How to Convert MOV to MP4, Shrink a Video or Extract Audio on a Mac

A screen recording, a clip AirDropped from an iPhone, a video saved by a camera app: on a Mac, they usually end up as .mov files. Then an upload form asks for MP4, the file is too heavy to email, or you only need the sound. Your Mac can handle all three without a converter website.

The short answer:

• QuickTime Player makes a video smaller or keeps only its sound: File › Export As › 1080p…, 720p… or Audio Only…. The video it saves is still a .mov.
• For a real .mp4, an HEVC copy, a lower resolution or the soundtrack as M4A, select the video in Folia Files, right-click and choose Video › Convert to MP4 (H.264), Reduce to 720p or Extract Audio (M4A). A new file appears next to the original, which stays as it is.

MOV and MP4: what is different

MOV (QuickTime) and MP4 are both containers: boxes that hold a video track, a sound track and a few details. The video inside is usually compressed with H.264 or HEVC (also called H.265), and the sound with AAC. An iPhone set to High Efficiency in its Camera formats records HEVC; set to Most Compatible, H.264.

So "converting MOV to MP4" can mean two things:

• Changing the box. Some websites, forms and Windows apps only take a .mp4. Renaming clip.mov to clip.mp4 is not a conversion: some players open it anyway, others refuse it.
• Changing what is inside. H.264 plays nearly everywhere; HEVC needs fewer bytes for the same picture but doesn't play on every device or PC. And the resolution decides most of the size: a 4K clip has four times the pixels of a 1080p one.

What macOS can already do

QuickTime Player: Export As

1. Open the video in QuickTime Player.
2. Choose File › Export As, then 4K…, 1080p…, 720p…, 480p… or Audio Only….
3. For some sizes, a Format menu offers Greater Compatibility (H.264) or Smaller File Size (HEVC).
4. Pick a name and a folder, and click Save.

It's built in and dependable, for one video at a time. The video comes out as a QuickTime movie (.mov), so it doesn't help when a site insists on MP4. Audio Only… gives an .m4a file.

The Finder: Encode Selected Video Files

Right-click one or more videos in the Finder and macOS offers Encode Selected Video Files, an Automator action it ships with. A small window asks for a Setting: H.264 at 480p, 720p, 1080p or 2160p, HEVC at 1080p and above, Apple ProRes, or Audio Only. It never scales a video up.

Two things to know. Apple's own descriptions of these settings say the videos come out as QuickTime movies, so here too you get .mov files, not MP4. And leave Delete source files after processing unticked, unless you really want the originals gone.

This action only shows up in the Finder. If you wonder why, or want to run it from another app, see why a Quick Action only shows up in the Finder.

Convert, shrink or extract the audio with a right-click

Folia Files is a file manager for the Mac. Select a video in any of its views and right-click: the menu has a Video submenu, or Videos (3) when three are selected. It appears when the selection holds only videos, with no folders or photos mixed in. It's one of the file tools built into the app.

Convert to MP4 (H.264)

Encodes the video in H.264 into an .mp4 file, at its full resolution and with the highest quality setting macOS offers. Use it for upload forms, Windows PCs and older players: IMG_4025.MOV gives IMG_4025 (H.264).mp4.

The video is encoded again, not just moved into another box: it takes a moment, and the result is a new encoding of the picture. From an HEVC clip, expect the H.264 copy to be larger.

Convert to HEVC

The same with HEVC, still in an .mp4: IMG_4025 (HEVC).mp4. Choose it when the copy stays on Apple devices and space matters. The item is shown when macOS can write HEVC on your Mac.

Reduce to 1080p or Reduce to 720p

This is the one that really shrinks a video. The picture is scaled down to fit in 1920 × 1080 or 1280 × 720 (1080 × 1920 or 720 × 1280 for a vertical video), proportions kept, then saved in H.264 as an .mp4: IMG_4025 (720p).mp4. A video is never enlarged: if it already fits, nothing is made, and Folia Files tells you it is already 720p or less.

Extract Audio (M4A)

Saves the soundtrack alone, in AAC, as IMG_4025.m4a: handy for an interview, a lecture or a concert filmed on a phone. A video without sound gets a message instead of an empty file.

The original stays, and ⌘Z takes it all back

Each command writes a new file next to the original and never writes over anything; if the name is taken, a number is added. Several videos selected? They are converted one after the other in a single operation in Operations (in the toolbar), with its progress and a way to cancel. When it ends, the new files are selected. Press ⌘Z right after, or click Undo next to it in Operations › History later: the new files go to the Trash.

Photos have the same kind of submenu, Image, covered in how to convert HEIC to JPG and resize photos.

Two limits: only videos macOS can play get the submenu (MKV and WebM files don't), and nothing is offered inside a ZIP opened as a folder, which is read-only.

More control: Batch Actions

More Options…, at the bottom of the submenu, opens Batch Actions with the same videos (it's also in Tools, ⇧⌘B). There you chain steps and preview the result on one file before anything is written:

• Cut: Trim Beginning, Trim End, Keep Beginning or Keep a Section.
• Speed, Remove Audio and Frames per Second.
• Video Format: the Container (Keep, MP4 or MOV), the Codec (H.264 (plays everywhere) or HEVC / H.265 (smaller)) and the Quality (Maximum, or Light (480p, for sharing) for a message).
• Extract Audio, Extract a Frame and Create Animated GIF; and, for photos and videos alike, Resize, Crop, Rotate / Flip and Remove Location.

Presets gives you ready-made chains such as Compact 1080p Videos (HEVC) and Videos for Messaging (light, no GPS), and Save as Preset… keeps your own. You can also describe what you want in the field above the steps, for instance "trim the first 5 seconds". By default the results go to a Processed subfolder next to the originals; you can choose Next to the originals, In a chosen folder, or Replace the originals (moved to Trash).

Which one to use

• One clip, smaller, and a .mov is fine: QuickTime Player's Export As.
• Several clips to a lower resolution, from the Finder: Encode Selected Video Files, with the delete option left off.
• A real .mp4, an HEVC copy or the sound as M4A, with an undo: the Video submenu of Folia Files; for trims, speed or a chain you reuse, Batch Actions.