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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 25 for Windows => Topic started by: rsg on October 21, 2019, 03:33:56 pm

Title: M4A or MP4 file types?
Post by: rsg on October 21, 2019, 03:33:56 pm

Just wondering...almost all of my music files are file type M4A, which I take to be ALAC (since that is the encoder setting I use for rips). But, I have recently noticed that some of them (complete albums in every case) are MP4's. Interestingly, the MP4 file name only seems to be for albums that I ripped over a ten-day period back in June. Could someone explain what this means in layman's terms? And do I need to change the file extension, or leave that MP4's as they are (obviously both types of these files play normally)? Thanks.

Title: Re: M4A or MP4 file types?
Post by: Hendrik on October 21, 2019, 03:51:23 pm

MP4 and M4A are really the same format. The format itself is called MP4, but iTunes at some point started renaming audio-only MP4 files to M4A, and everyone just did it as well. So.. nothing to worry about.

Title: Re: M4A or MP4 file types?
Post by: glynor on October 21, 2019, 04:01:04 pm

What Hendrik said, though if you want a bit more flavor:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#.MP4_versus_.M4A