Convert MOV to MP4 Free
Convert MOV to MP4 and turn a QuickTime MOV file into a web-ready MP4 that plays on any device. This free MOV to MP4 converter adds no account, no watermark, and no monthly cap, drop your MOV and get a widely compatible MP4 back in seconds. You can even convert QuickTime to MP4 straight from a Mac or iPhone clip.
Files up to 2GB · Output: MP4 (H.264, AAC)
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MOV (QuickTime) · Up to 2GB
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Processing time depends on file size and your upload speed.
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Just upload and go. Nothing to sign up for, no email, no credit card.
No watermark, ever
Your MP4 comes back clean. No branding added.
Files deleted 90 minutes after processing
We keep your video only long enough to process it and let you download it. Privacy by default.
How It Works
Upload your MOV
A MOV (QuickTime) file up to 2GB. Drag and drop or click to browse.
VidClean converts it to MP4
Your MOV is converted to a widely compatible H.264 MP4. MOV is Apple’s QuickTime format from iPhones, Macs, and screen recorders; the MP4 you get back plays anywhere.
Download the MP4
Ready in seconds and plays on any device, browser, or editor. If the MP4 is larger than you need, compress the video to shrink it before uploading.
Who uses this
Anyone with a MOV (QuickTime) file that will not play in a video editor, on a phone, or on a platform that expects MP4. iPhones, Macs, and screen recorders often export MOV, and many apps and Android devices cannot open it. Our MOV to MP4 converter turns your MOV into MP4 so the clip works everywhere. If you only need the audio track, extract audio from the file instead.
Drop your MOV, get an MP4 back. No editor required.
Why a MOV needs converting at all
MOV and MP4 are close relatives. The MP4 specification was standardised directly from Apple’s QuickTime File Format, so both are ISO base media containers built out of the same nested boxes, and the H.264 video sitting inside a MOV is frequently the exact kind of stream an MP4 would carry. The thing that stops your file playing is usually the wrapper and the four-character brand written into its header, not the picture itself.
MOV is what Apple hardware and software hand you by default. The camera roll on an iPhone or iPad writes MOV. QuickTime Player screen recordings are MOV. Final Cut Pro and Premiere export MOV when you pick an Apple codec, and ProRes masters are always MOV. What refuses to open them is everything else: most Android phones, a lot of Windows software that expects MP4, a good number of web upload forms, older smart TVs and almost every in-car player.
VidClean re-encodes the video to H.264 and the audio to AAC at 128 kbps, then writes an MP4 with the moov atom moved to the front so the file starts playing before it has finished downloading. The encoder targets a quality level rather than a fixed bitrate, which means a static talking head comes back small and a busy handheld shot gets the bits it actually needs. Your frame rate is left exactly as it was, and the picture is never cropped or letterboxed.
iPhone MOV files: HEVC, and files over 1GB
To see which kind of MOV your iPhone records, open Settings, then Camera, then Formats. High Efficiency records HEVC (H.265), the codec most Windows PCs and many Android phones cannot play without an extra codec. Most Compatible records H.264. Either way, the MP4 you get back here is H.264.
iPhone video adds up fast: the iPhone's own camera settings estimate about 170 MB a minute for 4K at 30 fps in High Efficiency, so a ten minute 4K clip is already well over 1GB. A MOV over 1GB is fine here. Files up to 2GB convert free with no account, and up to 5GB with Pro. Conversion runs at roughly real time and each job has a 15 minute processing ceiling, so a very long 4K clip may need splitting first.
What people convert MOV to MP4 for
iPhone clips that will not upload
You shot something on an iPhone, tried to attach it or upload it, and the site rejected the file or the recipient could not open it. Converting to MP4 fixes that in one step, and if the clip was recorded in High Efficiency mode it also converts HEVC to H.264, which is the part most players actually choke on.
QuickTime screen recordings
Screen recordings made with QuickTime Player or the macOS screenshot bar come out as MOV. Course platforms, bug trackers, help desks and learning management systems mostly want MP4. This turns the recording into something you can upload without being asked to re-record it.
Handing footage to Windows and Android
A MOV that opens instantly on a Mac can be completely inert on a colleague’s Windows laptop or an Android phone. Sending an MP4 instead removes an entire round of back and forth about which player they need to install.
Editors and platforms that reject MOV
Plenty of browser-based editors, social schedulers and ad platforms accept MP4 and nothing else, or accept MOV in theory and fail on it in practice. An H.264 MP4 is the format none of them argue with.
ProRes masters that are too large to send
ProRes is an editing codec, not a delivery codec, and a few minutes of it can run to several gigabytes. Converting to MP4 collapses that to something you can email, upload or put in a shared folder without waiting an hour.
Getting video onto the web
Browsers play H.264 MP4 essentially everywhere, and the faststart flag means playback can begin before the download finishes. If you are embedding a clip on a page, this is the file you want. If it is still too heavy afterwards, run it through Compress Video.
