How to open MPEG-4 compressed audio .m4a files
Have you had trouble opening the m4a file on your computer? What are m4a files? We explain what they are and recommend software that we know will open them.
What is m4a file?
FIles with m4a extension are audio files stored in MPEG-4 (MP4) container and use AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), or Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio compression. M4A is very popular on Mac computers, because it is default audio format used by iTunes. M4A is also default audio format for Apple portable devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad).
MPEG-4 compressed audio description
File extension m4a is used with the audio files that are stored in MP4 (MPEG-4) media container and contain audio in AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) MPEG-4 lossy compression format, or in Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio format.
M4A is a shortcut for MPEG 4 Audio. M4A audio format is default format used by iTunes for Mac, as well as default audio format for Apple portable devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad).
MPEG-4 audio format was introduced in 2001 as a part of Apple QuickTime file format.
Suggested software to open m4a file

Media Player
Windows 11 default media player.

Apple iTunes for Windows
Multimedia file manager and library for Apple users

Apple iTunes for Mac
Program used to organize and plays your digital music and video