Convert MOV to MP4
MOV is Apple's .mov video file - what your iPhone saves recordings as, what QuickTime Player and macOS Screen Recording export by default, what most Mac video tools produce. Plenty of things play it, Windows included, but MP4 is the label almost everything accepts: upload forms, course and website platforms, and the TVs and streaming sticks that list MP4 but not MOV. MOV and MP4 are sibling formats under different labels, so converting between them is almost always a fast wrapper swap - no re-encoding, no quality loss, no upload - and Wave moves the file's index to the front so it previews instantly online. One thing a wrapper swap can't change: iPhone videos are usually HEVC inside, and Windows needs an extra decoder for that whichever wrapper the file is in. MP4 vs MOV walks through the differences.
What actually changes
The reason MOV converts to MP4 so cleanly comes from history: Apple's MOV format (from 1991) was the direct blueprint for MP4 when MPEG standardised it in 2001. The two share the same underlying file structure. So on a normal MOV - anything shot on iPhone, exported from iMovie or Final Cut, recorded via QuickTime Player, or captured with macOS Screen Recording (CMD+Shift+5) - the video codec inside is H.264 or HEVC, the audio is AAC, and MP4 accepts all three. Wave changes the outer label, moves the moov atom (the file's tiny index of where every frame lives) to the front for instant playback, and writes the file. Nothing about the actual picture or sound changes.
The one exception is MOVs that carry Apple ProRes video - a professional editing codec you'll encounter if you're receiving files from a filmmaker or editor. ProRes is technically listed as MP4-compatible, but in practice no consumer player decodes it inside an MP4 wrapper. Wave detects a ProRes source and re-encodes it to H.264 during the conversion so the output plays anywhere - iPhone, Chromecast, Windows, browsers, everywhere. This takes longer than a plain swap (real-time or faster on modern hardware) and produces a much smaller file. See ProRes to MP4 for the pro-editor detail.
A deeper look at the family connection: MOV and MP4 both use a structure called "atoms" (boxes) that hold the file's tracks and metadata. Those atoms have names like moov, mdat, trak, and ftyp. The four-character "brand code" inside the ftyp atom - right at the start of the file - is what tells a player "this is a MOV" or "this is an MP4". On a typical Wave conversion, that's literally the only significant thing that changes. The compressed video and audio bytes stay in place, unchanged. This is why the output file is almost exactly the same size as the input.
iPhone recordings deserve a specific note because they're the most common MOV source. Since 2017, iPhones in the default "High Efficiency" camera mode record HEVC video - a newer codec that squeezes video into roughly 40% smaller files than the older H.264. HEVC-in-MOV is completely MP4-compatible, so Wave's wrapper swap handles iPhone recordings in seconds without touching the picture or sound. That also means the MP4 still holds HEVC video: Apple devices and most Android phones play it, but a Windows PC needs the HEVC Video Extensions, exactly as it did for the .mov - see Why iPhone videos won't play on Windows. When your iPhone was set to "Most Compatible" mode (Settings > Camera > Formats), it recorded H.264 instead, which plays everywhere. iPhone videos recorded in HDR can also look washed out on other screens - see iPhone HDR video looks washed out.
Three steps.
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Step 1
Drop your MOV file onto the card, or click "Pick a video".
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Step 2
Wave shows you the source details and confirms the fast-copy path.
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Step 3
Convert and save the MP4.
Answers, specifically.
Do I lose any quality converting MOV to MP4?
In the common case, no - not by any measurable amount. The video and audio bytes are copied through the conversion unchanged; only the outer file label gets rewritten. The exception is if your MOV contains Apple ProRes video (a pro editing codec) - Wave has to re-encode ProRes because no consumer player decodes it inside MP4. Even that re-encode targets high quality; the visible difference from the source is well below what you'd notice on any consumer display. For iPhone recordings, screen captures, and normal Mac-produced video, the conversion is genuinely lossless.
iPhone recordings - MOV or MP4?
iPhones save video as .mov by default because iOS uses Apple's QuickTime container natively. The good news: what's inside your iPhone .mov is already MP4-compatible - H.264 or HEVC video (depending on your Camera setting) with AAC audio. Wave converts the file by rewriting the wrapper; nothing about the picture or sound gets touched. A ten-minute iPhone recording converts in a few seconds regardless of resolution.
Why bother converting if MOV plays on my Mac?
Because MP4 is the label more places accept. Many upload forms, course platforms and website builders ask for .mp4 specifically, and some TVs and streaming sticks list MP4 but not MOV among their supported files. Wave also moves the file's index to the front during the conversion, so the video starts playing straight away in browser previews and cloud drives instead of loading the whole file first. What converting won't change is the video format inside: an iPhone .mov with HEVC video becomes an MP4 with HEVC video.
Does the audio quality survive the conversion?
Yes, completely. Your MOV's audio track is copied through unchanged when its codec is AAC or MP3 (which is what iPhone recordings, screen captures, and every mainstream Mac video tool produce). No decoding, no re-encoding, no quality loss - the audio in the output MP4 is bit-identical to the audio in your source MOV.
Will creation date, GPS location, and other metadata carry over?
Yes. Standard container metadata (creation date, encoding tool, camera model, GPS coordinates when the recording had them) is preserved through the conversion because MP4 uses the same underlying metadata format as MOV. Your Photos app on iOS will still show the recording date and location when you re-import the MP4. Third-party metadata that some editors write (custom XMP tags, colour-grading notes) may or may not survive depending on how the source stored them.
What about iPhone Live Photo MOVs?
The .mov portion of a Live Photo is a normal short H.264 / HEVC clip and converts like any other MOV. The paired .heic still image is not part of the .mov and is not touched. The MP4 you get out is just the moving portion, at the original quality.
Are QuickTime chapter markers preserved?
Yes. MP4 chapters use the same atom structure as MOV chapters (chpl / tref), so Wave copies them through. Chapter thumbnails and QuickTime-specific text tracks that some editors write are dropped because MP4 has no equivalent.
My MOV has an alpha channel. Does it survive?
Only in specific cases. Alpha-carrying codecs like ProRes 4444 and Apple Animation get re-encoded during the MOV-to-MP4 step, and MP4 has no widely-supported alpha codec, so the alpha channel is composited against black. If you need alpha preservation, keep the source as MOV and use it in workflows that respect it (video editors, VFX pipelines).
Can Windows Media Player play MOV without converting?
For most .mov files, yes. Windows Media Player has played standard H.264 .mov files since Windows 7, and the current Media Player and Movies & TV apps play them too. The two common exceptions are about what's inside, not the .mov label: iPhone videos recorded in HEVC need the HEVC Video Extensions - or an H.264 copy, which Wave makes when you turn on Make it play everywhere - and ProRes files from editing apps have no Windows decoder at all - Wave re-encodes those to H.264, which does fix them.
Why is the MP4 file the same size as the MOV?
Because the video and audio bytes are copied through untouched. Only a MOV that carried ProRes (which gets re-encoded) or non-standard codecs will produce a differently-sized MP4. For an iPhone recording, expect the two files to be within a few kilobytes of each other - the difference is the ftyp header and the fast-start rewrite that moves the moov atom to the front.