Convert MOV to AIF — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert audio from a QuickTime MOV file into AIF format, preserving full lossless quality using PCM 16-bit big-endian encoding. Ideal for Mac-based audio workflows where uncompressed, studio-quality audio sourced from video projects is required.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your MOV file here
or click to browse
Free — no uploads, no signups. Your files never leave your browser.
Settings
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
MOV files frequently contain audio encoded in compressed formats such as AAC or MP3 alongside a video stream. This conversion discards the video stream entirely and transcodes the audio into uncompressed PCM 16-bit big-endian (pcm_s16be), which is the native encoding used by Apple's AIF container. Because AAC and other compressed audio codecs must be fully decoded before being re-encoded as raw PCM, a transcoding step occurs — not a simple stream copy. The result is a lossless AIF file whose audio data is stored as uncompressed pulse-code modulation, making it immediately compatible with Logic Pro, GarageBand, and professional Mac-based DAWs without any further decoding overhead.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg program, the open-source multimedia processing engine that handles the decoding of the MOV container and its audio stream and re-encoding it as uncompressed PCM for AIF output. |
-i input.mov
|
Specifies the input QuickTime MOV file. FFmpeg reads the container, identifies all available streams (video, audio, subtitles, etc.), and makes them available for the subsequent processing instructions. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec for the output to 16-bit signed big-endian PCM, which is the standard uncompressed encoding used inside AIF files. This decodes whatever audio codec was in the MOV (such as AAC) into raw, lossless PCM samples in the byte order Apple's AIF format requires. |
output.aif
|
Defines the output filename with the .aif extension, which signals to FFmpeg that it should wrap the PCM audio stream in an Audio Interchange File Format container — Apple's lossless uncompressed audio format commonly used in macOS audio workflows and DAWs like Logic Pro. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a clean, uncompressed audio track from a Final Cut Pro MOV export to bring into Logic Pro for further mixing or mastering
- Archiving the audio from a recorded QuickTime screen capture or voiceover session as a lossless AIF file for long-term storage on macOS
- Preparing interview or dialogue audio captured in MOV format for delivery to a sound editor who requires uncompressed AIF files
- Stripping the audio from a MOV-based music video or live performance recording to produce a full-quality AIF master for distribution
- Converting MOV audio from a camera or field recorder output into AIF so it can be imported directly into GarageBand or other Apple audio tools without format negotiation
- Producing a lossless AIF reference copy of a video project's audio mix for quality comparison or long-term archival alongside the original MOV
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on what audio codec is inside your MOV file. If the MOV contains compressed audio such as AAC or MP3, that audio was already lossy — converting it to AIF does not recover the quality lost during the original compression, but it also introduces no additional quality loss during this conversion step. The PCM output in the AIF file is a perfect lossless representation of whatever audio data was decoded from the MOV. If your MOV source already contains uncompressed PCM audio, the conversion is fully generation-lossless.
The video stream is completely discarded. AIF is a pure audio container and has no capacity to hold video data, so FFmpeg extracts only the audio stream and writes it to the AIF file. The output file will contain only audio, regardless of how many video tracks the original MOV contained. This is an intentional audio extraction, not a bug.
No. AIF does not support chapter markers, subtitles, or multiple audio tracks, so all of these are dropped during conversion. Basic metadata such as title or artist tags may be partially carried over depending on the FFmpeg version, but AIF's metadata support is minimal compared to MOV. If your MOV contains multiple audio tracks, only the first (default) audio track will be included in the AIF output.
pcm_s16be (16-bit big-endian PCM) is the standard default for AIF and matches the format used by audio CDs, making it the most broadly compatible choice for Mac applications and DAWs. If your source audio was recorded or mixed at 24-bit depth — common in professional MOV files from cameras or DAWs — you can modify the FFmpeg command to use -c:a pcm_s24be to preserve that higher bit depth in the AIF output. The 's' in the codec name denotes signed integers, and 'be' denotes big-endian byte order, which is the byte order Apple specified for the AIF format.
Replace pcm_s16be in the command with another supported AIF PCM codec to change the bit depth. For 24-bit output use -c:a pcm_s24be, for 32-bit integer use -c:a pcm_s32be, and for 32-bit or 64-bit floating-point use -c:a pcm_f32be or -c:a pcm_f64be respectively. For example: ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:a pcm_s24be output.aif. Higher bit depths increase file size proportionally and are most useful when the original MOV audio was recorded at that depth.
On macOS or Linux you can use a shell loop: for f in *.mov; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.mov}.aif"; done. On Windows Command Prompt, use: for %f in (*.mov) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a pcm_s16be "%~nf.aif". Each MOV file in the current directory will produce a corresponding AIF file with the same base filename. Note that this browser-based tool processes one file at a time; the FFmpeg command above is best suited for batch use on your local desktop.
Technical Notes
AIF stores audio as uncompressed big-endian PCM, which means file sizes will be substantially larger than the source MOV if the MOV audio was compressed (e.g., AAC at 128k). A rough estimate: one minute of 16-bit stereo PCM at 44,100 Hz occupies approximately 10 MB in an AIF file. The default codec in this conversion, pcm_s16be, matches the AIF specification introduced by Apple in 1988 and remains the most compatible option across all macOS applications. MOV's -movflags +faststart and other container-level optimizations are irrelevant here since the output is AIF, not a video container. If your MOV file contains multiple audio tracks (e.g., a stereo mix plus a surround mix), only the default audio stream is extracted; use -map 0:a:1 in the FFmpeg command to explicitly select a different audio track. Subtitle streams, chapter markers, and timecode tracks present in the MOV are silently ignored during conversion, as AIF has no mechanism to store them.