Convert WTV to AIFC — Free Online Tool
Convert WTV recordings from Windows Media Center into AIFC audio files, extracting the audio track and encoding it as big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be) — a professional-grade lossless format compatible with Apple and pro audio workflows. Ideal for archiving broadcast audio or importing TV recording soundtracks into DAWs and audio editors.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your WTV file here
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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
WTV files are container files used by Windows Vista/7/8 Media Center to store recorded television broadcasts, typically containing H.264 or MPEG-2 video alongside AAC or MP3 audio tracks. When converting to AIFC, FFmpeg discards the video stream entirely and extracts only the audio, re-encoding it as 16-bit big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be) wrapped in the AIFC container. AIFC is an extension of Apple's AIFF format that supports both uncompressed and compressed audio, and pcm_s16be delivers CD-quality lossless audio. Because the source audio in a WTV file is typically lossy (AAC or MP3), the output AIFC file will be lossless PCM, but the original audio fidelity is bounded by whatever lossy encoding was applied during the broadcast recording — no quality beyond the source can be recovered.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg application, which handles the demuxing of the WTV container, decoding of the compressed broadcast audio, and re-encoding into the AIFC output format. |
-i input.wtv
|
Specifies the input WTV file — a Windows Media Center broadcast recording that may contain video, one or more audio tracks, and embedded broadcast metadata. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to 16-bit signed big-endian PCM, which is the standard uncompressed audio encoding for AIFC files and ensures compatibility with Apple tools and professional DAWs. |
-b:a 128k
|
Nominally targets an audio bitrate of 128 kbps, though for pcm_s16be this has limited effect since PCM bitrate is determined by sample rate and bit depth rather than compression settings; it is included for consistency with the tool's quality parameter interface. |
output.aifc
|
Defines the output filename and triggers FFmpeg to use the AIFC container format. FFmpeg infers the format from the .aifc extension, writing a valid AIFC file with a big-endian PCM audio stream and no video track. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting the audio from a recorded TV documentary to import into a Pro Tools or Logic Pro session for editing or remixing
- Archiving the audio commentary or dialogue from a recorded broadcast in a format compatible with Apple's audio ecosystem
- Pulling a recorded radio-over-TV broadcast from Windows Media Center into a DAW as a high-quality PCM file for mastering or cleanup
- Converting WTV-recorded concert or live music performances to AIFC so they can be edited or transcribed using professional audio software on macOS
- Preparing audio from a WTV news recording for use in a podcast production pipeline that requires uncompressed source files
- Extracting narration or speech audio from an educational broadcast recording for use in video post-production on Apple-native tools
Frequently Asked Questions
The AIFC file will contain lossless PCM audio (pcm_s16be), but the fidelity of that audio is limited by the original encoding. WTV recordings store audio using lossy codecs like AAC or MP3, which were applied when the broadcast was captured. FFmpeg decodes that lossy audio and re-encodes it into PCM, but the artifacts and quality ceiling introduced by the original lossy compression cannot be reversed. Think of it as a lossless snapshot of already-compressed audio — no quality is lost in this conversion step, but none is gained either.
AIFC's default and most universally compatible codec is 16-bit signed big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be), which is the standard for CD-quality audio and is natively supported by Apple tools, DAWs, and most professional audio software. While AIFC technically supports compressed codecs like pcm_alaw and pcm_mulaw, pcm_s16be provides the broadest compatibility without any additional quality loss. This makes it the sensible default when extracting audio from a WTV broadcast recording for professional use.
The video stream is silently dropped. AIFC is a pure audio format with no support for video, chapters, or subtitles, so FFmpeg automatically omits all video and subtitle data when writing to an AIFC output. Only the first (or default) audio track from the WTV container is extracted. If your WTV recording contains multiple audio tracks — for example, a secondary language track — only one will be included in the output.
By default, FFmpeg selects the first audio stream it encounters in the WTV container, which is typically the primary language track. Since AIFC does not support multiple audio tracks, only one can be written to the output. If you need to extract a specific track — such as a secondary language — you can modify the FFmpeg command to add '-map 0:a:1' (for the second audio track) before the output filename. This tool uses the default stream selection, so for multi-track WTV files, using the FFmpeg command locally gives you more control.
For pcm_s16be, the '-b:a 128k' flag has minimal practical effect because PCM audio is uncompressed and its bitrate is determined by the sample rate and bit depth rather than a target bitrate setting. If you want higher bit depth, you can change the codec flag to '-c:a pcm_s24be' (24-bit) or '-c:a pcm_s32be' (32-bit) when running the command locally. For example: 'ffmpeg -i input.wtv -c:a pcm_s24be output.aifc' would produce a 24-bit AIFC file, which is standard in professional audio production.
Yes, but you'll need to run the command locally on your desktop rather than in this browser tool, which processes one file at a time. On Windows, you can use a simple batch script: 'for %f in (*.wtv) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a pcm_s16be "%~nf.aifc"'. On macOS or Linux, the equivalent shell loop is: 'for f in *.wtv; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.wtv}.aifc"; done'. This is particularly useful for processing large WTV recording libraries or files over 1GB.
Technical Notes
WTV (Windows Television) containers are structured around Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format and can embed extensive broadcast metadata including program titles, episode information, channel data, and ratings — none of which transfers to AIFC, since the AIFC format has no equivalent metadata schema for broadcast descriptors. The audio in a WTV file is almost always AAC or MP3, encoded at the bitrate used by the broadcast capture device, commonly 128–192 kbps. Decoding this to pcm_s16be in AIFC will increase the file size substantially — a 30-minute audio track at 128 kbps AAC might expand to roughly 300–400 MB as 16-bit stereo PCM at 44.1 kHz. AIFC uses big-endian byte ordering (as opposed to WAV's little-endian PCM), which is historically aligned with Apple hardware but is handled transparently by any modern audio software. The AIFC format supports sample rates from 8 kHz up to 192 kHz; FFmpeg will preserve the sample rate of the decoded WTV audio, typically 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz depending on the broadcast standard. If you need to process only a segment of a long WTV recording, you can add '-ss [start_time] -t [duration]' before the input flag to trim without decoding the entire file.