How to convert MOV to MP4 without losing quality

The free MP4 converter turns MOV files into MP4 in your browser. They're converted on your device, so nothing is uploaded, and there's no watermark and nothing to sign up for.

1. Drop your MOV files in, or choose them: up to 20 at once. Each one shows its length, size and what it holds (H.264 or HEVC picture, AAC sound, and so on), and what will happen to it.
2. Tick “Make HEVC (H.265) videos H.264” only if an iPhone video has to play on any Windows PC or open in an editor that won't take HEVC. Leave it off otherwise.
3. Press Convert to MP4. A copy is quick, even for a long video; anything re-encoded takes about as long as the video plays.
4. Download each MP4, or all of them at once. A file over 1 GB has its own button instead: you choose where to save it, and it's written straight to your disk as it's made, which needs Chrome or Edge on a computer.

Why it loses nothing. An iPhone or camera MOV usually holds H.264 or HEVC video and AAC sound, which an MP4 holds too. So the converter copies them into the MP4 as they are, and copying has no length limit. Sound an MP4 rarely carries, like the uncompressed PCM some cameras and recorders use, is re-encoded to AAC (MP3 in a browser that can't make AAC) while the picture is still copied. Other video a browser can read is re-encoded to H.264, up to 60 minutes of it at a time. Apple ProRes can't be converted in a browser, because browsers can't read it: use HandBrake for those (below).

A video file is two things: a container and the codecs inside it. The container is the box, the .mov or .mp4 at the end of the name. It holds the picture and the sound as separate tracks, with their timing and details like the date and the rotation. A codec is how each track is compressed: H.264 or HEVC for the picture, AAC for the sound, most of the time.

Quality lives in the codec and its settings, not the container. An H.264 picture is the same H.264 picture in a MOV or an MP4, which is why changing the box can be lossless, and why a MOV isn't better or worse than an MP4 by itself. The two are close relatives: the Library of Congress notes that the ISO base media file format, which MP4 is built on, is directly based on Apple's QuickTime format, the one MOV files use.

So converting MOV to MP4 is usually about where the file is going, not quality: a website or an app that takes only MP4, or a Windows PC that won't play what's inside.

Copy a video off an iPhone and it's usually named something like IMG_4127.MOV: a QuickTime movie, Apple's own format. Inside, the picture is most likely HEVC. Apple says iPhones from the iPhone 7 on record HEVC (also called H.265) because it compresses better than H.264, so videos take less space on the phone and in iCloud at the same quality.

The catch is compatibility, and Apple gives three ways around it:

• Record H.264 from now on: open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats, then tap Most Compatible. New videos use H.264 (and photos JPEG). They take more space; choose High Efficiency to switch back.
• Let the iPhone convert when it shares. Apple says media sent by AirDrop, Messages or email might be shared in a more compatible format, such as H.264, when the other device can't use HEVC, and that importing to a PC might convert it too. To keep the original when you import over a cable, go to Settings, Apps, Photos and tap Keep Originals.
• Convert the ones you have. On a Mac, QuickTime Player can save an HEVC video as H.264 (below); anywhere, the free converter's “Make HEVC (H.265) videos H.264” option does it.

On the iPhone itself, Apple's pages offer no way to save a MOV as an MP4: its settings change the codec, not the file type. If you're posting from the phone, the apps upload straight from your camera roll, so there's usually nothing to convert. The MP4 question comes up on a computer.

ProRes is the exception. iPhone Pro models (from the iPhone 13 Pro, with iOS 15.1 or later) can record Apple ProRes, and Apple says those files are up to 30 times larger than HEVC. ProRes is for editing, not posting: convert it with HandBrake, which reads ProRes, or record in HEVC unless you need it.

On Windows, some PCs can't play HEVC until you add Microsoft's HEVC Video Extensions ($0.99 in the US Microsoft Store). Converting to an MP4 doesn't change that by itself: the HEVC is copied as it is. If the video has to play on any PC, make it H.264.

There are two ways to turn a MOV into an MP4, and only one of them is lossless:

• Copying (remuxing). The picture and sound are lifted out of the MOV and put into an MP4 as they are. Nothing is decoded or compressed again, so the quality is identical, the file is about the same size, and it takes seconds even for an hour of video. FFmpeg's documentation puts it plainly: since there's no decoding or encoding, it's very fast and there's no quality loss. It works when the codecs inside are ones an MP4 holds, which for iPhone and most camera videos they are.
• Re-encoding (transcoding). The video is decoded and compressed again, often to H.264. Each pass through a lossy codec throws a little more away, so the result can match the original at best, never beat it. It takes about as long as the video plays, or longer. You need it when the codec inside can't go in an MP4 or won't play where the file is going.

