PDFs and conversion

How to convert MOV to MP4 on a Mac

Updated 25 October 2026 · 4 min read

QuickTime can't export MP4 and renaming only changes the label. What works on a Mac: avconvert or ffmpeg in Terminal, or a right-click in Orrel.

Screen recordings, iPhone videos sent by AirDrop and exports from QuickTime Player all arrive as .mov files. Most of the time that is fine. Then a website, a Windows colleague or a video tool asks for MP4, and it turns out macOS has no obvious button for it.

What QuickTime Player actually does

QuickTime Player's File › Export As menu offers 4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p and Audio Only. For 4K and 1080p you can pick HEVC (smaller files) or H.264 (wider compatibility). Whichever you choose, the result is a QuickTime .mov file. Apple's own guide says plainly that QuickTime Player does not export movies as MP4 (Apple, Export movies in QuickTime Player, checked on 25 October 2026).

Export As is still useful when the problem is the codec rather than the extension. A ProRes or HEVC file that will not play somewhere often plays once re-exported as H.264, even inside a MOV.

Finder's Encode Selected Video Files

Select a video in Finder, Control-click and choose Services › Encode Selected Video Files. You pick an encoder setting (H.264 or HEVC at sizes up to 4K, Apple ProRes, or audio only) and where to save. It handles a batch at once. On the current versions of macOS we checked, the result is a .mov file as well, so this changes the size and codec, not the container. Some older versions of macOS wrote .m4v.

Renaming the extension

Changing clip.mov to clip.mp4 in Finder sometimes works, because MOV and MP4 share the same basic structure and both usually hold H.264 or HEVC video with AAC audio. But nothing inside the file changes. Strict upload forms, some Windows players and video editors can still refuse it. Treat it as a quick test, not a conversion.

avconvert in Terminal, already on your Mac

macOS includes a command-line tool called avconvert, the same engine Finder's encoder uses. Unlike QuickTime, it writes a real MP4 when you give the output an .mp4 name:

cd ~/Desktop
avconvert --source clip.mov --preset Preset1920x1080 --output clip.mp4 --progress

Run avconvert --help to list the presets. Size presets such as Preset1920x1080 re-encode as H.264 and never enlarge a smaller video; PresetHEVC1920x1080 gives a smaller HEVC file.

ffmpeg, for full control

ffmpeg is a free command-line tool you install with Homebrew (brew install ffmpeg). To move the video into an MP4 without re-encoding, which keeps the quality exactly and is quick:

ffmpeg -i clip.mov -c copy -movflags +faststart clip.mp4

If that fails or the result will not play, the video inside is in a codec MP4 players do not expect, such as ProRes. Re-encode it as H.264 instead:

ffmpeg -i clip.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac -movflags +faststart clip.mp4

For HEVC video copied into an MP4, add -tag:v hvc1 so Apple devices recognise it.

How Orrel does it

Control-click a MOV in Orrel, drop it on Orrel's Dock icon, or choose Orrel from Finder's Quick Actions, and the ring of conversions offers MP4. It works the other way too, MP4 to MOV.

• No re-encode when it can be avoided. If the video and audio inside can go straight into the new container, Orrel moves them across untouched. If they cannot, it re-encodes at the highest quality setting macOS offers.
• Original kept. The MP4 is written beside the MOV, which is never changed or replaced, and keeps the original's dates.
• Batches. Select several videos and convert them in one go.
• The rest of the video tools. The same ring compresses, trims, makes a GIF or extracts the audio as M4A. See how to compress a video on a Mac.

Where Orrel stops

Orrel reads MOV, MP4 and M4V and writes MOV and MP4 only. It does not open or write MKV, WebM or AVI, and it has no codec, bitrate or frame-rate settings; when you need those, ffmpeg gives you every one. Converting does not make a video smaller by itself. If size is the real problem, compress instead.