a professional tool, let's say, a Video Converter for Mac.
Cisdem Video Converter is an ideal assistant to convert MP4 to MP3 on Mac, with original audio, and video quality retained. It also allows users to perform the conversion between different media file formats and handle 4K videos with optimized GPU acceleration.
Vital features of Cisdem MP4 to MP3 converter for Mac:
Click the button to free download Cisdem Video Converter, and follow the steps below to convert MP4 files to MP3.
Free Download macOS 10.12 or later 
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Step 1. Improt MP4 files into the program
Install and run Cisdem Video Converter, it will take you to the Convert tab by default.
Add MP4 files into the interface by drag and drop, or go to "File" > "Add File(s)" from the top menu bar. You can add multiple files for bulk conversion.
Step 2. Choose MP3 as the output format
Click on the format icon right to the video info, the output library will pop up. Choose "General Audio" menu> "MP3 Audio". Alternatively, select the format from "Convert all tasks to" on the bottom to apply the output settings to all.
There is a gear icon for opening the "Advanced Settings" dialog. You can adjust your MP3 audio parameters there.
Step 3. Start the conversion
Click the .png)
button to start converting MP4 to MP3 on Mac. The conversion process usually takes only a few seconds. Click the checkmark 
icon to quickly find the MP3 file in the output folder and play it - the audio file should be as clear as the original.
Free Download macOS 10.12 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Tip: Edit MP4 videos
When converting between video files, you can click the edit 
button to edit MP4 videos (apply the effect, add watermark, subtitles, etc.) before exporting them to desired formats.
As a Mac user, you can absolutely make full use of the tools included in your Mac – the combination of QuickTime Player and iTunes (Apple Music for Catalina and above) as well as iMovie.
This method will encode and compress the file twice, resulting in decreased audio quality and larger file size than direct conversion. In my test, it converted a 3-minute MP4 music video to 3MB MP3 file, compared to 2.4MB with Cisdem Video Converter.
Let's take a look at this MP4 to MP3 trick.
iMovie is the video editing software that comes with your Mac. It can extract audio from an MP4 file and save to MP3. It's a handy option especially when you need to edit audio during your workflow. However, note that it doesn't allow batch processing and quality selection.
In the File dialog, change the output format to "Audio Only", and select "MP3" from the File Format menu.
VLC is a pinup media player capable of playing almost all madia formats on Mac and Windows. You might not know that it supports the transcoding function as well, but only in a few output formats, like MP3, OGG, WebM, FLAC, etc.
Despite the plain, sleek interface and gun-gray icon, it still owns multifarious customization options and a tweaked toolbar, which enhances the conversion process. The biggest regret is that VLC's Mac version does not support the simultaneous conversion of multiple video files to audio.
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Of course, if you don't need to turn MP4 into MP3 very often, you can use the online free MP4 to MP3 converter for Mac. We pick 2 user-friendly converters for your choice: Zamzar.com and Online-audio-converter.com.
Zamzar is a multi-purpose file conversion site that supports a significant number of formats. Apart from converting media files, it also allows you to convert files between documents, images, e-Books, CAD, and archived files.
The free version, however, is limited to converting MP4 files under 50MB and up to five MP4 files at a time.
See the steps to convert MP4 file to MP3.
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Online Audio Converter supports a number of formats for converting video to audio and audio to audio, providing 100+ input formats and 8 output formats.
As a free online converter, it also has limitations. Uploading an MP4 file to the website is quite slow and may fail if the MP4 is too large. It happens to me that the upload fails after waiting for 3 minutes with a 322MB MP4 video.
Below is how to convert MP4 to MP3 Mac with online-audio-converter.com.
The defects of 99% online video converters:
FFmpeg (full name "Fast Forward MPEG") is a collection of libraries and tools, making it possible to transcode video to audio files. It supports all basic media codecs, such as H.264, H.265, AAC, Apple ProRes, Avid DNxHD, and so on.
Bulk create MP3 from MP4 files in an entire directory: for i in *.mp4; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "${i%.*}.mp3"; done.
Extract MP3 audio without re-encoding: ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -vn -c:a copy -ac 2 test.mp3.
It is not recommended. An MP4 file encapsulates audio and video information, whereas an MP3 file only contains audio information. Changing the file extension won't affect the actual content. Instead, it causes the media player to mistake it for an MP3 file. Doing so has the following consequences:
I used 4 popular audio players on the Mac to play the file after changing the extension, and the result is not ideal.
| QuickTime | Playing fine, but the duration is wrong |
|---|---|
| iTunes/Apple Music | Can't import to the app |
| VLC | Still playing as a video |
| Cisdem Video Player | Still playing as a video |
QuickTime X, available on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or above, lets you export videos to 4k/1080p/720p/480 video and audio only. But the output audio format will be an M4A file.
QuickTime 7 Pro can merely transcode MP4 to AIFF, AU, and WAVE audio formats.
Obviously, neither the new version nor the old version of QuickTime supports converting MP4 to MP3 on Mac.
HandBrake is a cross-platform, open-source, free transcoder for digital video. It provides advanced users with numerous parameter settings to alter the video quality, codec, file size, and adjust frame rate accordingly.
But unfortunately, Handbrake doesn't allow audio conversion. This also means you have no chance to extract audio from video, rip DVD audio, or convert MP4 to MP3 on Mac by using Handbrake.
Quite often when converting MP4 to an audio format we will think of MP3, but for Mac users, M4A is also an audio format you are familiar with, as when you download songs from iTunes or Apple Music it will be in M4A format.
While M4A and MP3 are both lossy audio formats, they are not the same. M4A is supposed to have a better quality than MP3. But in terms of compatibility, MP3 is more popular. If you only need to convert MP4 to an audio format for playing on Mac, then M4A is also a good choice.
Many users may first turn to the free solutions when running into such an MP4 to MP3 issue on Mac. However, if you are looking for an easy and high-quality conversion, I do recommend the Cisdem MP4 to MP3 Converter for Mac, which saves time and effort without sacrificing the file 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.
