WMA to M4A on iPhone

Safari on iOS 15.4 and newer runs the converter completely, on the phone itself. There is no App Store download — and no converter app quietly uploading your recordings to its own servers. WMA files convert to M4A here the same way — nothing to install.

If the file is in Voice Memos or Photos, tap the share icon and choose 'Save to Files' first — that makes it visible to Safari's file picker. The converted file lands in Files (Downloads by default), from where you can share it into Messages, Mail, or any app. Your WMA comes out as M4A, ready to use straight away.

The WMA files people convert on an iPhone almost always originate from CDs ripped in Windows Media Player during the 2000s, when it was the Windows default, and WMA has been abandoned — macOS, iPhones, most Android apps, car stereos and smart speakers all skip it — which is precisely why they're stuck on the phone until you convert them to M4A.

You won't save meaningful space — the two formats are within touching distance at 1.2–1.2 MB per minute. Re-encoding lossy to lossy compounds artifacts. Convert once, at a high bitrate, and keep the result rather than round-tripping again.

WMA to M4A is a common iPhone snag specifically because WMA has been abandoned — macOS, iPhones, most Android apps, car stereos and smart speakers all skip it, and M4A is what your other apps and devices expect. Apple gives you no built-in way to convert audio at all, so the App Store is full of converter apps — many upload your recording to their own servers, show ads against it, and want a subscription. Doing it in Safari means the WMA file is processed on the phone itself and stays there, which matters when it is a voice memo, an interview, or a recording of your own family.

Your WMA file never leaves the handset. For iPhone that is the whole argument: CDs ripped in Windows Media Player during the 2000s are usually personal, and the App Store alternative frequently ships them to a company's servers as the price of a free conversion. Processing the WMA-to-M4A conversion on-device means there is no server to trust in the first place.

WMA files come from CDs ripped in Windows Media Player during the 2000s, when it was the Windows default. WMA has been abandoned — macOS, iPhones, most Android apps, car stereos and smart speakers all skip it — which is the whole reason this conversion exists. M4A is the destination because it plays essentially everywhere — iPhone Voice Memos and every ordinary phone, browser, and player. File size stays in the same ballpark — both formats land around 1.2–1.2 MB per minute. Both WMA and M4A are lossy, so this pair stacks a second encode — at a generous bitrate it stays inaudible, but if a lossless original of the WMA exists, encode the M4A from that instead.