Convert VOB to AIF — Free Online Tool
Extract and convert audio from DVD VOB files to AIF format, decoding AC3/Dolby Digital or MPEG audio streams into uncompressed 16-bit PCM stored in Apple's Audio Interchange File Format. Ideal for archiving DVD audio content at full fidelity on Mac systems.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your VOB 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
VOB files contain multiplexed MPEG-2 video alongside one or more audio streams — most commonly AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded at 192–448 kbps. This conversion discards the video stream entirely and transcodes the AC3 or other compressed audio into uncompressed PCM audio using the pcm_s16be codec (16-bit big-endian signed PCM), which is the standard encoding inside an AIF container. Because AC3 is a lossy compressed format and pcm_s16be is lossless and uncompressed, the output AIF file will be significantly larger than the audio portion of the source VOB, but no further generational quality loss occurs beyond what already existed in the original AC3 encode. The AIF container itself is an Apple-native format, making the output immediately compatible with Logic Pro, GarageBand, QuickTime, and other macOS audio tools.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg multimedia processing tool. In the browser-based version of this tool, FFmpeg runs via WebAssembly (FFmpeg.wasm) entirely client-side — no VOB data leaves your machine. |
-i input.vob
|
Specifies the input VOB file. FFmpeg recognizes the VOB container as an MPEG program stream and automatically demultiplexes the video, audio, and subtitle streams it contains, including AC3 or MPEG audio tracks typical of DVD-Video discs. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Decodes the compressed audio from the VOB (typically AC3 Dolby Digital) and re-encodes it as 16-bit signed big-endian PCM, which is the native uncompressed audio encoding required by the AIF/AIFF container format. No video codec is specified because video is automatically dropped when the output is an audio-only container like AIF. |
output.aif
|
Sets the output filename with the .aif extension, which tells FFmpeg to write an Audio Interchange File Format container. The AIF container wraps the uncompressed pcm_s16be audio stream in a format natively supported by macOS applications such as Logic Pro, GarageBand, and QuickTime. |
Common Use Cases
- Archiving the audio commentary tracks from DVD VOB files into lossless AIF files for editing in Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro on a Mac
- Extracting a film score or soundtrack from a DVD VOB to AIF for use as uncompressed stems in a music production project
- Converting DVD-sourced AC3 dialogue or speech recordings into AIF for import into professional audio post-production workflows that require uncompressed PCM
- Preserving the original audio from home-authored DVD discs (wedding videos, concerts, events) in a lossless AIF archive before the physical disc degrades
- Preparing DVD audio content for re-mastering by stripping the VOB container and converting compressed AC3 to flat uncompressed PCM in AIF for processing in an audio DAW
- Extracting multilingual audio tracks embedded in a VOB file into individual AIF files for localization or dubbing review on Mac-based editing systems
Frequently Asked Questions
No — the AIF output will not sound better than the AC3 audio encoded on the original DVD. AC3 is a lossy codec, so any compression artifacts present in the DVD's audio are already baked in. Converting to AIF using pcm_s16be simply decompresses the AC3 into uncompressed PCM without introducing any new degradation, preserving exactly what was in the source. Think of it as losslessly unwrapping a lossy file.
DVD VOB files typically store audio as AC3 (Dolby Digital) at 192–448 kbps, which is a heavily compressed format. Uncompressed pcm_s16be audio at a typical sample rate of 48 kHz with two channels uses approximately 1,536 kbps — roughly three to eight times more data than the compressed AC3 source. This is expected behavior: AIF stores raw PCM samples with no compression, so a 60-minute DVD audio track could easily produce an AIF file of 650 MB or more.
By default, FFmpeg selects the first audio stream it finds in the VOB file, which is typically the primary language track. If you need a specific audio track — for example, a commentary track or an alternate language — you can modify the FFmpeg command to add '-map 0:a:1' (for the second audio track) or '-map 0:a:2' (for the third) before the output filename. The browser-based tool extracts the default track; use the displayed FFmpeg command locally for fine-grained stream selection.
Yes, if the source VOB contains a 5.1 AC3 track, FFmpeg will decode all six channels and write them as 6-channel uncompressed PCM into the AIF file. However, AIF's compatibility with multichannel audio varies by application — Logic Pro handles it well, but some simpler Mac players may downmix or have trouble with 6-channel AIF files. If you need stereo output, you can add '-ac 2' to the FFmpeg command to downmix during conversion.
Replace '-c:a pcm_s16be' with '-c:a pcm_s24be' in the command to produce 24-bit big-endian PCM inside the AIF file. This is useful when you want maximum headroom for audio editing or mastering, though it will increase file size by 50% compared to 16-bit output. Other valid options for AIF include pcm_s32be, pcm_f32be, and pcm_f64be for 32-bit integer, 32-bit float, and 64-bit float respectively.
Yes — on macOS or Linux you can run a shell loop such as 'for f in *.vob; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.vob}.aif"; done' to process an entire directory of VOB files automatically. On Windows, a similar loop works in PowerShell. The browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the displayed FFmpeg command is particularly valuable for batch workflows involving large DVD rip collections.
Technical Notes
VOB files use a program stream (MPEG-PS) container, and FFmpeg's demuxer handles them reliably with the '-f vob' flag implied by the file extension. The most common audio codec encountered in VOB files is AC3 (Dolby Digital), typically at 48 kHz sample rate — the same sample rate used in the AIF output, so no resampling occurs. The pcm_s16be codec writes 16-bit signed big-endian samples, which is native to the AIF/AIFF specification and ensures maximum compatibility with Apple software including Logic Pro, GarageBand, and QuickTime Player. Subtitle streams (DVD bitmap-based VOBsub subtitles) and chapter markers present in the VOB are discarded, as AIF supports neither. If the VOB file is part of a multi-file DVD rip (VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, etc.), you may need to concatenate them first using FFmpeg's concat demuxer or by processing the IFO file as the input to capture the full program chain. Metadata tags from the VOB (such as title or language identifiers embedded in the MPEG stream) are generally not carried over to the AIF output, as AIF's metadata support is limited to basic AIFF chunk markers.