Guide

How to convert MOV to MP4 on Mac

Mac screen recordings are MOV files. Some sites and apps want MP4. Here are the free ways to convert, and a way to skip the step.

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In short

The quickest free way is iMovie: import the MOV, then choose File › Share › File, which saves an MP4. If you’re comfortable in Terminal, ffmpeg can rewrap a MOV as MP4 in seconds without re-encoding. Or record with an app that exports MP4 directly, such as ScreenRecordii.

With iMovie (free, already on many Macs)

  1. Create a movie and import the MOV

    Drag the file into a new iMovie project.

  2. Share › File

    Choose File › Share › File, and pick a resolution and quality.

  3. Save

    iMovie saves an MP4.

With ffmpeg in Terminal (fast, no quality loss)

If the MOV holds H.264 or HEVC video, which Mac screen recordings do, you can change the container without re-encoding. Install ffmpeg (for example with Homebrew: brew install ffmpeg), then:

Terminal
ffmpeg -i "Screen Recording.mov" -c copy "Screen Recording.mp4"

If a site still rejects the file, re-encode it to H.264, which plays almost everywhere: ffmpeg -i in.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac out.mp4.

Skip the conversion

QuickTime’s Export As still saves MOV. ScreenRecordii exports MP4 (H.264 or HEVC) or GIF straight away, at the size and frame rate you pick, with presets for Slack, YouTube and social.

Questions

Does converting MOV to MP4 lose quality?

Rewrapping with ffmpeg’s -c copy doesn’t touch the video, so no. Re-encoding, as iMovie does, can lose a little, depending on the quality setting.

Can I just rename .mov to .mp4?

Sometimes it plays, but it isn’t a real conversion and some apps reject it. Use one of the methods above.

Keep reading

Hit record.

ScreenRecordii is in early access for macOS 14 and later.

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