MP4: conversion steps
- Upload your MP4 file to start.
- Convert MP4 to 3GP.
- Download the MP4 file.
About MP4 files
a widely supported video container, usually holding H.264 video and AAC audio
MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14) is a container format standardised by ISO. It usually holds H.264 or H.265 video with AAC audio, and it can also carry subtitles and chapter markers.
It is the most widely supported video format: phones, browsers, smart TVs and video sites all play it.
MP4: what conversion changes
Converting MP4 re-encodes video.
MP4: settings to change
Before you convert MP4 files, you can adjust: Video codec, Audio codec, Frame rate, Rate control, Width, Quality (CRF), Audio bitrate, Video bitrate, Quality (VBR), Resolution, Sample rate, Colours, Channels, Height, Scale fit, Normalize loudness, Dithering, Encoder preset, Trim start, Trim duration, Keep tags, and Remove metadata.
Limits of the MP4 format
The video inside an MP4 is almost always compressed with a lossy codec, so every re-encode loses a little quality.
Common questions about MP4
Why is my MP4 file so large? MP4 video is already compressed with H.264 or H.265, so a lower bitrate or resolution shrinks the file at the cost of some quality.
Why convert video to MP4? Almost every device, browser and platform plays it, so an MP4 almost never needs a second conversion.
Does an MP4 file play on every device? MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio plays on phones, tablets and smart TVs and in every current browser, and Apple devices record in it natively. HEVC video inside MP4 needs an extension on Windows and on some Android devices, which is why H.264 stays the safest encoding.