Files-conversion provides you a free service to convert any format. Here you can convert a video (from extension 3gp to avi or wmv to flv, for a full list of supported extension, see-below). Check the menu to convert an audio, to convert an archive or to convert anything else you need. Part 1: Convert MP4 to AVI Mac with Leawo Video Converter for Mac. Leawo Video Converter for Mac is a multifunctional media converter that could handle media conversions between video and audio files of various formats. It could convert video and audio files between 180+ formats like MP4, AVI, FLV, MPEG, MKV, MOV, WMV, MP3, AAC, etc.

Audio files come in a dizzying array of file types. It can be hard to keep track, and really frustrating when you're trying to play audio but your favorite player won't play a certain file because of the type of track it is.

It may seem hopeless, but we've got your back! You can usually convert audio and video files without losing quality. Here, we'll walk you through how to convert video to MP3, MP4 to MP3, and many other audio and video conversions you'll find useful.

How to convert video to audio

Converting video to audio — MP4 to MP3, for example — means not so much converting the video file as extracting the audio track from it. That comes in handy when you want to turn your collection of music videos into a playlist to put on an iPod, or distil the sound from a video you took at a concert, or maybe use your favorite song as a ringtone for your iPhone.

macOS comes with built-in media encoding functionality that lets you convert video to audio right in the Finder. There's a similar feature in QuickTime, too. The downside is it's fairly limited in that you can't pick what the resulting audio file will be, because it generates an M4A track by default.

Your Mac comes with a really straightforward way to convert video files to audio.

How the default macOS video to audio converter works

1. Open Finder on your Mac
2. Navigate to the video file you want to convert
3. Right-click on the file
4. Select 'Encode Selected Video Files' from the drop-down menu
5. Under the 'Settings' heading, select 'Audio Only' from the drop-down menu
6. Select 'Continue'

A separate MP4 file will be created, and loaded in the same place as your video file. Note this doesn't delete or alter your video file in any way. This method can be used to convert any video file type to an audio file – but you don't get to select the type of audio file. It will always be MP4.

A better way to accomplish this is with Permute.

With Permute, you can choose to convert video to audio in just about any format you like. MOV to MP3, MOV to MP4, MKV to MP3 – you name it!

To use Permute to convert a movie to an audio file, follow these steps:

1. Open Permute on your Mac
2. Drag the video you'd like to convert into the Permute window
3. Next to 'Video,' select the drop-down menu
4. Select the audio type you'd like to convert to
5. Select the 'play' icon on the video or sub-window your video is in

That's all you have to do. Permute converts your video to audio in a snap!

Permute is super fast, so you should have your audio in the same folder as the video file in no time. Go ahead and feed it some of your movies to see how well it works (you can try Permute converter free of charge for a week when you join Setapp, a subscription for Mac apps.)

How to convert video and music to another media format?

'MKV to MP4', 'FLAC to MP3', 'M4A to MP3' — chances are you typed one of those into Google search at some point, because media file formats can be a pain. Some are way too space-consuming, like FLACs, which can be 10 times bigger than equivalent MP3s. Others are unsupported by your Mac's built-in video player, like MKV. No matter the specific case, you're going to need an audio or video converter to transform the file into a friendlier, more widely used format, which is typically MP4 for video and MP3 for music.

As we mentioned earlier, there are an incredible number of formats for video. MP4, MOV, 3GP, 3G2, ASF, MKV, VOB, MPEG, WMV, FLV, AVI – the list goes on. Luckily, Permute can handle all of these file types, and convert them to audio using the steps above. If you don't see the audio file type you want to export to, here's how to add more options in Permute:

1. Follow the first three steps above
2. In the drop-down menu, select 'Add Preset'
3. In the new window, select the 'plus' icon on the bottom left
4. Choose the media conversion format you like

Now, you can proceed to steps four and five in the steps above, and Permute will convert the audio with ease!

To convert audio to MP3, or any other format, simply follow the same five-step program. The only difference you'll see is where Permute says 'video' for video files, it will display 'Audio' for an audio file you're converting, and limit the type of conversion types to audio files.

How to change media format while downloading?

When downloading video from the internet, you may want to choose the file type or quality you wish to download. The best app for this is Elmedia Player.

