Not play audio

[ExtraHours]

Hi all. I have audio from a friend of mine who cant play it. It is m4a aac file and I cant play it even though I am trying to for an hour. I used ffmpeg to make it 1mb (original 88mb) so you can try to play it as well. Thank you and have a great day.

[cholla]

Your sample would only play with VLC on my OS.
This is the likely reason:
mp4a-40-0 Apple audio with iTunes info

When dealing with audio files within the Apple ecosystem and iTunes, you might encounter the "mp4a-40-0" designation. Here's a breakdown of what that means:

mp4a: This indicates the media is MPEG-4 audio.
40: This is a special value signifying the content is MPEG-4 audio as defined in ISO/IEC 14496 Part 3.
0: This portion, after the second dot, represents the Audio Object Type. A value of "0" typically means the Audio Object Type is defined in the Audio-Specific Config.

In simpler terms:

"mp4a-40-0" signifies that the audio file is an MPEG-4 audio file.
This format is commonly used by Apple and iTunes.
M4A files, which often contain this designation, use either the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC).
AAC is widely used by iTunes for downloading music and podcasts due to its ability to provide good quality at reduced file sizes.
iTunes is designed to play M4A files and supports both AAC and Apple Lossless.
While M4A provides better quality than MP3 at similar bitrates, M4A might not have the same widespread compatibility as MP3 on non-Apple devices.
If needed, iTunes (now Apple Music) allows you to convert M4A files to other formats like MP3 for better compatibility.

Important Notes:

The "mp4a-40-0" is part of the codec information that helps software determine how to interpret and play the audio.
M4A files can store native metadata like song information.
M4P files, historically used for DRM-protected music from the iTunes store, are also based on the AAC codec but are distinct from DRM-free M4A files

I did a conversion with the dbPowerAmp music converter I have & I uploadede it.
This one plays in Foobar,MPC-BE,VLC.Those are all I tested.
Neither will play in WinAmp.
If I had did the conversion with FFMPEG I would have tried removing all the Metadata.
To see if the Apple & ITunescould be removed.

[ExtraHours]

Thank you for the answer. Now I wondering if i can fix the file by changing the mp4a. My other aac files say mp4a-40-2 (not mp4a-40-0) in mediainfo and im wondering if i can change it to that and itll work. I would like to keep it in .m4a instead of .aac file.

[cholla]

My version of FFMPEG would not work with the mp4a-40-0.
I'm going to look into that.

When I converted the "sampel.m4a" you posted with VLC media player it is a .m41 with the mp4a-40-2.
If you did not know VLC has a Convert/Save option.