M4V is a video container that stores audio and video data used for iTunes files. Files of this type may be protected from illegal viewing and copying with Apple FairPlay DRM. In this case audio or video files should be bought in iTunes store. Not protected files can be viewed almost in any modern player because the format is based on MPEG-4 structure.

This format was originally created as an alternative to mp3. The idea was to achieve a small file size with better sound quality. The first versions weren’t quite successful, but with the development of AAC, it became possible to store sound with less loss of quality, and with the same file sizes as that of mp3.