How do WMA and M4Acompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
Windows Media Audio
WMA is Microsoft's proprietary audio format. While it offered competitive quality in the early 2000s, it has largely been superseded by AAC and other formats. It's still encountered in legacy Windows media libraries.
MPEG-4 Audio
M4A is an audio-only MPEG-4 container, typically containing AAC or ALAC encoded audio. It's Apple's preferred format for music files in iTunes and Apple Music.
| Specification | WMA | M4A |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Windows Media Audio | MPEG-4 Audio |
| Extension | .wma | .m4a |
| MIME type | audio/x-ms-wma | audio/mp4 |
| Category | Audio | Audio |
| Developer | Microsoft | Apple / ISO |
| Year introduced | 1999 | 2001 |
| Compression | Lossy | Lossy |
Both are excellent audio formats. WMA is preferred for legacy windows media libraries, while M4A shines at itunes music library.
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