Convert AVI to AIFC — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert audio from AVI video files into AIFC format, encoding the audio stream using big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be) — a lossless 16-bit format favored in professional Apple and broadcast audio workflows. The video stream is discarded entirely, producing a clean, uncompressed audio file suitable for professional editing and archival.
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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
During this conversion, FFmpeg reads the AVI container and extracts only the audio stream, discarding any video data. The source audio — which in an AVI file is typically MP3 (libmp3lame) or AAC — is re-encoded into 16-bit big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be) and wrapped in the AIFC container. Because the original AVI audio is almost certainly a lossy compressed format, this conversion involves a decode-then-re-encode step: the lossy audio is fully decoded to raw PCM, then written into AIFC as lossless PCM. This means quality is bounded by the original lossy source — the AIFC output will be lossless, but it cannot recover detail lost in the original AVI's compression.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool. In the browser version, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly — the same command works identically on a local FFmpeg desktop installation. |
-i input.avi
|
Specifies the input AVI file. FFmpeg reads the AVI container and demuxes its audio and video streams — the audio will be processed while the video is discarded since AIFC is an audio-only format. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to 16-bit signed big-endian PCM, which is the standard lossless audio encoding for AIFC files. This decodes whatever lossy audio was in the AVI (typically MP3 or AAC) and writes it as uncompressed PCM in the native AIFC byte order. |
-b:a 128k
|
Specifies a target audio bitrate of 128 kbps. For PCM codecs like pcm_s16be, the actual bitrate is determined by sample rate, bit depth, and channel count rather than compression, so this flag has minimal effect — the output bitrate will reflect the uncompressed PCM size of the source audio. |
output.aifc
|
Defines the output filename with the .aifc extension, which tells FFmpeg to wrap the encoded PCM audio in the AIFC container format — an Apple-originated format that extends AIFF with support for compressed and uncompressed audio data. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a narration or voiceover track from a legacy AVI screen recording to import into Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro, which natively support AIFC files
- Archiving audio from old AVI home video files into an uncompressed AIFC format for long-term preservation, since PCM data has no generational quality loss when re-exported
- Pulling dialogue or sound effects from AVI source footage to bring into a professional audio workstation (DAW) that expects big-endian PCM AIFC files
- Converting AVI-delivered broadcast content into AIFC for integration into Apple-ecosystem post-production pipelines that require AIFF/AIFC audio assets
- Stripping audio from AVI files received from legacy Windows-based editing systems so they can be remastered or cleaned up in macOS audio tools that prefer AIFC input
Frequently Asked Questions
No — the AIFC output will be lossless PCM, but quality is capped by whatever was in the AVI source. AVI files almost always carry lossy audio (MP3 or AAC), so decoding that to PCM and re-encoding as pcm_s16be in AIFC cannot recover detail that was discarded during the original lossy compression. The result is a lossless container holding audio that was already lossy, which is ideal for archival or editing but does not restore lost fidelity.
AIFC (Audio Interchange File Format Compressed) supports both uncompressed PCM and compressed audio, but its most common and universally compatible use in professional workflows is big-endian PCM. The 's16be' codec means signed 16-bit samples stored in big-endian byte order, which is the native byte order for AIFF-family files and expected by Apple-ecosystem tools. Using PCM also ensures zero additional quality loss beyond what was already present in the AVI source.
The video stream is completely dropped. The FFmpeg command has no video output mapping, so FFmpeg only processes and writes the audio track. The resulting AIFC file is a pure audio file with no video data — AIFC does not support video at all, so this is expected and correct behavior.
For PCM codecs like pcm_s16be, the bitrate flag (-b:a) has limited effect because the bit depth is fixed by the codec name itself — 's16be' always means 16-bit samples. If you need higher bit depth, change the codec: use '-c:a pcm_s24be' for 24-bit or '-c:a pcm_s32be' for 32-bit audio. For example: 'ffmpeg -i input.avi -c:a pcm_s24be output.aifc'. This is especially useful if your original AVI audio was recorded at higher bit depth before being compressed.
Yes — on the command line you can use a shell loop to process multiple files. On Linux or macOS, run: 'for f in *.avi; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.avi}.aifc"; done'. On Windows PowerShell, use: 'Get-ChildItem *.avi | ForEach-Object { ffmpeg -i $_.FullName -c:a pcm_s16be ($_.BaseName + ".aifc") }'. The browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the FFmpeg command is particularly valuable for batch workflows.
AVI files carry very limited metadata, and AIFC has its own metadata chunk structure that differs from AVI's INFO chunks. FFmpeg will attempt to map common metadata fields (like title) to AIFC markers and annotations, but AVI rarely contains rich metadata in practice. If metadata preservation is critical, verify the output with a tool like MediaInfo or afinfo on macOS after conversion.
Technical Notes
AIFC uses big-endian byte ordering for its PCM data, which distinguishes it from WAV (which uses little-endian PCM). The pcm_s16be codec produces 16-bit signed samples at big-endian byte order, making the output natively compatible with Apple's Core Audio frameworks, Logic Pro, and older QuickTime-based tools. AVI files support multiple audio tracks, but AIFC supports only a single audio track — if your AVI contains more than one audio stream, FFmpeg will select the default stream (usually stream 0) and discard the others. If you need a specific audio track, add '-map 0:a:1' (or the appropriate index) before the output filename. File size for the AIFC output will typically be much larger than the AVI source because PCM is uncompressed: a 128 kbps MP3 audio track will expand to roughly 1.4 MB per minute at 16-bit/44.1kHz stereo PCM, compared to roughly 1 MB per minute for the compressed original. The -b:a flag in this command context has limited impact on PCM codecs since bitrate is determined by sample rate, bit depth, and channel count rather than a compression target.