A converter that re-encodes when it doesn't need to is why a converted file often comes out smaller and softer than it went in. If the codecs already fit, copy. If the file is simply too big to send, that's a different job: re-encode it on purpose, at a size you choose, with the free video compressor. How much you can shrink a video before it shows is in how to compress a video.

QuickTime Player can't do it. Apple's guide is clear: QuickTime Player doesn't export movies as MP4. File > Export As always saves a QuickTime movie (.mov) using H.264 or HEVC, at the resolution you pick (4K, 1080p, 720p or 480p), and it re-encodes to get there. What it is good for is turning HEVC into H.264: for 4K or 1080p, change the Format pop-up from Smaller File Size (HEVC) to Greater Compatibility (H.264). The result is still a .mov.

Finder has a shortcut too: Control-click the video, choose Services > Encode Selected Video Files, and pick an H.264 setting. Apple suggests it for making an HEVC video H.264, but its pages don't say which file type it saves, so check the result.

For an actual MP4 on a Mac:

1. The free MP4 converter, in your browser: copies iPhone videos without re-encoding. Over 1 GB, use Chrome or Edge so it can save straight to disk.
2. HandBrake, free: always re-encodes, which you want for ProRes or for a smaller file.
3. ffmpeg in Terminal, for copying from the command line (below).

Recording your screen or a stream on a Mac? OBS records Hybrid MOV there by default for new profiles, which edits like an ordinary MOV; the settings are in the best OBS settings for recording.

Clipchamp, which may already be installed on Windows 11 (if not, it's in the Microsoft Store), opens MOV files and exports MP4. Microsoft says a finished video exports as an MPEG-4 (.mp4) file at 30 frames a second, at 480p, 720p or 1080p on the free tier, and 4K with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription or Clipchamp Premium. Drag the MOV onto the timeline and export. Two catches: it always re-encodes, and a 60 fps phone video comes out at 30.

The Photos app no longer includes the old Video Editor; Microsoft points you to Clipchamp, though the previous editor is still a free download as Photos Legacy.

For a lossless MP4 on Windows, use the free MP4 converter in Chrome or Edge, which can save files of any size straight to disk, or ffmpeg. If an iPhone video converts but won't play, it's HEVC: add Microsoft's HEVC Video Extensions, or tick “Make HEVC (H.265) videos H.264” in the converter and convert it again.

VLC works on Windows and Mac alike; its steps are next.

VLC (free, Windows, Mac and Linux): choose Media > Convert / Save, click Add and pick the MOV, then click Convert / Save. Choose a profile, set the destination file name ending in .mp4, and click Start. The profile “Video - H.264 + MP3 (MP4)” re-encodes the picture and turns the sound into MP3. To copy instead, edit the profile and tick “Keep original video track” and “Keep original audio track” (VLC's documentation doesn't walk through those boxes; they're in its profile editor).

HandBrake (free, Windows, Mac and Linux) is a transcoder: its own docs say it converts to MP4, MKV or WebM and that video is always converted, never passed through. That makes it the wrong tool for a lossless MP4 and the right one for ProRes, for making HEVC into H.264, or for a smaller file. It can pass AAC sound through untouched.

ffmpeg (free, command line) copies without re-encoding:

Often not. Check where the file is going first:

• YouTube lists .MOV among its supported formats, alongside MP4, ProRes and HEVC. Upload the MOV as it is.
• TikTok on the web takes MP4 or WebM only, at least 720 × 1280, up to 30 minutes and under 10 GB. Convert first. The sizes each app wants are in video sizes for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
• Editors and websites that say “MP4 only”: copy the MOV into an MP4 with the free converter.
• A Windows PC that won't play it: that's the HEVC, not the MOV. Make it H.264.

Clyper takes MOV directly, so there's nothing to convert for it. Upload the MOV as it is (or an MP4, WebM or MKV, up to 4 GB and 4 hours long), and Clyper reads the transcript to find the moments that stand on their own, cuts each on whole sentences, frames it 9:16 on whoever's talking and captions every word. Each clip comes back as a 1080 × 1920 MP4 with no watermark, ready for TikTok's web uploader too.