Video conversion
Convert M4V to AAC
Updated Jul 2026
M4V is Apple's video container, used for movies, TV shows, and home videos synced through iTunes. AAC is an audio-only format that plays on nearly every phone, speaker, and music app. To convert M4V to AAC, pull out the audio track and save it on its own, no video, and no upload, all on your own computer.
- Extension
- .m4v
- Type
- Video
- Typically
- iTunes / Apple video
- Compression
- Lossy
- Extension
- .aac
- Type
- Audio
- Typically
- Apple / streaming audio
- Compression
- Lossy
Convert M4V to AAC on your own computer. Nothing uploads.
How to convert M4V to AAC
- Open Morphjet and drag in the M4V file, or a whole folder of them at once.
- Choose AAC as the output format.
- Convert. Morphjet pulls the audio track out of the video and saves it as a standalone AAC file.
- The AAC lands right next to your original M4V, and nothing ever leaves your machine.
M4V vs AAC: what actually changes
| M4V | AAC | |
|---|---|---|
| Contains video | Yes | No, audio only |
| File size | Large, video plus audio | Small, often a tenth the size or less |
| Quality | Lossy video and audio | Lossy, close to the original if the source audio was already AAC |
| Plays on | Mostly Apple apps and devices | Nearly any phone, computer, or music app |
| Purchased content protection | Can be DRM locked if bought from the iTunes Store | N/A, only unprotected sources can be converted at all |
| Metadata kept | Title, chapters, thumbnails | Title and basic tags only, no video-related metadata |
When to convert, and when not to
Convert M4V to AAC when you only care about the sound, a lecture, a podcast episode, a home video's audio, or a concert recording, and you want a small file you can carry on a phone or music app without the video weighing it down.
Keep the original M4V if you still want to watch the video, since converting to AAC throws the picture away for good.
Why not just use an online converter?
Home videos and personal recordings often end up as M4V files, and they can contain more than you'd want a stranger's server to see, faces, voices, locations, private conversations. An online converter has to receive the whole video file to pull out the audio. Morphjet does that extraction on your own Mac or PC, so the video and the audio it's pulled from both stay put.
Questions
Will I lose the video when I convert M4V to AAC?
Yes, on purpose. AAC is an audio-only format, so the picture is dropped and only the sound is kept. Keep the original M4V if you might want to watch it again.
Does converting M4V to AAC lose sound quality?
It depends on the source. Many M4V files already use AAC audio internally, so extracting it is close to a straight copy. If the audio track uses a different codec, converting to AAC involves a small, one-time re-encode.
Can I convert an M4V I bought from the iTunes Store?
Not if it's protected. Purchased movies and TV shows are often locked with DRM, and no converter, including Morphjet, can touch those. Your own recordings and unprotected downloads convert fine.
Will the AAC file keep the title and other info?
Basic tags like the title usually carry over. Anything tied to the video itself, like chapters or thumbnail images, doesn't apply once there's no video left.
Can I convert M4V to AAC without uploading the file anywhere?
Yes. Morphjet runs on your own computer, so the video never has to travel over the internet to get its audio extracted. It works fine offline.
Morphjet converts M4V, AAC, and 1,800+ other formats, all on your machine. Launching this July.