m4a
What is a .m4a file?
audio/mp4
M4A is an MPEG-4 audio container, essentially an MP4 file holding audio-only content, usually AAC or sometimes Apple Lossless (ALAC). It supports rich metadata and chapters and is the standard for iTunes and Apple Music downloads. The .m4a extension signals audio-only MP4 content.
How to use a .m4a file
Use an example M4A to test MP4 container parsing, AAC or ALAC decoding, metadata and chapter extraction, and converters between M4A and MP3 or FLAC.
Download example .m4a files
- M4A — AAC (MP4)The clip as AAC in an MP4/M4A container (faststart) — Apple's default audio container. For testing M4A parsing and MP4 audio conversion.
- ALAC — Apple LosslessThe clip as Apple Lossless (ALAC) in an M4A container — lossless, unlike the AAC M4A twin. For testing ALAC decoding and lossless conversion.