m4a to MP3 conversion

[EEPhil]

In a post on the youtube-dl thread BH quoted the command he used for audio conversion:

ffmpeg -i radio_show.m4a -c:v copy -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 4 radio-show.mp3

I, not for the first time, misread the contribution and thought the quoted command failed. It doesn't. But it looks odd to me - copying a video stream in an audio to audio conversion. I tried it, it works. I also typed "ffmpeg m4a to MP3 conversion" into DuckDuckGo. The AI slop gave the same command as above (bar the file prefix), which in turn was quoted in one of the URLs listed by the search.
Surely the -c:v copyis redundant. Wouldn't you use-vn if you need to make sure there is no video? Can you even have a video stream in an MP3 file?

 

[Black Hole]

Surely the -c:v copyis redundant.

I thought so too, having gone through similar processes trying to find the appropriate incantation, but wasn't willing to spend the time it would take to run a test.

 

[gomezz]

Why bother converting it? Most (all?) audio players play both equally well in my experience.

 

[Black Hole]

Most (all?) audio players play both equally well in my experience.

Depends what you mean by "audio player". You obviously don't mean the minimal MP3 capability for playing from a UPD in my car stereo (and many other embedded systems as opposed to 'smart' units). It can't even play MP2-masquerading-as-MP3.

 

[EEPhil]

Why bother converting it? Most (all?) audio players play both equally well in my experience.

My first two, now deceased, "MP3" players would play only mp2, MP3 and wma. I now use a smartphone as an audio player - it plays anything VLC can cope with. Not very helpful for BH's car stereo.