Free tool
M4A to text converter
Choose an M4A file to turn M4A to text right in your browser: the converter opens the recording, transcribes it with AI, and gives you the words with a time on every paragraph, to copy or download.
- Free
- Opens M4A as it is
- Nothing is stored
Drop your M4A file here, or Choose your M4A file
MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC, OGG or WebM. Up to 30 minutes of each file, 3 free files a day. The language is detected automatically.
Recording on an iPhone or a Mac? NoteOwl transcribes your M4As on the Mac itself with unlimited transcription, labels each speaker and keeps every recording searchable.
How it works
How do you convert M4A to text?
Pick the M4A or drag it onto the box above. Your browser opens the file, decodes the AAC sound inside and splits it at pauses into short pieces, which AI transcription writes out while you watch. Copy the result or save it.
- 1
Choose the M4A
A voice memo shared to Files, the audio-only file Zoom saves beside a meeting’s video, or a recording from an Android app.
- 2
Read it as it’s written
Paragraphs arrive in order, each marked with the moment it starts. Up to 30 minutes of every M4A are transcribed.
- 3
Keep the text
Copy it, or save a Word document, a plain text file, or SRT and VTT subtitles that carry the M4A’s name.
What is an M4A file?
An M4A file is an MPEG-4 file that carries sound and no picture. The sound is nearly always AAC, the same compressed audio used in most MP4 videos. Voice Memos, QuickTime Player and Zoom all save M4As, and so do many Android recorder apps.
Some M4As hold Apple Lossless sound instead of AAC. Voice Memos records that way when its Audio Quality setting is Lossless: the name and icon look the same, but the file is larger and fewer browsers can decode it.
- Voice Memos, set to Compressed
- Sound insideAAC
- Opens inChrome, Edge and Safari
- Voice Memos, set to Lossless
- Sound insideApple Lossless
- Opens inSafari only
- Zoom, recording to the computer
- Sound insideAAC
- Opens inChrome, Edge and Safari
- Android recorder apps
- Sound insideAAC, almost always
- Opens inChrome, Edge and Safari
| Recorded with | Sound inside | Opens in |
|---|---|---|
| Voice Memos, set to Compressed | AAC | Chrome, Edge and Safari |
| Voice Memos, set to Lossless | Apple Lossless | Safari only |
| Zoom, recording to the computer | AAC | Chrome, Edge and Safari |
| Android recorder apps | AAC, almost always | Chrome, Edge and Safari |
Why won’t a Voice Memos M4A open in Chrome?
It was most likely recorded as Apple Lossless. Chrome and Edge can’t decode that kind of sound, and the converter says so. Open this page in Safari, which can, or switch Voice Memos to Compressed for future recordings.
On an iPhone the switch is under Settings › Apps › Voice Memos › Audio Quality; on a Mac, in Voice Memos › Settings. Memos you’ve already made keep the quality they were recorded with.
How do you get an M4A off an iPhone?
Save it as a file. In Voice Memos, open the recording’s menu, tap Share and choose Save to Files, or AirDrop it to your Mac. Then pick it here from the Files app on the phone, or from Finder on the Mac.
Prefer to work on the Mac? This guide explains how to transcribe a voice memo on a Mac, from saving it as a file to the finished transcript.
- 1
Open the memo’s menu
In Voice Memos, tap the recording, then the three dots next to its title.
- 2
Share it to Files
Tap Share, then Save to Files, and choose a folder. The memo is stored there as an M4A.
- 3
Choose it on this page
Tap Choose file and open that folder. On a Mac, drag a memo out of Voice Memos into a Finder window first.
Is an M4A the same as an MP4?
Nearly. Both are MPEG-4 files; an M4A simply leaves out the picture. The converter reads either one, and from an MP4 or MOV video it takes only the sound track, so there’s no need to make an M4A first.
Need the recording as an MP3 for another app? The M4A to MP3 converter makes one in your browser, without uploading the file.
Can you transcribe the M4A from a Zoom recording?
Yes. When Zoom records to your computer, it saves an audio-only M4A next to the MP4 in that meeting’s folder. Drop the M4A here: it holds the same sound as the video in a far smaller file.
The transcript has no speaker names. Zoom can also save a separate audio file for each participant, a recording setting worth switching on: transcribe each person’s file and you know who said what.
Can a Mac transcribe M4A files without uploading them?
Yes, with NoteOwl. It transcribes M4As on your Mac with unlimited transcription and on-device AI models, at any length, and labels each speaker. Lossless voice memos open there too, and nothing leaves the Mac.
FAQ
Questions about turning M4A into text
Is the M4A to text converter free?
Yes, and there’s no account to make. Each day you can transcribe 3 M4A files, the first 30 minutes of each, and copy or download every transcript in any of its formats.
Do I have to convert an M4A to MP3 before transcribing it?
No. The converter reads the M4A exactly as your phone or computer saved it. Turning it into an MP3 first would add a step and re-compress the sound for nothing.
What if the converter can’t open my M4A?
Check which message it shows. “This browser can’t decode Apple Lossless sound” means a voice memo recorded as Lossless: open the page in Safari and choose it again. “This file can’t be read as audio” usually means the file is damaged or only partly copied, so copy it across again.
Is my M4A uploaded anywhere?
The file itself never leaves your device. Your browser decodes it and sends only short stretches of its sound, over a secure connection, to a cloud AI transcription service that transcribes each one and throws it away. NoteOwl keeps neither the audio nor the transcript.
Can I transcribe an M4A from an Android phone?
Yes. Most Android recorder apps save M4A files with AAC sound. Copy the recording to your computer, or open this page on the phone and choose the file from the recorder’s folder or your downloads.
What happens if my M4A runs longer than 30 minutes?
You get a transcript of its first 30 minutes, with a note above it saying so. Split the recording to transcribe the rest here, or import the whole M4A into NoteOwl on a Mac, which has no length limit.
Keep exploring
More audio to text tools
- Audio to text converterTranscribe audio to text free: drop in an MP3, M4A, WAV or other recording and get an AI transcript with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- WAV to textTurn a WAV file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- AAC to textTurn a AAC file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- FLAC to textTurn a FLAC file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
- OGG to textTurn a OGG file into text free in your browser: AI transcription with times, as text, SRT, VTT or Word; nothing is stored
The same in other tools
Related
- Audio to textTranscription software for your Mac: drop in an audio or video file and get a speaker-labelled transcript with timestamps, unlimited, with nothing uploaded
- M4A to MP3 converterConvert M4A to MP3 in your browser, iPhone and Mac voice memos included, at 128, 192 or 320 kbps; nothing is uploaded
- Voice memo to textHow to turn a Voice Memos recording into text on a Mac, with Apple’s own tools and with NoteOwl
Your M4A recordings, transcribed on your Mac
Free to download. Runs entirely on your Mac.
macOS 26 or later · Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) · 16 GB memory minimum, 24 GB recommended
About NoteOwl
NoteOwl is private AI meeting notes and memory for the Mac. It captures meetings without a bot joining the call, labels every speaker, writes summaries and action items, and builds a memory of every conversation that you can chat with — fully offline, because the speech recognition and the AI run on the Mac itself. Dictation into any app is free; Pro is a one-time purchase.
NoteOwl pricing: what’s free and what Pro adds
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