MOV to MP4: what changes and what does not
| What is inside your MOV | Plays outside Apple? | After conversion |
|---|---|---|
| H.264 video, AAC audio | Often, but not reliably | H.264 MP4, plays everywhere |
| HEVC / H.265, from iPhone High Efficiency mode | Rarely | H.264 MP4, far wider support |
| Apple ProRes | Almost never | H.264 MP4, dramatically smaller |
| Motion JPEG, from older cameras | Rarely | H.264 MP4, much smaller |
- Input formats
- MOV, and also MP4, MKV and WebM if you have them. The output is always MP4. Audio-only files are not accepted here; if you have a MOV and only want the sound out of it, use MOV to MP3 instead.
- File size
- Up to 2GB per file free, up to 5GB with Pro. There is no monthly cap and no limit on how many files you convert. For a ProRes MOV the 2GB ceiling arrives fast, so a long ProRes master may need trimming or a Pro upload.
- Video output
- H.264, encoded to a constant quality target rather than a fixed bitrate. Simple footage gets a smaller file and complex footage gets more bits, which is why two clips of the same length can come back at very different sizes.
- Audio output
- AAC at 128 kbps. If the MOV carried uncompressed Linear PCM, as ProRes and field recorder files often do, that is a large reduction in the audio data. On dialogue and typical production sound it is not something you will hear.
- Resolution and frame rate
- Frame rate is preserved and resolution isn't capped at 720p: a 60fps MOV comes back as a 60fps MP4, and Pro keeps 4K at 4K. Nothing is cropped, letterboxed or frame-rate converted. If you do want a different size, use Resize Video afterwards.
- Faststart
- The MP4 is written with its metadata at the front of the file, so browsers and players can start showing it before the whole thing has arrived. This matters for anything you embed on a web page.
- Processing time
- Roughly real time on the duration of the clip, because unlike a re-wrap this genuinely re-encodes every frame. A one minute clip is usually done in under a minute. There is a 15 minute processing ceiling per job, which long 4K files can reach.
- Privacy
- No account is needed. Your MOV and the MP4 it produced are both deleted from the servers about 90 minutes after the job finishes. Nothing is viewed, shared or kept.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about converting MOV to MP4.
Will the quality change when I convert MOV to MP4? expand_more
A MOV often already holds H.264 video, but VidClean re-encodes it to a standard H.264 MP4 so the file plays everywhere. VidClean uses a quality-targeted encoder, so the result is a widely compatible MP4 that looks clean on typical content like talking heads, screen recordings, and tutorials.
What formats can I upload, and what do I get back? expand_more
Upload a MOV (QuickTime) file and you get back an MP4 (H.264 video, AAC audio) for broad compatibility across phones, browsers, editors, and social platforms.
How large can my MOV file be? expand_more
Files up to 2GB convert free and up to 5GB with Pro, so a MOV over 1GB is fine. Very long 4K clips can reach the 15 minute processing ceiling per job; split those first.
Is my file kept private? expand_more
Yes. Files are processed on a private server and automatically deleted about 90 minutes after the job finishes. We never view or share your content, and we delete it about 90 minutes after processing.
Is it free, or is there a paid plan? expand_more
Completely free. No account, no signup, no watermark. There is no monthly cap and files up to 2GB are accepted.
How long does the conversion take? expand_more
Roughly real-time on the input duration. A one-minute clip typically finishes in under a minute. A five-minute clip takes a few minutes. Larger files and higher resolutions take proportionally longer.
Is MOV the same thing as QuickTime? expand_more
Effectively yes. MOV is the file extension for Apple’s QuickTime File Format, so a QuickTime movie and a MOV file are the same object. You may also see the older .qt extension on very old files. Converting QuickTime to MP4 and converting MOV to MP4 are the same operation, and this page does both.
Why will my iPhone MOV not play on Windows or Android? expand_more
Two separate reasons, and it is worth knowing which one you have hit. The first is the container: some software simply refuses anything that is not an .mp4, even when the video inside is standard. The second is the codec: iPhones set to High Efficiency record HEVC (H.265), which many Windows machines and Android devices cannot decode without an extra codec pack. Converting to an H.264 MP4 resolves both at once.
Will the video be re-encoded, or just re-wrapped? expand_more
Re-encoded. Every frame is decoded and encoded again as H.264. A pure re-wrap would be faster and lossless, but it only works when the video inside is already H.264, and a large share of MOV files are HEVC or ProRes instead. Re-encoding is the option that works on all of them, and it is why a ProRes MOV comes back so much smaller.
Does converting MOV to MP4 change the resolution or frame rate? expand_more
The frame rate never changes, and resolution is not capped at 720p: a 1080p 30fps MOV comes back as a 1080p 30fps MP4, and Pro keeps 4K at 4K. The picture is never cropped or letterboxed.
My MOV is ProRes and enormous. Will the MP4 actually be smaller? expand_more
Substantially smaller, usually by a very large margin. ProRes is an intermediate codec designed to survive repeated editing, not to be small, and it can run to gigabytes per minute. H.264 at a normal quality target is a delivery codec and is orders of magnitude more compact. The tradeoff is that the MP4 is not something you want to keep re-editing and re-exporting, so keep the ProRes as your master.
Also try: Compress Video at vidclean.net/compress-video
Last updated: September 2026