MOV and MP4: the same video, a different box
MOV is Apple’s QuickTime format, used by iPhones, iPads, Macs and many cameras. MP4 was built on the same design and is the universal standard. Both are containers: wrappers that hold the actual video and audio streams. Usually the streams inside a MOV are already in formats MP4 supports, so converting just moves them into an MP4 wrapper. That’s why it’s fast and lossless.
You need MP4 when a website, app or device rejects MOV: some upload forms, older Windows media players, smart TVs, Android phones and video editors only accept MP4.
How to use it
- Choose your
.movfiles or drop them on the box above. You can add several. - Each video is converted on your device. The percentage shows progress for longer re-encodes.
- Download the MP4. The note says whether the video was copied or re-encoded.
What happens to each part of the video
| In the MOV | In the MP4 |
|---|---|
| H.264 video | Copied unchanged |
| HEVC (H.265) video | Re-encoded to H.264 at high quality |
| AAC audio | Copied unchanged |
| Uncompressed (PCM) audio | Re-encoded to AAC |
| Rotation (portrait videos) | Kept |
| Resolution and frame rate | Kept |
Apple ProRes videos and Apple Lossless audio, used by professional cameras and editing apps, generally can’t be decoded in a browser. Use your editing software’s export for those.
HEVC iPhone videos
If you’d rather your iPhone saved compatible videos in the first place, go to Settings › Camera › Formats and choose Most Compatible. New videos are then recorded in H.264. Files will be about twice the size, which is the trade-off HEVC was designed to avoid. When you share a video from an iPhone, iOS often converts it automatically, which is why the same clip can play fine when messaged but not when copied over by cable.
Large files
Videos up to about 2 GB work on a computer with enough memory. Phones have less memory, so long videos are more reliable on a computer.
Privacy
Home videos are personal. Most online converters upload them to a server and keep them for hours. Here the video is processed by your browser’s own video engine, using Mediabunny, an open-source media library. It never leaves your device.
Questions
Will the video lose quality?
Usually not at all. Most MOV files already contain H.264 video and AAC audio, the same streams MP4 uses, so they're copied into the new file unchanged. Only iPhone videos recorded in HEVC (High Efficiency) are re-encoded, at high quality.
Why is my iPhone video being re-encoded?
Since iOS 11, iPhones record in HEVC (H.265) by default to save space. Many Windows PCs, Android phones, TVs and websites can't play HEVC, so it's converted to H.264, which plays everywhere. The result note tells you which happened.
How long does it take?
A copy takes a few seconds, even for long videos. Re-encoding runs at roughly the speed of playback on a typical computer, faster with a recent graphics chip. Keep the tab open until it finishes.
Is the portrait orientation kept?
Yes. Phone videos store their rotation as a setting, and the MP4 keeps it, so vertical videos stay vertical.
Last reviewed 4 November 2026