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M4A to Text Converter

Drop an M4A voice memo or recording. Get the text with timestamps.

Free to try, no sign-up. Other audio types go to the audio to text page.

How it works

  1. Drop the M4A

    Drag it onto the box above, or pick it from your files.

  2. Check the length

    See the length and the minutes the run will use before anything leaves your browser.

  3. Copy or export

    Read it with timestamps, or export SRT, VTT, TXT, Markdown or JSON.

A voice memo, written out

Sample
  1. 0:00

    Note to self, after the call with the landlord.

  2. 0:05

    The boiler is being replaced on the ninth.

  3. 0:11

    Ask about the deposit and the hallway paint.

  4. 0:17

    Also book the plumber for Friday, before ten.

Illustrative sample from a voice memo, one speaker thinking out loud after a phone call.

Where M4A files come from

M4A is audio-only MPEG-4, usually AAC. Apple recording apps save it, so many voice recordings are M4A. If your file ends in .m4a, it belongs here. A file ending in .aac or .wav goes to audio to text.

SourceWhat you have
Voice Memos on iPhone or MacAn .m4a file for each recording.
Zoom, recorded to your computerAn audio-only .m4a next to the video.
QuickTime Player, New Audio RecordingAn .m4a file when you save it.

Small files, long recordings

M4A files are compact. An hour of speech at 64 kbps is about 29 MB, so the 100 MB the browser takes covers more than three hours of that. The limit that bites first is your plan, which starts at 15 minutes without an account.

Because M4A is already audio, it is sent unchanged, and our server checks that it can decode it. An MP4 belongs on video to text.

Memos, calls and interviews

A voice memo with one speaker reads as plain paragraphs with timestamps. A call or an interview between two people gets two speaker labels. Names, product terms and numbers are the usual mistakes, so skim for them.

Dictating notes? Record in a quiet room, hold the phone near your mouth and say names slowly. It helps more than any setting.

Export SRT or VTT if you want captions, or TXT and Markdown for notes. If you have an MP3 instead, use MP3 to text. The privacy and data page says how long a recording is kept.

Limits

M4A files only, up to 100 MB. Without an account: files up to 15 minutes and 10 minutes a day. A free account takes recordings up to 2 hours and 30 minutes a month. Pro takes 6 hours and 600 minutes a month, and is not on sale yet. Speaker labels work best with two voices.

See pricing · How minutes are counted · Paid plans are not on sale yet.

Questions

M4A files up to 100 MB. Our server checks that it can decode the audio. Other audio types go to audio to text, and MP3 has its own page.

Voice Memos saves recordings as M4A. Share the recording to Files or send it to your Mac with AirDrop, then drop the file on the box above.

The cap is 100 MB per file. At 64 kbps, a common rate for speech, an hour is about 29 MB. The length limit is 15 minutes without an account, 2 hours with a free account, 6 hours on Pro.

Yes, when the voices differ. An interview or a call between two people reads best, and a memo with one voice has nothing to separate.

The audio is deleted when the job succeeds, or within an hour if it fails. The text stays on a private link for 24 hours, or 30 days with an account.

Yes. The result page exports SRT, VTT, TXT, Markdown, Context and JSON, and has a Print / Save as PDF option.

Agents and code

Use it in your agentUse the API