M4B to MP3 - How to Convert M4B Files to MP3

Q: I downloaded some audiobooks from iTunes Store and want to play them on an MP3 player in my car. But those iTunes audiobooks are all saved in .m4b format which is not supported by my MP3 player. Could you recommend any reliable M4B to MP3 converter that can convert the iTunes M4B audiobooks to a common MP3 format?

M4B is a format that is used usually on the audiobooks like iTunes audiobooks. When you want to play audiobooks in M4B on many devices, you probably have the problem that your device does not support M4B. Here we'll show you the most popular ways to convert M4B to MP3 with some top-rated M4B to MP3 converters so that you can listen to M4B audiobooks on whichever device you are using.

What is M4B?

Before we get into the solutions to convert M4B files to MP3, let's firstly take a look at the M4B file itself.

M4B is a file extension for audiobooks based on the MPEG-4 standard. Unlike M4A, another common audiobook format, the M4B audiobooks support chapter markers which make it easy for listeners to jump to the beginning of any chapter while playing. Currently, most M4B audiobooks are sold from online digital content stores, such as iTunes.

However, since iTunes audiobooks are protected, you can only play those M4B files on authorized computers and Apple devices. In order to play iTunes M4B on common MP3 players or other devices, you'll have to convert the protected M4B to MP3 format with some dedicated iTunes M4B audiobook converters. We will talk about this in the first part. On the other hand, many M4B files are not protected. For those M4B files, you can use many well-known tools like iTunes and VLC to convert M4B to MP3, which is introduced in the second part.

Part 1. How to Convert Protected iTunes M4B to MP3

To convert iTunes audiobooks from M4B to MP3, a third-party audio converter such as ViWizard Audio Converter is highly recommended. As a one-stop iTunes audio converter, it's able to convert the M4B files to MP3 format with ID3 tags and chapter info preserved. It can also be used to convert common audios, Apple Music, and Audible AAX to MP3, WAV, M4A, and more. Best of all, you can convert hundreds of iTunes M4B audiobooks once as this app supports batch conversion.

How to Convert iTunes M4B Audiobooks to MP3

Now we will take ViWizard Audio Converter for Mac as an example to show you the tutorial of converting iTunes M4B to MP3. The Windows version just works the same as the Mac version for M4B to MP3 conversion.

Step 1Add iTunes Audiobooks to ViWizard Audio Converter

After launching the program, click the second "+" button to locate the iTunes library which contains the M4B audiobooks. Then select the files you want to convert to MP3 and click the Add button.

Step 2Select Output Format as MP3

When the M4B audiobooks are added to ViWizard, you can choose the output format as MP3 by clicking the Format button and choosing the MP3 button.

Step 3Convert iTunes M4B to MP3

When all the settings are adjusted, you can begin to convert the iTunes M4B file to MP3 by clicking the Convert button.

Once the M4B to MP3 conversion is finished, you can find the converted MP3 audiobooks and freely import them into any players, such as iPod, PSP, Zune, Creative Zen, Sony Walkman, etc. for playback as you want.

Part 2. How to Convert Unprotected M4B to MP3

Although most of the M4B audiobooks from the iTunes Store are protected, there are still some M4B audios on the Internet that are unprotected. For those M4B files, you can use iTunes, online converters, and VLC to convert M4B to MP3.

Solution 1. Convert M4B to MP3 with iTunes

iTunes has the feature of converting files to different formats. But this feature only works for common files. If your audiobooks are in unprotected M4B, you can use iTunes to encode M4B to MP3 with the following steps:

Step 1. Open iTunes and add the M4B audiobook files into the iTunes library.

Step 2. Click Edit > Preferences to open the Preferences window. Under General, click Importing Settings and choose MP3 Encoder.

Step 3. Locate the M4B files you'd like to convert to MP3, click Advanced and choose the Create MP3 Version to make a copy of the M4B audiobook files in MP3 format.

Solution 2. Convert M4B Files to MP3 with VLC

In addition to iTunes, you can also use VLC to convert M4B to MP3. The VLC media player is a free and open-source media player which is workable on both Windows and Mac computers. If you use a Windows computer and do not want to install iTunes on your computer, just try VLC. Here are the steps about how to convert M4B to MP3 with a VLC media player.

Step 1. Run VLC on your computer and click the Media and the Convert/Save button. Choose the Add button and choose your M4B files

Step 2. Choose the Arrow button next to the Convert/Save button and the Convert button.

Step 3. From the Profile section, choose the Audio-MP3 button. Click the Start button to convert M4B to MP3.

Solution 3. Convert M4B to MP3 Online

If you don't like to install any software on your computer when converting the M4B to MP3, you are suggested to use some web tools to create an MP3 version from M4B audiobooks online. Currently, there are many M4B to MP3 converters online to be employed. Here, we highly recommend Zamzar, a free website which can convert your M4B files to MP3 and other formats effectively. It only takes 3 simple steps to complete the M4B to MP3 conversion with Zamzar M4B to MP3 converter online.

Step 1. Click the Add Files button to add the M4B audiobook into Zamzar. Or you can enter the URL of your files. The third method is to drag and drop the files here. The file cannot be larger than 50MB.

Step 2. Select output format as MP3.

Step 3. Click the Convert Now button and it will begin to convert M4B audiobooks to MP3 online. After the conversion, you'll receive the MP3 files.

Wrap Up

To convert M4B to MP3, you have 4 different ways. Before you start to choose one, you’d better try to figure out whether your M4B files are protected or not. If your M4B audiobooks are iTunes M4B files, you need to choose a powerful audio converter like ViWizard Audio Converter. If your files are not protected, you can select any one of the 4 choices.

Adam Gorden is an experienced writer of ViWizard who is obsessed about tech, movie and software.