Convert M2TS to AIF — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert audio from M2TS Blu-ray and AVCHD files to lossless AIF format, preserving full audio fidelity using PCM 16-bit big-endian encoding. Ideal for pulling high-quality audio from Blu-ray rips or AVCHD camcorder footage into a Mac-native uncompressed format ready for professional audio workflows.
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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
M2TS files are MPEG-2 Transport Stream containers that typically carry video (H.264 or MPEG-2) alongside one or more audio tracks encoded in formats like AC-3, DTS, TrueHD, AAC, or LPCM. During this conversion, FFmpeg discards the video stream entirely and transcodes the first audio track into PCM signed 16-bit big-endian — the standard uncompressed codec for AIF files. If the source audio is already uncompressed LPCM (common on Blu-ray), the conversion is essentially a lossless remux with a container change and endianness adjustment. If the source is lossy (AC-3, DTS, AAC), the audio is decoded to raw PCM and written into the AIF container — the audio is no longer compressed, but the quality ceiling is still that of the original lossy encoding. The result is a single-track, uncompressed AIF file compatible with macOS audio tools, DAWs, and professional editors.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg multimedia processing tool, which handles demuxing the M2TS transport stream, decoding the contained audio codec, and encoding the output PCM AIF file entirely within the browser via WebAssembly. |
-i input.m2ts
|
Specifies the input M2TS file — a BDAV MPEG-2 Transport Stream container as used on Blu-ray discs and AVCHD camcorders. FFmpeg will parse the transport stream to identify all contained video, audio, and subtitle streams. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to PCM signed 16-bit big-endian, the standard uncompressed audio encoding for AIF files. This either losslessly repackages LPCM audio from the M2TS source or decodes a lossy codec like AC-3 or DTS into raw uncompressed PCM for the AIF container. |
output.aif
|
Defines the output file as an AIF container. FFmpeg infers the format from the .aif extension and automatically discards any video or subtitle streams from the M2TS source, since AIF is a pure audio-only format. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a music score or soundtrack from a Blu-ray disc rip to use in a Mac-based DAW like Logic Pro or GarageBand
- Pulling clean dialogue or ambient audio from AVCHD camcorder footage (.m2ts files) for use in a professional audio editing session
- Archiving the audio track from a Blu-ray concert or live performance recording in a lossless uncompressed format for long-term preservation
- Preparing audio from a Blu-ray source for mastering or audio restoration workflows that require uncompressed PCM input
- Converting AVCHD wedding or event footage audio to AIF for delivery to a client using Final Cut Pro or another Mac-native NLE
- Stripping and converting the LPCM audio channel from a Blu-ray transport stream into a standalone AIF file for sampling or sound design use
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the original audio codec inside the M2TS file. If the source contains uncompressed LPCM audio (common on Blu-ray discs), the conversion to AIF PCM is essentially lossless — you're just repackaging the raw audio data with an endianness change into the AIF container. However, if the source audio is AC-3, DTS, or AAC (common in AVCHD footage), those are lossy formats, and while the output AIF will be uncompressed, it cannot recover detail that was already discarded during original encoding. The AIF file will be a lossless representation of the lossy source.
The default codec pcm_s16be writes 16-bit big-endian PCM, which is CD-quality depth. Many Blu-ray discs carry audio at 24-bit depth, so if your M2TS source contains 24-bit LPCM or TrueHD audio, using pcm_s16be will quantize it down to 16 bits, which is a slight reduction. To preserve 24-bit depth, you can modify the FFmpeg command to use -c:a pcm_s24be instead, which writes 24-bit big-endian PCM into the AIF container and fully preserves Blu-ray-grade audio resolution.
No. AIF does not support multiple audio tracks, so FFmpeg will extract only the first audio stream from the M2TS file by default. M2TS files — especially Blu-ray rips — often contain multiple audio tracks (e.g., a primary TrueHD 7.1 track plus a secondary AC-3 compatibility track or alternate language tracks). If you need a specific track other than the first, you can add -map 0:a:1 (for the second audio track) or -map 0:a:2 (for the third) to the FFmpeg command before the output filename to select it explicitly.
They are dropped entirely. The AIF format is a pure audio container — it has no capacity for video, subtitles, or chapter markers. FFmpeg automatically omits all non-audio streams when writing to AIF output. No explicit -vn flag is needed because the output format itself enforces audio-only output. The original M2TS file is not modified.
Replace pcm_s16be in the command with another AIF-compatible PCM codec to change bit depth or format. For 24-bit audio use pcm_s24be, for 32-bit integer use pcm_s32be, and for 32-bit or 64-bit floating point use pcm_f32be or pcm_f64be respectively. For example: ffmpeg -i input.m2ts -c:a pcm_s24be output.aif will produce a 24-bit AIF file, which is the most appropriate choice when your Blu-ray source contains high-resolution audio.
Yes. On macOS or Linux you can use a shell loop: for f in *.m2ts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.m2ts}.aif"; done. On Windows Command Prompt use: for %f in (*.m2ts) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a pcm_s16be "%~nf.aif". This is particularly useful when processing multiple AVCHD clips from a camcorder memory card or batch-extracting audio from a collection of Blu-ray rips. Note the 1GB browser-based tool is best suited for single files; large batch jobs are more efficient run locally via the command line.
Technical Notes
AIF (Audio Interchange File Format) uses big-endian byte ordering, which is why the codec is pcm_s16be ('be' = big-endian) rather than the little-endian pcm_s16le used in WAV files. M2TS transport streams can carry a wide variety of audio codecs — Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS, AAC, and raw LPCM are all common depending on whether the source is a commercial Blu-ray or AVCHD camcorder recording. FFmpeg will automatically detect and decode whichever codec is present, but only the first audio stream is mapped by default. Metadata such as track titles, language tags, and chapter information from the M2TS file are not carried into AIF, as the format has very limited metadata support compared to formats like FLAC or M4A. File size will increase significantly compared to any lossy source: a 5.1 AC-3 audio track at 640 kbps will expand to roughly 10–15x larger as uncompressed 16-bit PCM stereo (or more for multichannel), though note that M2TS multichannel audio will be downmixed or the first channel pair extracted depending on FFmpeg's stream selection. If preserving surround sound channels is important, consider extracting to a format that supports multichannel PCM such as WAV or FLAC instead.