Convert HEVC to AIFF — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert the audio track from an HEVC/H.265 video file into a lossless AIFF file encoded with 16-bit big-endian PCM — Apple's native uncompressed audio format. Ideal for pulling high-quality audio from H.265 footage for use in macOS audio workflows, DAWs, or professional post-production pipelines.
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
HEVC (H.265) is a video container that typically carries both a compressed video stream and a compressed audio stream (commonly AAC or AC-3). AIFF is a purely audio format — it has no video track. This conversion discards the video stream entirely and transcodes the audio from its original compressed codec into uncompressed PCM audio using the pcm_s16be codec (signed 16-bit, big-endian byte order), which is the standard encoding for AIFF files on macOS. Because the source audio is being decoded and re-encoded into an uncompressed format, the output file will be significantly larger than the audio portion of the source, but the resulting AIFF will represent the audio at full uncompressed fidelity within the 16-bit depth constraint.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool, which handles all decoding, stream selection, and re-encoding for this conversion. In the browser-based tool, this runs via FFmpeg.wasm (WebAssembly) without any server involvement. |
-i input.hevc
|
Specifies the input file — an HEVC/H.265 video file. FFmpeg reads both the compressed H.265 video stream and the compressed audio stream (e.g., AAC or AC-3) from this file. Only the audio stream will be used in this conversion. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to pcm_s16be — signed 16-bit big-endian PCM — which is the standard uncompressed audio encoding for the AIFF format. This decodes the source compressed audio (whatever codec it uses inside the HEVC file) and re-encodes it as raw, uncompressed samples in the byte order expected by AIFF. |
output.aiff
|
Defines the output filename and container format. The .aiff extension tells FFmpeg to write the output as an Audio Interchange File Format file. Because AIFF is audio-only, FFmpeg automatically drops the video stream from the HEVC source without requiring an explicit -vn flag. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a clean, uncompressed audio track from an H.265 interview or documentary recording for editing in Logic Pro or GarageBand on macOS
- Pulling the audio from HEVC drone footage to use as a reference track in a professional audio post-production session in Pro Tools
- Archiving the audio component of H.265 home video files in a lossless, uncompressed format that will remain compatible with Apple software for years
- Converting the audio from HEVC screen recordings or presentations into AIFF for use as sound effects or voiceovers in macOS-based video editing tools like Final Cut Pro
- Extracting spoken audio from H.265 video files to deliver to a transcription service that requires uncompressed audio input
- Separating the audio from HEVC camera footage to send to a sound designer who works in an Apple-native audio workflow
Frequently Asked Questions
The conversion involves one generation of quality loss if the source audio in the HEVC file is compressed (e.g., AAC or AC-3), because it must be decoded and then re-encoded as uncompressed PCM. However, once in AIFF format, the audio is fully uncompressed — no further quality degradation will occur in subsequent processing or editing. The 16-bit PCM output is CD-quality depth, which is transparent for most audio content.
HEVC is an extremely efficient compressed video format, and its audio track is also typically compressed (e.g., AAC). AIFF with pcm_s16be stores audio as raw, uncompressed samples — no compression whatsoever. A stereo 16-bit PCM audio stream at 44.1 kHz consumes roughly 10 MB per minute, so a 1-hour HEVC video with modest audio compression could yield an AIFF file several hundred megabytes in size. This is expected and is the nature of uncompressed audio archival.
No. AIFF is a strictly audio-only format and cannot contain a video stream. The entire video track from the HEVC source is discarded during this conversion. Only the first audio track from the HEVC file is extracted and converted to uncompressed PCM. If you need to retain the video, you would need to convert to a different output format such as MP4 or MOV.
Yes. The default FFmpeg command uses pcm_s16be (16-bit big-endian PCM), but AIFF also supports higher bit depths. You can change the audio codec flag to use pcm_s24be for 24-bit output, pcm_s32be for 32-bit integer, or pcm_f32be for 32-bit float — all of which are valid AIFF codecs. For example: ffmpeg -i input.hevc -c:a pcm_s24be output.aiff. Higher bit depths are valuable when the source audio was recorded at 24-bit or higher, such as from professional cinema cameras.
On macOS or Linux, you can run a shell loop: for f in *.hevc; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.hevc}.aiff"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.hevc) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a pcm_s16be "%~nf.aiff". This processes every HEVC file in the current directory and saves an AIFF file with the same base filename. This is especially useful for bulk-extracting audio from large batches of H.265 camera recordings.
AIFF was developed by Apple and is natively supported on macOS and iOS, but it is also readable on Windows through applications like VLC, Adobe Audition, Audacity, and most professional DAWs. It is not natively supported by Windows Media Player. If broad Windows compatibility is a priority, WAV (which also uses PCM audio) is a more universally supported alternative on that platform, though the audio data itself would be essentially identical.
Technical Notes
The HEVC container stores video as H.265-encoded data, but the audio codec varies depending on the recording device or encoding workflow — common audio codecs found inside HEVC files include AAC, AC-3, EAC-3, and DTS. During this conversion, FFmpeg decodes whichever audio codec is present and re-encodes it as pcm_s16be (signed 16-bit, big-endian PCM), the default and most widely compatible AIFF audio encoding. Big-endian byte order is the historical standard for AIFF because of its Apple/Motorola 68k origins. Note that if the source audio was recorded at 24-bit depth (common in professional video cameras), downsampling to 16-bit will truncate the lower 8 bits of each sample — perceptible only in very high dynamic range material but worth considering for archival use. AIFF does not support multiple audio tracks, subtitles, or chapter markers, so only the first audio stream from the HEVC file will be included in the output. The video stream, any secondary audio tracks, and any metadata embedded in the HEVC container (such as GPS or camera settings) will not be preserved in the AIFF output.