“I’m trying to convert an audio recording file in M4A I made using QuickTime to an MP3 file for exporting to the web. What’s the easiest way to get my M4A file converted to an MP3 file for uploading to a website? I’m using iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3). I’m looking forward to getting some help.

It is obvious that sometimes you need the much more common audio format MP3 for uploading to a website because of its wide compatibility. Since it is an ordinary phenomenon for most of you to convert audio files from one to another for exporting to other players or devices, there are many professional audio converters that could help you convert audio files to the widely supported MP3 audio format. In this post, several powerful and popular audio converters are introduced to help you convert M4A to MP3, especially for Mac users.

Part 1: Brief Introduction to M4A and MP3

Generally speaking, M4A is a file extension for an audio file encoded with advanced audio coding (AAC) in lossy compression. It is usually found in Apple’s iTunes Store as the format of song downloads. Some popular media applications can be used to open M4A files such as VLC, QuickTime, Windows Media Player, iTunes and many other programs. However, though M4A files are a common file type to some extent, the MP3 format is much more popular so that you might want to convert M4A to MP3. An MP3 file is an audio file that uses a compression algorithm to reduce the overall file size. It is the most widely used audio file format due to its wide compatibility. Almost all audio players can open MP3 files. It is apparently necessary to convert M4A to MP3 in some cases.

Part 2: Convert M4A to MP3 on Mac with Leawo Video Converter for Mac

Among so many converter programs, you may choose Leawo Video Converter for Mac to convert M4A file to MP3 on Mac. It’s professional in converting video and audio in all hot formats like AVI, MP4, MOV, WMA, M4A, MP3 and more on Mac OS 10.6 and later. With an easy-to-use main interface and super-fast conversion speed, this Mac video converter, featuring the audio conversion function, enables you to convert M4A to MP3 on Mac (Mavericks included) with ease. With this Mac M4A to MP3 converter, you could batch convert M4A audio files to MP3 or WAV format for any use. You could even custom the parameters of output MP3 audio files. The below guide shows you how to convert M4A to MP3 on Mac in detail.

Step 1. Download Leawo Video Converter for Mac on your Mac PC

Go to the official site to download and install Leawo Video Converter for Mac.

Step 2. Import the M4A audio file into the program

Launch it to enter the main program interface, and then click on “Add Video” button to pop out a drop-down box (including video, video, audio and audio folder options) to import M4A audio files into the program. Or you can also directly drag and drop the source audio files to the middle of the interface for importing.

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Note: If you want to combine the imported files into a single file, you could click on “Merge all files into one” button, the blue button on the rightmost of the window, to combine all the listed audio files together. In addition, more video editing options are also available so that you could trim your video size, add customized watermark, crop video length, adjust video effect and turn 2D video to 3D.

Step 3Set MP3 as output format

After you have imported source audio files successfully, you could click on the format button right before the green “Convert” button to open a drop-down box and then click on “Change” button to enter the Profile panel where you could choose “Format” > “Common Audio” > “MP3 Audio” to set it for output profile.

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Step 4. Start M4A to MP3 conversion on Mac

Click on the green “Convert” button to pop up a sidebar where you could set the output directory and then click “Convert” button on the bottom right corner to start converting M4A to MP3.

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After a while, the conversion process will be completed and you could feel free to get MP3 audio files for any use. What’s more, if you are a Windows user, you could turn to Free Leawo Video Converter to convert M4A audio files between various formats on Windows 7/8/8.1/Vista/XP computer.

Part 3: Record M4A to MP3 on Mac with Leawo Music Recorder for Mac

Except for the powerful converting applications, you could make full use of Leawo Music Recorder for Mac to capture audio from any source M4A file and save it in MP3 without any quality loss. As a popular and powerful music recording software program for Mac, it could help you easily record audio of any source for free on Mac. Besides, it could record audio files from built-in audio and computer audio as well as online music from more than 500 sites and save the audio files in MP3, WAV and W4A audio files. Moreover, it not only records audio on Mac, but also empowers you to manage the recorded audio files within its internal library for better enjoyment. If you want to get MP3 audio from M4A files on Mac for better playback, you could simply download and install Leawo Music Recorder for Mac, and then follow the steps below.

Step 1. Set audio source

After installing, you could run Music Recorder for Mac and click the “Audio Source” button to pop up Audio Source Preferences window. Then pitch on Record Computer Audio to record the source M4A audio file.

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Note: If you want to record audio input, just pitch on Record Audio Input and choose from “Built-in Microphone”, “Built-in Input”, or “System Audio Recorder” option in the drop-down list.

Step 2. Set MP3 as the output audio format

In the popup window, you could switch to the “Format” tab to choose MP3 from the format drop-down box as output format. If necessary, you could also customize the audio parameters including Audio Codec, Bit Rate, and Sample Rate in the Audio Setting box.

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Note: After setting the output format, you can also go to the “General” tab where you could change the location for the output recordings and then remember to tap on “OK” button to save the settings.

Step 3. Start to record audio

Click the red “Start” button to begin recording and play the audio files you want to record next. After you have recorded the audio, stop recording and you will get the MP3 audio file you want.

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Note: If you want to record part of the audio, you could set a recording schedule by clicking the clock button at the left bottom to open the Scheduler Preferences window and set the start time and duration. After recording, you could also edit the tags of the recorded files.

Part 4: Convert DRM-locked M4A on Mac to MP3 with Leawo Prof. DRM for Mac

As is known to all, M4A audio file is usually found in Apple’s iTunes Store as the format of song downloads. Since iTunes music you purchased or downloaded is often DRM protected so that only Apple devices and players can open DRM-locked M4A files. In this case, the ordinary audio converters cannot work for DRM-locked M4A files. Fortunately, Leawo Prof. DRM for Mac is designed as an iTunes music converter for Mac due to its powerful function in removing iTunes DRM protection on Mac and converting iTunes M4A to DRM-free MP3 without any quality loss at 50X faster speed, far higher than other similar programs.

You could download Leawo Prof. DRM for Mac and install it on your Mac. Before you start the audio conversion, make sure you have authorized the computer by signing in with your Apple ID. And you are not allowed to open iTunes during the DRM removal and audio conversion process. And then follow the steps below to simply convert DRM-locked M4A to MP3.

Step 1. Add DRM-locked M4A file to Prof. DRM for Mac

Launch the program, click on “Add Files” button to add the M4A files to the software. Or you can add the M4A audio files to the middle of program interface by direct drag-n-drops.

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Step 2. Set the output format and parameters

After importing the M4A files, these files will be shown under the music category. And then you can choose an M4A file and click the edit button to set MP3 as the output format. You can also choose Channels, Sample Rate and Bit rate for output files.

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Step 3. Remove DRM and convert M4A to MP3

Click on the blue “Convert” button to start removing DRM and convert M4A to MP3 simultaneously. The DRM removal and conversion process will be completed after a while.

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After all, here you can directly find the most appropriate way to convert either a DRM-free M4A audio file or DRM-locked M4A file to MP3 on Mac. You can simply convert M4A to MP3 with the professional Leawo Video Converter for Mac, or record MP3 audio using Leawo Music Recorder for Mac, or remove DRM and convert the audio file to MP3 with the help of Leawo Prof. DRM for Mac. Leawo offers you easy-to-use and various applications to meet your needs in audio and video files.