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Everlynokc's avatar
Everlynokc
Iron Contributor
Mar 06, 2025

How can I convert m4a to mp3 on my Windows 11 PC?

Recently, I found that the audio files recorded with voice memos on my phone are all in .m4a format, although they can be played normally, but I encountered a lot of trouble when sharing them among m...
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Mieowo's avatar
Mieowo
Iron Contributor
Mar 06, 2025

SoX (Sound eXchange) is an open source, cross-platform, lightweight command-line audio processing tool for Windows, macOS and Linux. It focuses on audio format conversion, editing and playback, especially suitable for batch processing of audio files or automated operations through scripts. The core advantages of SoX are:

  • Strong format compatibility: Native support for M4A, AAC, FLAC, WAV and many other formats, and can directly convert M4A to MP3.
  • Highly customizable: Allows users to precisely set parameters such as bitrate, channel, sample rate, etc. to balance sound quality and file size.
  • Ad-free and free: completely open source with no commercial restrictions, suitable for individual users and professional developers.
  • Simple dependency: requires a few codecs (such as libfaad2.dll and lameenc.dll) to run quickly on Windows.

 

For single .m4a to .mp3 conversion:

sox input.m4a output.mp3 -b 192

For bulk .m4a to .mp3 conversion:

for %f in (*.m4a) do sox "%f" "output_%~nf.mp3" -b 192

SoX is a powerful and lightweight command line audio tool especially for technical users who need to batch convert M4A to MP3. With flexible parameterization and cross-platform support, it meets the needs from simple format conversion to professional-grade audio editing. Although it is a bit cumbersome to install codec-dependent, its open-source, free and ad-free features .

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