>

Convert MOV to MP4 on Windows (FFmpeg)

Turn a QuickTime .mov clip into a universally playable .mp4 file with one FFmpeg command.

WindowsvideoconversionffmpegLow risk
Run ffmpeg -i video.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 192k video.mp4 to re-encode the MOV into a compatible MP4.

01Command

Command
$ ffmpeg -i video.mov -c:v libx264 -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 192k video.mp4

02What it does

MP4 is the most widely supported container, and H.264 video with AAC audio plays on phones, TVs and browsers without extra codecs. If the MOV already contains H.264/AAC (common for iPhone footage), you can speed things up dramatically with -c copy, which just re-wraps the streams into an MP4 container with no quality loss. CRF 20 keeps quality visually identical to the source while trimming wasted bitrate.

03Risk

RiskLow risk
RequirementsFFmpeg is not preinstalled on Windows — install it first with: winget install --id Gyan.FFmpeg
!Warning: Converting into an MP4 replaces the file format, not magic — if the result won't play, the source codec was unusual, so re-encode instead of using -c copy.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

  • H.264 Video Encoding Guide
    FFmpeg Trac Wiki · community · 2026-09-17
    Evidence: Documents encoding to H.264/AAC (libx264 CRF mode) — the standard settings used when converting MOV files into broadly compatible MP4 output.

Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: Media