Elmedia Player accepts URLs from YouTube, Vimeo, and many other popular sites. To download a YouTube video to transfer to an audio file, follow these steps:

1. Open Elmedia Player on your Mac
2. Select the 'download' button on the top right of the window
3. Enter the URL into the field at the top of the window
4. Press 'enter' on your Mac keyboard
5. At the bottom of the window, select the arrows next to the video you want to download
6. Choose the quality from the menuNote: if you're only looking to download a video for the audio, select the lowest resolution. This won't affect the audio, and makes your download much faster
7. Select 'Download'
8. Follow the steps above to convert the file using Permute

Is it possible to convert audio to video?

There's no clear cut reason you'd want to convert an audio file to video, especially because you'd just be looking at a blank screen.

Audio files can be overlaid onto video, though. If you've got an audio file that you want to use as a soundtrack or narrative track, simply add it to your favorite video editor as an audio file to have it playing over the video.

How to use online media converters

Most online services cater to the most popular user wanting to convert video to audio: those who want to save YouTube videos for use as audio tracks.

The most popular online conversion services – YTMP3, Y2Mate – all focus on exactly this. These services are easy to use, but fall short when it comes to control and quality. You have to click several buttons to initiate a download after copy-pasting a link, and the final audio quality can be hit or miss. To learn more about these tools read our full review: Best YouTube to MP3 converters 2020.

All online services raise the same concerns. We weren't too happy with the quality of audio they returned from a video file. Some even have restrictions on how many files you can convert, or require you to pay or sign up for their service. None allowed for true customization on the type of audio file we received.

Conclusion

There are many reasons to convert a video file to audio. You may want to listen to it as a podcast, especially handy if you're planning to be without a reliable internet connection for a period of time – or just want to reduce how much data you use.

Converting files locally on your Mac is still the best path forward. Permute and Elmedia Player make use of your Mac's hardware, so you can rest assured the final product will be great. No more relying on cloud-based servers and hoping for the best!

And both apps are free as part of a seven day trial of Setapp, the world's best suite of productivity apps for your Mac. In addition to Elmedia Player and Permute, you'll gain access to almost 200 great Mac apps. When the trial is over, Setapp is only $9.99 per month. Give it a try today!

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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This post was written by Guiding Tech's Partner Team for Uniconverter. Uniconverter supports GPU acceleration and a wide array of file formats. Try it out today.

With the rise of affordable smartphones with powerful processors and 4K TVs, recording a 4K video is the new normal. The 4K resolution footage is so crisp and clear, and you can pull stills from such videos. At the end of the day, such videos are heavy in terms of filesize and sharing them over via email or messenger is such a headache. You can either compress them into smaller archive size or convert them into a universally acceptable acceptable format. While there are many free online apps to convert and compress videos, not all of them are safe, especially if you are handling personal videos. In such cases, the best bet is to rely on a third-party video editing app like UniConverter.

Third-party apps like UniConverter give you plenty of room to play around when it comes to converting videos to a different format or compressing them to a smaller size.

Truth be told, dealing with video files can be confusing. There are several audio-video formats, and not every app offers the support for most, if not all, of those formats. For instance, Instagram Stories shows a blank screen if you try to upload a UHD video. Or take the case of WhatsApp video upload, which strips videos of all their details and clarity.

Apps like UniConverter take care of all that by letting you pick from a diverse range of video formats and compression quality. In short, you can customize the video's size and quality as per your preference instead of letting the other app or service.

So, if you share often share videos with your friends and family, here's how to convert them on your PC or Mac using the UniConverter app.

What Is UniConverter

UniConverter is a simple and easy-to-use video converter which takes care of your video woes. It supports a wide range of audio and video formats.

The crux of this app is that it's fast and renders videos in quickly. Of course, the rendering time also depends on the original size of the video and the selected resolution and format. The best part is that UniConverter is designed to harness the computer graphics card's power to render the final output. As a result of that, the process is fast and quick. It becomes better if you have a dedicated GPU on your PC or laptop.

Apart from the above, it bundles a video editor, video merger, and a screen recorder which may come in handy any time.

Now, let's see how to convert and compress video files using UniConverter on Windows and Mac.

