HEVC to H.264 on Mac
macOS can do this, as long as a .mov is acceptable. Finder's Encode Selected Video Files lists H.264 and HEVC settings side by side, and QuickTime Player's Export As switches to H.264 when you pick Greater Compatibility at 4K or 1080p. Both save the result as .mov, and some players and upload forms check for the .mp4 extension as well as H.264. Press puts the codec in front of you as two chips, H.264 and HEVC, and writes .mp4 with the extension the other side expects.
How to tell a file is HEVC
Select it in Finder and press Command-I. The Codecs line in Get Info reads HEVC for an HEVC file and H.264 for one that is already compatible. Clips from an iPhone on the High Efficiency camera setting are HEVC, and so are QuickTime Player exports made with Smaller File Size.
In Press
- Drop the HEVC file, or a folder of them, onto Press. iPhone clips, screen recordings, and files from Finder's encoder all queue the same way.
- Under Video, choose H.264. Keep Original to leave the frame size alone, or pick 1080p or 720p to shrink it in the same pass.
- Click Convert. Each file comes out as name (Press).mp4 beside its source.
What you get
- Container
- .mp4, written next to the source with a (Press) suffix, so the HEVC original stays where it was.
- Codec
- H.264 video and AAC audio, always re-encoded, since the point is to leave HEVC behind.
- Quality
- Original uses the highest-quality H.264 preset at the source frame size. H.264 needs more bytes than HEVC for the same picture, so expect the output to grow unless you also drop the resolution.
- Metadata
- AVFoundation carries the source's metadata over wherever the MP4 container has a matching field.
What we measured
One 60-second 4K HEVC clip at three sizes. At its original 4K size the H.264 file came out 24 percent larger than the HEVC source. At 1080p it was about half the size of the source.
| Source | Setting | Output | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4K HEVC .mov, 153.5 MB | H.264, Original | 189.9 MB .mp4 | 25 s |
| 4K HEVC .mov, 153.5 MB | H.264, 1080p | 80.8 MB .mp4 | 7 s |
| 4K HEVC .mov, 153.5 MB | H.264, 720p | 57.2 MB .mp4 | 4 s |
Measured on 2026-10-08 with Press 1.0 on a MacBook Air (M5, 24 GB) running macOS 27.0.1. The video source is a 60-second 4K HEVC .mov at 30 fps with AAC audio: a slow pan across a photograph, with grain added. The H.264 source is the same clip encoded to 1080p. The photo is a 12-megapixel iPhone HEIC. Sizes are decimal megabytes, as Finder shows them. Times are for one file.
Will the H.264 file be bigger?
At the same frame size, usually yes. HEVC packs the same picture into fewer bytes, and our 4K test clip grew from 153.5 MB to 189.9 MB as a 4K H.264 MP4. Picking 1080p brought it to 80.8 MB, and a Press Pro size preset caps it at a number.
Does Press keep the audio?
Yes. The audio track is re-encoded to AAC inside the MP4, which is what Windows, browsers, and upload forms expect alongside H.264.
Is this free?
Yes, one file at a time. Press Pro adds batch conversion for a folder of clips.
Press converts video and images on your Mac. The download is free, and Press Pro is a one-time $14.99 unlock for batch conversion, size presets, and WebP.