How to Convert MP4 to MP3 in Windows Media Player

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Windows Media Player is one of the most popular and enduring software applications in the Windows ecosystem. It ships with all recent versions of the Windows operating system except Windows 8.1. Featuring tools that allow users to play, organize and format multimedia content, Windows Media Player is capable of assisting with a wide variety of tasks that include converting media files into different readable file types. Using Windows Media Player, a user can quickly change an MP4 file into the widely used MP3 format. The process of changing an MP4 to an MP3 can be accomplished in a few simple steps.

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Getting Started With the Conversion

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To begin the conversion of an MP4 file into the MP3 format, you first need to import the MP4 file into your Windows Media Player library. You do this by clicking the "Open" button in the "File" menu and locating the specific file. After you import the file, click the "Organize" button found just below the toolbar at the top of the application. Select the "Rip Music" option in the pop-up window and "MP3" from the drop-down menu under "Format." Any file you select during this process ultimately ends up in the MP3 format.

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Finalizing the MP4 to MP3 Conversion

After you configure the conversion formatting tools, begin the conversion process by clicking the "OK" button at the bottom of the "Options" screen. When you finalize your selections, the conversion begins immediately, and the formatted final is sent to the location specified in the "Rip music to this location" menu found within the "Rip Music" tab. If this is not your desired location for the converted file, you can change it by using the directory search tool found here.

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Other Formatting Considerations

The MP4 file format is most often used to store video and audio content. When you convert an MP4 file to the MP3 format, any video content found in the MP4 is lost. The MP3 file format caters exclusively to audio and cannot host other forms of multimedia.

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The MP3 format is commonly used with portable music players where its compression is not noticeable by most listeners. MP3 uses heavy data compression, so the overall audio quality in the MP3 file is reduced compared to other file formats, such as WAV or AIFF. If you need professional audio quality for your purposes, convert your file to a more memory-intensive format to preserve the fidelity of the recording.

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