Convert m4a (aac) to mp3
I used iTunes to copy songs off the VBS CD, which encoded them in AAC format (M4A container). My video editor doesn’t accept that format, so I needed to convert them to mp3. After trying lots of programs that Google offered me, many of which claimed to be “free” but were really just “free trials”, I finally found the solution in a forum post. It turns out that you can do the conversion right in iTunes, totally free and totally cool.
1. Go into iTunes Preferences, and change the importing mode back to the MP3 mode you like
2. Now select the tracks that you want to change back, and go to the Advanced menu. There is an item called “convert selection to MP3“.
This menu item lists whatever the current setting is in the importing prefs.
Now, this might not be good for the audio quality, but I don’t really care: I don’t listen to music that carefully. Thanks, Hannah W!
I am kind of new at this, so my question is this: Were do I find itune and do I have to download it? Please put your instruction in my e-mail, thank you.
Reply to Futsalguy for the question posed in March. I did this for the first time today and also could not find the .mp3 files in my iTunes playlist – they remained as .m4a. So I ran the conversion several more times. Aha! Now I have multiple copies of the .mp3 files in my iTunes Library; that’s where they get put, not in with the original playlist.
thank you soooo much. i kept getting shareware crap on my search for a converter!
I knew there was a reason ( besides internet radio ) that I kept iTunes around! Thanks…that was so easy!
Thanks a million, it worked perfect for me after trying so many “Free Programs” that didn’t work very well!
MelodyCan converts protected files quickly and with good quality. It has trial version.
[…] How to convert m4a to mps – Found this useful. […]
Thanks, dude!
I tried some other programs too, and it turned out to be just a 30-SECONDer conversion. I dint realize the conversion engine was just right under my nose.
Thanks a gazillion! :-D
thank you so so so much you have all saved my life (not really but saved a lot of messing and helped sooo much) message for DARK about not being able to find itunes prefernces, ( you have prob sorted it by now but for anyone else….
go to
edit
preferences
importing
import using: (and select mp3)
then edit select all your library and right click convert to MP3
life savers!!!!!!!!!
i need some help with my files, i tried to do it, but i cant add the file to my library, if somebody can help me please do it
I have used a similar tool called M4A to MP3 Converter, find it at:
http://www.qweas.com/download/audio_mp3/audio_converters/m4a_to_mp3_converter.htm
Genius!
Just got a new car stereo that plays mp3, but not mp4 so just what I needed. Works fine.
Cheers
It´s simple and work fine!! Excellent!!!! Thanks a lot!!
When I convert the songs from .m4a to .mp3, iTunes also puts a copy into my regular library. With over 1000 songs, how will I know which ones are the .mp3 and which ones are the .m4a songs to delete?
Hey nick,
You can open your iTunes music folder. To do this, right-click on any song and select “Show in Windows Explorer.” Then, you can sort the files by type. You can select all of the m4a files and move or delete them.
iTunes might sort all of the files into subfolders such as the artist and album name. You might need to do a “search” over the parent iTunes music folder and search for files of type “.m4a”.
For protected aac files, you can burn to CD and then rip to MP3. download software from http://www.bestshareware.net/soundtaxi-drm-converter.htm
if the aac is protected, i mean if it is in m4p format, iTunes cannot convert it any more.
a friend of mine uses a virtual burner program called NoteBurner to burn the itunes music, both in m4a and m4p format, on an virtual audio CD and the program can rip the burned music back to your hard drive automatically. It is very convenient
You are really savvy! Thanks it worked like a charm! ;)
Elliot,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! This has saved a whole lot of time and effort!
Help! I’ve downloaded tunebite but for some reason when I try to add music files to the tunebite library to be converted, it wont let me. I tried with itunes M4As, and also with regular mp3s as a mvas as a test, and still nothing. Does anyone know what is happening and how I can fix it?
Elsa, why are you using tunebite? iTunes can convert M4A to mp3.
Thanks a lot for the post! It works!
Thank you!!! SO helpful. I thought it would take me forever to do this and then I found your site and voila! Worked perfectly.
Thx
Awesome! Thanks for saving me time with freeware!~
[…] some looking around I can upon this post which provided a bit more information. However, this will not work for files which iTunes cannot […]
YOU ROCK…This is exactly what I needed after converting the mp4 file to m4a. God only knows why QTfairuse only converts to m4a instead of mp3