How do you convert MOV to M4A for transcription? Export the audio only.
On a Mac, open the MOV in QuickTime Player and choose File, Export As, Audio Only, which saves an M4A; on any computer, ffmpeg -i talk.mov -vn -c:a copy talk.m4a copies the sound out in seconds without re-encoding. A 2-hour 4K MOV from an iPhone is roughly 20 GB, while its M4A is small enough to upload at once and is transcribed in about 4 minutes.
MOV to M4A in practice
The audio inside most MOV files is already AAC, so M4A is a copy, not a conversion.
Who hands you a MOV
iPhones and iPads, QuickTime screen recordings, many Mac apps and some mirrorless cameras save .mov. For long talks, seminars and interviews filmed on a phone, the MOV is the original, and in 4K it grows fast.
How big a long MOV gets
Apple lists about 170 MB a minute for 4K at 30 fps in HEVC and about 60 MB a minute for 1080p at 30 fps. An hour is therefore around 10.2 GB or 3.6 GB, and a 2-hour seminar in 4K is near 20 GB, four times the 5 GB a single file can be.
QuickTime or ffmpeg
In QuickTime Player, File, Export As, Audio Only writes an M4A next to the video; the wording can differ slightly by macOS version. ffmpeg -i talk.mov -vn -c:a copy talk.m4a does the same on Windows or Linux. Neither touches the sound, so quality and timing stay exactly as recorded.
Send the M4A
M4A is a plain audio file and goes straight into the box above, or through the upload page if it is over 500 MB. Back come the transcript with timestamps, a brief with takeaways, chapters, the numbers and dates said, and a chat over the text.
Before and after the export
The MOV holds the picture. The transcript only needs what was said.
✗ Uploading the MOV
Large phone videos turn a quick transcript into an afternoon task.
- About 10 GB an hour in 4K
- A 2-hour seminar near 20 GB
- Over 5 GB, so refused as one file
- A MOV some pickers grey out
- Phone storage full mid-upload
- Waiting on video you will not read
✓ Uploading the M4A
The audio track on its own, copied out untouched.
- A copy, not a re-encode
- Seconds of work in QuickTime or ffmpeg
- Small enough to upload over Wi-Fi
- Timestamps that match the video
- About 4 minutes for 2 hours
- 120 minutes from a $4 pack
Sample
A two-hour seminar filmed on a phone, exported as M4A.
Illustrative lines written for this page, not from any real seminar. Timestamps match the original MOV.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $4 (300 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$4/300 min
5 hours of audio — $0.80 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 300 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$18/3,000 min
50 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 3,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$32/6,000 min
100 hours of audio — $0.32 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 6,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
MOV to M4A, answered.
Do I need to convert the MOV at all?
Only when it is too big or the upload refuses it. Most files upload as they are, up to 10 hours or 5 GB, with or without a pack. A 30-minute 1080p MOV is about 1.8 GB and can usually be sent as is.
Does exporting audio lose quality?
No. The audio in iPhone and QuickTime MOV files is normally AAC, which is what M4A holds, so both QuickTime's Audio Only export and ffmpeg's -c:a copy move it across unchanged. If ffmpeg reports an error with copy, the MOV holds another codec; use -c:a aac -b:a 96k instead.
Can I do this on the iPhone itself?
Yes, though it takes a little set-up: the Shortcuts app has an Encode Media action with an audio-only option in recent iOS versions. On a computer it is simpler: AirDrop or copy the MOV to a Mac and use QuickTime.
How long and how much for a series?
About 2 minutes per hour of audio, so a 2-hour seminar is roughly 4 minutes. Packs start at $4 for 300 minutes, and credits never expire. The opening minutes are a free preview.
Will the speakers be identified?
Yes, the people speaking are named in the summary, the key quotes and the chapters, so you can see who raised which point.
Languages, exports and privacy?
99 languages are detected automatically. Exports come as TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT and JSON. Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training.
Related
Related pages
Export the audio, then upload it. The opening minutes of the seminar are free.
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