How to Convert Video Files on PC and Mac

Step 1: Once the app has finished installing, open the Video Converter tab and upload your first video. For that, click on the Plus icon as shown in the screenshot below. At the same time, you can also select folders directly from DVDs.

Once done, the details of the video like the format, resolution, size, and subtitles will appear.

Step 2: Click on the small cog-shaped icon and you will see all the options such as MOV, AVI, and HEVC, along with the supported resolution. And yeah, there's a handy option for Instagram as well.

If you want to share the video among several people, use the MP4 format since phones, tablets, and laptops support it. In short, the receiver will have no issues in playing the video. The only thing you have to take care of is the resolution.

Step 3: Once you have picked the format, you can play with the other aspects of the video before converting it. For one, you can add a subtitle.

Simply click on the Subtitle dropdown > Add Subtitle, and pick the file from your PC or Mac.

That option lets you snip off any part of the video that you do not want.

All you need to do is adjust the pointers as shown in the screenshot below and click OK.

Step 4: Once you have applied all the finishing touches, click on Convert and you will see the results in a short while. The best part is that you can add several videos to the queue and convert them all at once.

While UniConverter places all the videos in the Wondershare folder, you can change it and choose your destination folder. Or, you can pick the source folder to render the file. Just click on the tiny Folder icon at the bottom ribbon and you will be sorted.

UniConverter also has another feature called High Speed Conversion, which bumps the conversion speed with minimum loss in quality. If your computer is beefed up with a lot of RAM (at least 16GB) and a dedicated GPU, then you can witness the true potential of this feature.

There are some limitations though. For example, you can convert videos in select formats only. And the output format is limited to MP4, AVI, MKV, M4V, and MOV.

If you are satisfied with a conversion preset, the best would be to save it as a custom preset. For that, open the Conversion Settings (cog-shaped icon) and tap on the Edit button. Give a name to the preset and then tweak the settings as per your preference.

Once done, click on Create, and that's it. The next time whenever you have a video to convert, pick the now-created preset from the list.

How to Compress Video Files on PC & Mac

Similar to the process above, compressing videos on UniConverter is an easy task. And as mentioned above, there is minimal loss in quality. UniConveter pulls this feat by playing with the bitrate of the video without losing out on video quality.

Convert Video Formats Mac Free

Step 1: Once you have uploaded the video, you will see all the important features such as format, resolution, time, and the current size. As noted earlier, you get plenty of room to play around with the compression size. For now, the app gives you around seven different compression options.

The trick is simple. If you want to reduce the file size slightly, you can opt for one of the lower compression rates. If you want to reduce the size drastically, you can opt for one of the bigger rates.

The good thing is that even if you opt for the latter, you can still pick a high-resolution output.

Step 2: Now that you have picked the compression rate, it's time to select the final resolution and the format. Click on the cog-shaped icon and pick the resolution and the format as per your preference. The file output size will appear at the top with other details.

Furthermore, you can also preview the first 20 seconds of the video. Once you are satisfied with the output, click on the Compress button, and the app will do the rest. And hey, change the location of the output file before you hit the Compress button.

Microsoft Video Format Converter

As you might already know, the size of the original video is one factor determining the compression speed. So, depending on your selection criteria, the compression time will vary.

Compress & Convert Like a Pro

That's how you can convert and compress your video files effortlessly on your PC or Mac. What makes the deal sweeter is that the interface is straightforward, and all the options are laid out neatly.

Video Converter For Mac

The free version of UniConverter has some limitations. For one, you can only convert 1/3rd of the audio and video file. More importantly, the High-Speed Download is hidden behind a paywall.

Convert Video Format For Macbook Air

All these limitations are removed when you upgrade to the paid version of UniConverter. The Annual Plan for the whole suite is available for $29.95, while the Lifetime Plan costs $45.96 for Windows ($59.95 for Mac).
Both the plans give you access to the complete suite, including full video conversions and compressions, high-speed download, video editing, merging multiple files, and converting audio to other formats. At the same time, you can't opt for the online version of UniConveter if you have videos smaller than 100MB to convert or compress.

For now, UniConverter is available at a discount of 40% when you buy using the link below.

Best Video Format For Mac