iPhones and Macs save video as MOV, often with HEVC inside. It looks great on Apple devices, but Windows players, Android phones, older TVs and plenty of upload forms choke on it. ConvertCove re-encodes the video to H.264 MP4, the combination that plays practically everywhere, right inside your browser.
How to convert MOV to MP4
- Click Select MOV files or drag them onto the box above. You can add as many as you like.
- Check that the target says MP4. Click the slider icon next to a file to change its options.
- Press Convert. Each file shows its own progress, and the work happens on your device.
- Download files one by one, or use Download all (ZIP). Press Convert more to start a new batch.
Encoding runs on your CPU in a single thread, so it takes a while: a one-minute 4K clip can take several minutes. Downscaling to 1080p or 720p in the options speeds it up a lot.
MOV vs MP4
What is MOV?
MOV is Apple’s QuickTime container. Since iOS 11, iPhones record HEVC (H.265) video in MOV by default, with AAC audio and sometimes extra tracks for location, Live Photo or Cinematic mode data. Mac screen recordings and many cameras also produce MOV, sometimes with ProRes. More about the MOV format.
What is MP4?
MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the most compatible video format in use. It plays in every browser, on Windows and Android without extra codecs, and is the format YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and most CMSs recommend for uploads. More about the MP4 format.
| MOV | MP4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | QuickTime movie | MPEG-4 video |
| Extensions | .mov, .qt | .mp4, .m4v |
| MIME type | video/quicktime | video/mp4 |
When to convert MOV to MP4
- A Windows PC, Android phone or smart TV will not play your iPhone video.
- A website, LMS or job portal accepts MP4 only.
- You want to embed the clip on your own website with a plain video tag.
- A colleague’s editing software cannot import HEVC footage.
Quality and settings
This is a real re-encode, not just a rename. H.264 is less efficient than HEVC, so at the same resolution the MP4 can come out larger than the MOV. To keep sizes sensible, choose 1080p (or 720p for sharing) and Balanced quality, which corresponds to x264 CRF 23 and is visually clean for phone footage. High quality (CRF 20) is worth it for footage you will edit further; Small file (CRF 28) is fine for quick previews. 10-bit HDR footage is converted to standard 8-bit colour, so very bright highlights look a little flatter.