Convert M4V to AIFF — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert the audio track from an M4V iTunes video file into a full-quality, uncompressed AIFF file using PCM 16-bit big-endian encoding. This is ideal when you need lossless audio from Apple video content for use in professional audio workflows on macOS.
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
M4V files store audio using lossy AAC compression, which discards audio data to reduce file size. During this conversion, FFmpeg strips the video track entirely and decodes the AAC audio stream back to raw PCM audio samples, then re-encodes them into the AIFF container using 16-bit big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be) — the standard AIFF codec. Because AAC is a lossy format, the source audio has already undergone compression artifacts; converting to AIFF does not recover that lost data, but it does produce an uncompressed file that faithfully represents whatever audio quality existed in the M4V. No video data is carried over, and AIFF does not support subtitles, chapters, or multiple audio tracks, so only the first audio stream is extracted.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg binary — the engine that handles all demuxing, decoding, and encoding in this conversion. In the browser version of this tool, FFmpeg runs locally via WebAssembly (FFmpeg.wasm) without any server involvement. |
-i input.m4v
|
Specifies the input M4V file. FFmpeg reads this Apple MPEG-4 container and identifies all streams inside it — typically an H.264 video track and an AAC audio track — before determining what to process for the AIFF output. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to signed 16-bit big-endian PCM, which is the standard uncompressed audio encoding used in AIFF files. This decodes the lossy AAC audio from the M4V and re-encodes it as raw PCM samples, producing a lossless and uncompressed representation of the audio. |
output.aiff
|
Defines the output filename and format. The .aiff extension tells FFmpeg to wrap the PCM audio stream in an AIFF container — Apple's lossless audio format — which is natively supported by macOS and compatible with professional audio applications in the Apple ecosystem. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a music video's audio track downloaded from iTunes to import into Logic Pro or GarageBand as an uncompressed AIFF for mixing or mastering
- Pulling the audio from an M4V lecture or tutorial video to create a clean, uncompressed audio file for archival on macOS
- Preparing audio from an M4V film trailer for use in a professional audio editing suite that requires lossless AIFF input rather than compressed AAC
- Extracting dialogue or narration from an iTunes-purchased M4V video for use in a voiceover reference track in a DAW like Pro Tools
- Converting the audio from an M4V home video exported from an Apple device into an AIFF for long-term archival storage on macOS where file size is not a concern
Frequently Asked Questions
No — the audio in an M4V file is encoded with AAC, which is a lossy format. This means some audio data was permanently discarded when the M4V was originally created. Converting to AIFF decodes that AAC audio and stores it uncompressed, but it cannot reconstruct the data that AAC already removed. What you get is a lossless copy of the lossy AAC audio — no further quality degradation, but no quality recovery either.
AIFF stores audio as raw, uncompressed PCM samples with no data reduction whatsoever. A typical AAC audio stream in an M4V might use 128–256 kbps, while 16-bit stereo PCM at 44.1 kHz requires approximately 1,411 kbps — roughly 5 to 11 times more data. Additionally, the M4V's video track is discarded, so the AIFF only contains audio, but that audio alone can still be significantly larger than the compressed original.
No. AIFF is a pure audio format and does not support chapters, subtitles, or multiple audio tracks. Only the first audio stream from the M4V is extracted and converted. If your M4V contains multiple audio tracks (such as different language dubs), only the default track will be included in the output AIFF file.
No. M4V files purchased from the iTunes Store that are protected with Apple's FairPlay DRM cannot be decoded by FFmpeg. The conversion will fail with a decryption or stream read error. Only DRM-free M4V files — such as those you've created yourself, received from a production workflow, or obtained from a DRM-free source — can be processed by this tool.
Replace the codec flag value in the command. The default command uses '-c:a pcm_s16be' for 16-bit audio. To get 24-bit AIFF, use '-c:a pcm_s24be', and for 32-bit float use '-c:a pcm_f32be'. For example: 'ffmpeg -i input.m4v -c:a pcm_s24be output.aiff'. Higher bit depths produce larger files but can be valuable when the source audio was recorded at higher depth or when the file will undergo further processing in a DAW.
Yes, with a small shell script. On macOS or Linux, you can run: 'for f in *.m4v; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.m4v}.aiff"; done' in your terminal. This loops over every M4V in the current directory and produces a corresponding AIFF file. On Windows, a similar loop can be written in PowerShell or a batch script. This is especially useful for processing large collections of M4V files that exceed the 1GB browser limit.
Technical Notes
The default codec used in this conversion is pcm_s16be — signed 16-bit big-endian PCM — which matches the original AIFF specification developed by Apple and is universally compatible with macOS audio applications including Logic Pro, GarageBand, and Pro Tools. The sample rate is inherited directly from the source M4V's audio stream (commonly 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz) and is not altered by FFmpeg unless you explicitly specify '-ar'. Metadata such as track title or artist embedded in the M4V container may not fully survive the conversion, as AIFF has limited metadata support compared to M4V. The video stream from the M4V is automatically dropped because AIFF has no video container capability — FFmpeg handles this implicitly without requiring a '-vn' flag, since no video codec is mapped to the output. If the M4V contains surround sound (e.g., 5.1 AAC), it will be decoded and stored in the AIFF as multi-channel PCM, but be aware that some AIFF readers have limited support for channel counts beyond stereo.