Convert MP3 to MP4

Over the past several years, the popularity of MP4 formatted music and video files has continued to increase. All iDevices to include the iPhone, iPad, and iPod support playback of the MP4 format as well as the Sony Playstation Portable. As a result, a common task that arises for consumers is converting legacy MP3 formatting music to MP4. Once a music track is converted, it can then be used on any device supporting the MP4 format.

Steps to Convert MP3 to MP4 With iTunes

Step 1– Download, install, and launch or open the iTunes application available free of charge from Apple. The program can be opened by double clicking the program icon located on your computer’s desktop.

Step 2 – Choose the “File” and “Add File to Library” menu choices from the iTunes main file menu. An entire folder of MP3’s can be selected by choosing the “Add Folder to Library” menu choice. This step does not need to be completed if the MP3 files are already part of the computer’s iTunes library.

Step 3 – Choose the “Music” menu option that is located on the lower, left-hand quadrant of the iTunes interface.

Step 4 – Ensure the “Music” menu option is selected displaying the iTunes music library. Then, right click on the music track to convert to MP4. On a Mac, “Ctrl” click the audio track.

Step 5 – Click the “Create AAC Version” menu choice on the subsequently displayed file menu. This action will then create a copy of the track in MP4 format with a .M4A file extension. The MP3 track will remain in the iTunes library.

Step 6 – When the “Converting” menu label on the iTunes interface indications the conversion is complete, continue with additional MP3 to MP4 conversions using the same steps.

Step 7 – Multiple songs can be converted from MP3 to MP4 by holding the “Ctrl” key pressing and single clicking multiple tracks before conducting step 5.

Step 8 – Make a new iTunes playlist by clicking the “File” and “New Playlist” menu options.

Step 9 – Single click and drag the newly created MP4 files from the main iTunes music library to the new playlist to transfer to the desired iDevice.

Convert MP3 to MP4 With Third Party Applications

There are a number of third party applications available as free or shareware. The 4Musics Multiformat Software application is one of these programs available on the market for consumers to use for converting MP3 files to MP4 format. The steps to convert a song using the software are similar to the other programs found on the market.

Step 1 – Download and install the 4Musics application on the target computer. Then, open or launch the application by double clicking the program icon.

Step 2 – Click the “Add” menu option and selection the menu choice to convert a single MP3 or music track or entire folder of songs.

Step 3 – Choose the MP3 tracks to convert by making use of the 4Musics dialogue box that is launched automatically by the program. After making the file selection, choose the “Open” menu option.

Step 4 – Toggle the format type in the program “Output Format” menu choice to “M4A” which is the default file extension for the MP4 format.

Step 5 – Use the pre-configured settings for the conversion sample and bit rates if you are not an advanced audio formatting user. If you are, there are a number of options than can be modified based on your preferences.

Step 6 – Select the output folder and drive in the “Destination” menu text field.

Step 7 – Select the “Start” menu button and the program will proceed to convert the selected MP3 tracks to MP4.

The MP3 Format

MP3 or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 is a patented audio technology benchmark and compressing format. It compresses audio files to about one-twelfth of the original size, based on lossy data compression, and also maintains the same quality of audio playback. It was created by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as a component of its MPEG-1 standard.

MP3 files first gained popularity because of their free availability on the internet. The small file size and the ease of conversion of CD audio files into MP3 files helped peer to peer music file sharing become popular.

The first large-scale peer to peer file sharing network site called Napster was started in 1999. Peer to peer file sharing of course led to rampant copyright infringement. The music industry contends that the free distribution of music has decreased their sales and has termed music file sharing as music piracy. Despite these efforts by industry and government alike, the popularity of MP3 files and music file sharing has only increased. Taking a cue from consumers, many record companies now have their own online music stores which offer MP3 music files at an affordable price. Some independent artists distribute their music online free of cost.

The MP4 Format

MP4 or MPEG-4 part 14 is a multimedia repository configuration standard which is defined as a part of MPEG-4. It is mainly used to save MPEG specific digital audio and video streams, as well as other data forms such as subtitles and still images.

The MP4 file structure is built on the ISO/EC 14496-12:2004 standard, which in turn is based on Apple’s QuickTime repository format. The key differentiator being that MP4 stipulates support for Initial Object Description (IOD) and additional MPEG attributes.

MP4 supports the embedding for most types of data with the help of private streams. The broadly supported codecs and data streams are:

• Video: MPEG-4 Part 10
• Audio: MPEG-4 Part 3
• Subtitles: MPEG-4 Timed Text

Differences Between MP3 and MP4

The primary difference between MP3 and MP4 is that MP4 compresses audio, video, text and images whereas MP3 compresses only audio files. MP4 also permits streaming over the internet. MP3 was developed and created by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), whereas MP4 was derived from the ISO/IEC 1496-14:2003 standard. MP4 also uses a more advanced compression algorithm than MP3.