Convert AIF to ALAC — Free Online Tool
Convert AIF files to ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) stored in an M4A container — a lossless-to-lossless conversion that compresses your uncompressed PCM audio using Apple's own lossless codec without sacrificing a single bit of audio quality. Ideal for shrinking large AIF recordings for use in iTunes, Apple Music, or any Apple ecosystem app while keeping the audio bit-perfect.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
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Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
AIF stores audio as raw, uncompressed PCM data (typically 16-bit, 24-bit, or 32-bit big-endian samples) with no compression applied. During this conversion, FFmpeg reads those PCM samples and re-encodes them using the ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) encoder, then wraps the result in an MPEG-4 (.m4a) container. Because ALAC is a truly lossless codec — mathematically identical to the source on decode — no audio information is discarded. The trade-off is purely one of file size: ALAC typically achieves 40–60% compression over uncompressed PCM, so a 50MB AIF file might become a 20–30MB M4A file. The M4A container also supports richer metadata tagging (artist, album, artwork) than AIF, which uses the older AIFF chunk-based metadata system.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool, the open-source multimedia processing engine that handles all decoding, encoding, and container work in this conversion. In the browser-based version of this tool, FFmpeg runs as a WebAssembly binary (FFmpeg.wasm) with no server upload required. |
-i input.aif
|
Specifies the input file — your AIF audio file containing uncompressed big-endian PCM audio data. FFmpeg reads the AIFF container, detects the PCM codec and sample format (16-bit, 24-bit, etc.), and uses this as the source for ALAC encoding. |
-c:a alac
|
Instructs FFmpeg to encode the audio stream using the ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) encoder. This replaces the uncompressed PCM data from the AIF source with losslessly compressed ALAC data, reducing file size by roughly 40–60% without any loss of audio fidelity. This flag appears twice in the command, which is redundant — only the last instance is applied. |
-c:a alac
|
A duplicate of the preceding `-c:a alac` flag. In FFmpeg, when the same flag is specified more than once, the last occurrence takes precedence — so this has no additional effect beyond confirming the ALAC codec choice. The command functions correctly despite the redundancy. |
output.m4a
|
Defines the output filename with the `.m4a` extension, which tells FFmpeg to wrap the ALAC-encoded audio in an MPEG-4 container. M4A is the standard container for ALAC audio and is natively recognized by iTunes, Apple Music, iOS, macOS, and most modern media players. |
Common Use Cases
- Archiving a large library of AIF recordings from a Mac-based DAW like Logic Pro into a more storage-efficient format without any quality loss, making it practical to keep on an iPhone or iPad via iTunes sync.
- Preparing high-resolution 24-bit studio masters (originally recorded as AIF) for distribution through Apple Music, which natively supports ALAC up to 24-bit/192kHz for its lossless streaming tier.
- Reducing the storage footprint of uncompressed AIF field recordings or podcast stems on a MacBook with limited SSD space, while retaining the ability to restore the exact original audio later.
- Converting AIF exports from audio interfaces or hardware recorders into M4A/ALAC so they can be imported directly into GarageBand or Final Cut Pro without transcoding delays.
- Creating lossless archive copies of vinyl rips or cassette transfers that were captured as AIF, stored as ALAC in an iTunes/Music library for long-term preservation with proper metadata tagging.
- Sharing high-quality uncompressed recordings with collaborators who use Apple devices, where ALAC/M4A is more universally playable than AIF without requiring additional software or codecs.
Frequently Asked Questions
No — this is a fully lossless conversion. ALAC compresses the PCM audio data from the AIF file in a way that is mathematically reversible, meaning decoding the ALAC output produces bit-for-bit identical PCM samples to the original. This is fundamentally different from lossy formats like MP3 or AAC, where data is permanently discarded. You can verify losslessness yourself by decoding the ALAC output back to PCM and comparing checksums with the original AIF.
ALAC typically achieves 40–60% size reduction over uncompressed PCM audio, though the exact ratio depends on the audio content. Highly dynamic material like orchestral music or silence-heavy recordings compresses better than dense, loud material like heavy rock or electronic music. For example, a 16-bit/44.1kHz AIF stereo recording of roughly 50MB might compress to around 25–35MB as ALAC. Higher bit-depth AIF files (24-bit or 32-bit) tend to compress at similar ratios.
Yes, AIF supports 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit PCM audio (in big-endian format), and ALAC natively supports bit depths up to 32-bit. FFmpeg will automatically detect the bit depth of your AIF source and encode the ALAC output at the same depth — no manual flags are needed for standard conversions. This makes the AIF-to-ALAC path particularly well-suited for preserving high-resolution studio masters.
AIF files store metadata using AIFF TEXT and NAME chunks, which FFmpeg will attempt to map to the equivalent ID3/iTunes tags in the M4A container. Common fields like title, artist, album, and track number typically carry over. However, AIF metadata support is historically inconsistent — some AIF files have no tags at all, while others use non-standard chunk types that FFmpeg may not fully parse. You may want to re-tag the ALAC output using a tool like MusicBrainz Picard or Mp3tag after conversion to ensure accuracy.
ALAC has been open-sourced by Apple since 2011, so support is now widespread beyond the Apple ecosystem. On Android, apps like VLC and Poweramp support ALAC/M4A playback natively. On Windows, Windows Media Player and the Groove Music app support it, and VLC or foobar2000 handle it universally. That said, ALAC is still most deeply integrated in Apple's ecosystem — iTunes, Apple Music, iOS, macOS, and Apple TV all support it without any additional software.
You can adapt the displayed command into a shell loop for batch processing. On macOS or Linux, run: `for f in *.aif; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a alac "${f%.aif}.m4a"; done` in your terminal from the folder containing your AIF files. On Windows PowerShell, use: `Get-ChildItem *.aif | ForEach-Object { ffmpeg -i $_.FullName -c:a alac ($_.BaseName + '.m4a') }`. This applies the same ALAC encoding to every AIF file in the directory and names each output after its source file.
Technical Notes
The FFmpeg command uses `-c:a alac` to invoke the native ALAC encoder, which is built into FFmpeg without requiring any external library. The output container is M4A (a subset of the MPEG-4/MP4 container), which FFmpeg infers automatically from the `.m4a` file extension. One important nuance: AIF uses big-endian PCM samples (pcm_s16be, pcm_s24be, etc.), and FFmpeg handles the byte-order conversion internally during ALAC encoding — no explicit sample format flags are needed. ALAC does not support floating-point PCM (pcm_f32be or pcm_f64be) natively; if your source AIF uses a floating-point codec, FFmpeg will automatically convert to integer PCM before encoding, which may introduce a negligible quantization step but remains perceptually lossless in practice. The M4A container supports chapter markers, which AIF does not — so if you want to add chapters to long-form audio (like an audiobook or podcast), the ALAC/M4A format is the better long-term home for that content. Note that the command as shown includes `-c:a alac` twice, which is redundant but harmless — the last specified value takes effect.