Free tool

Video converter

This video converter turns a MOV, WebM, MKV or MP4 into an MP4, a WebM or a MOV, right in your browser. When the video inside already suits the new format it is copied untouched, which takes seconds; otherwise it is re-encoded.

  • Free
  • Copies instead of re-encoding when it can
  • Nothing is uploaded

Choose your video

MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 2 GB and 3 hours. Everything happens in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

How it works

How do you convert a video?

Add the video, pick MP4, WebM or MOV, and press Convert. The converter reads the file’s video and sound first and tells you whether each will be copied or re-encoded, so you know how long it will take before you start.

  1. 1

    Add the video

    Drop it on the box or choose it: a phone video, a screen recording, a download, a clip from OBS.

  2. 2

    Pick the format

    MP4 plays almost everywhere, WebM is for web pages, MOV is for QuickTime and Final Cut.

  3. 3

    Convert and save

    Watch the result in the page, then download it. The original stays as it was.

Why do some videos convert in a second and others take minutes?

A video file is a box holding a video stream and a sound stream. If the new box takes the same streams, the converter moves them across without re-encoding: a 22 MB MOV became an MP4 in a fraction of a second. If not, every frame is encoded again.

Moving streams into a new box is called a remux, and it loses nothing: the picture is the same bytes. Re-encoding makes a new picture that looks the same to the eye, and takes time in proportion to the video’s length and size.

MOV with H.264 or HEVC
To MP4Copied
To WebMRe-encoded as VP9
WebM with VP8 or VP9
To MP4Re-encoded as H.264
To WebMCopied
MKV with H.264 or HEVC
To MP4Copied
To WebMRe-encoded as VP9
MP4 with H.264
To MP4Copied
To WebMRe-encoded as VP9
AVI, WMV, FLV
To MP4Can’t be read in a browser
To WebMCan’t be read in a browser

Is there a converter for your exact formats?

Yes, for the four most-asked pairs. Each page is this converter set up for one source, with what to know about that kind of file.

  • MOV to MP4

    iPhone videos, QuickTime and Mac screen recordings, usually copied in a second.

  • WebM to MP4

    Browser and screen-recorder files, re-encoded as H.264 and AAC.

  • MKV to MP4

    OBS recordings and films with H.264 or HEVC, remuxed without re-encoding.

  • MP4 to WebM

    VP9 and Opus, for a video on a web page.

Which format should you convert to?

MP4 with H.264 and AAC, unless you have a reason not to, which is why a video converter is so often used as an MP4 converter. It opens on phones, in QuickTime Player, Windows, editors and upload forms. Choose WebM for a web page, MOV for a Mac app.

  • MP4

    The safe default. Convert to MP4 and the H.264 video and AAC sound play on nearly every device and site.

  • WebM

    VP9 video and Opus sound: small files for web pages, played by Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari.

  • MOV

    Apple’s format. Holds the same H.264 as an MP4, and suits QuickTime Player, iMovie and Final Cut Pro.

Can it convert AVI, WMV or FLV files?

No. Browsers have no way to open those containers, and the Xvid or DivX video most AVI files hold can’t be decoded by any browser either. Convert them with a desktop app such as VLC or HandBrake; this converter tells you so when you drop one.

What if the video is a recording you need to go through?

Then the words matter more than the format. NoteOwl imports an audio or video recording on your Mac and transcribes it with every speaker labelled, so you can read, search and quote it instead of scrubbing through the video.

For just the sound of a video, the audio extractor saves it as MP3, M4A or WAV.

FAQ

Questions about converting video

Is my video uploaded to convert it?

No. The converter reads the file from your device and builds the new one in the page. In our tests the browser made no network requests at all between choosing the file and downloading the result, and there is no account.

Does converting lower the quality?

Not when the streams are copied, which the converter says before you start: the picture is the same bytes. When a video has to be re-encoded, it is encoded at a bitrate chosen for its size, so it looks the same to the eye.

How big a video can it convert?

Up to 2 GB and 3 hours. The file is read a piece at a time, so a long copy is quick; re-encoding takes longer the longer and sharper the video is, and runs faster on a recent computer.

Does it keep subtitles and extra audio tracks?

It keeps one video and one sound track, the main ones, and leaves out subtitle tracks and extra languages. To put subtitles back, add them with the add subtitles to video tool after converting.

Which browsers can convert video?

Current versions of Chrome, Edge and Safari, which we tested. Copying needs no decoder at all; re-encoding uses the browser’s own encoders, and HEVC video can be decoded in Safari. The converter checks before it starts and says what a browser can’t do.

Can I convert a video on my phone?

Yes. Choose the video from your files or photos and convert it the same way. Copying takes seconds on a phone too; re-encoding a long video is slower than on a computer, so keep the page open until it finishes.

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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.

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