Extract Audio from MOV to AIFC — Free Online Tool
Extract audio from MOV video files and save it as AIFC with lossless PCM encoding. This tool strips the video stream entirely and remaps the audio to 16-bit big-endian PCM (pcm_s16be), producing a professional-grade AIFC file fully compatible with Apple's audio ecosystem and pro workflows.
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FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your MOV file here
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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
MOV files typically carry AAC-encoded audio alongside their video streams. This conversion drops the video stream entirely using the -vn flag, then transcodes the audio from AAC (or whichever compressed codec the MOV uses) into 16-bit big-endian PCM stored in an AIFC container. Unlike a simple remux, this is a full audio decode-and-re-encode step: the compressed audio is decoded to raw PCM samples, then written to AIFC's big-endian binary format. The result is uncompressed audio with no generational lossy compression artifacts, making it ideal for archiving or feeding into professional audio editors. Because AIFC does not support video, subtitles, chapters, or multiple audio tracks, only the first (or default) audio stream from the MOV is extracted.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool. In the browser this runs via FFmpeg.wasm compiled to WebAssembly; the identical command works on the desktop with a native FFmpeg installation. |
-i input.mov
|
Specifies the input MOV file. FFmpeg reads the QuickTime container and identifies all streams — video, audio, and any subtitles or chapter tracks — before the output options determine what gets processed. |
-vn
|
Disables video output entirely, telling FFmpeg to ignore all video streams from the MOV. This is essential here because AIFC is an audio-only container and cannot hold video data. |
-c:a pcm_s16be
|
Sets the audio codec to 16-bit signed big-endian PCM, the standard uncompressed audio format for AIFC/AIFF files. The MOV's audio (typically AAC) is fully decoded and re-encoded to this lossless PCM representation. |
-b:a 128k
|
Specifies a target audio bitrate of 128 kbps. For PCM codecs like pcm_s16be this parameter has no effect — the actual bitrate is fixed by the sample rate and bit depth — but it is included in the command for consistency with other tool configurations. |
output.aifc
|
The output filename with the .aifc extension, which tells FFmpeg to write an AIFC container. The extension is critical — without it FFmpeg cannot infer the correct container format for the big-endian PCM audio stream. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting a clean, uncompressed audio master from a Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve MOV export for delivery to an audio post-production house
- Archiving the audio commentary or narration track from a MOV screen recording as a lossless AIFC file before discarding the video
- Preparing a high-fidelity reference audio file from a MOV-based camera recording for use in Logic Pro or Pro Tools, both of which natively support AIFC
- Converting a MOV interview recording to AIFC so an audio editor can clean up dialogue without any lossy compression in the editing chain
- Stripping soundtrack audio from a MOV music video into an AIFC master for archival, avoiding re-encoding the audio a second time to a lossy format
- Extracting PCM audio from a MOV file for waveform analysis or transcription pipelines that require raw, uncompressed audio input
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the audio codec inside your MOV file. If the MOV contains AAC audio (the most common case), the conversion decodes the AAC to raw PCM and then stores it in AIFC — you will not lose any additional quality beyond what AAC already discarded when the MOV was first created. If your MOV was recorded with uncompressed or lossless audio, the AIFC output will be a perfect, bit-for-bit accurate representation of the original audio. In either case, the AIFC file itself introduces no new compression artifacts.
AIFC (and its parent format AIFF) were designed by Apple in the 1980s for Motorola 68000-based Macs, which used big-endian byte ordering. The pcm_s16be codec in this conversion writes 16-bit signed samples with the most significant byte first, consistent with AIFF/AIFC's historical architecture. WAV, by contrast, was developed for Intel x86 PCs and uses little-endian ordering. Both represent identical audio data — only the byte layout differs, which is handled transparently by any modern DAW or player.
AIFC supports only a single audio stream, so FFmpeg will select the default audio track from your MOV file, typically the first audio stream. If you need a specific track other than the default, you can modify the command to add -map 0:a:1 (replacing '1' with the zero-indexed track number you want) before the output filename. The browser tool extracts the default track automatically.
The default command uses pcm_s16be for 16-bit audio. To get 24-bit PCM, change -c:a pcm_s16be to -c:a pcm_s24be in the command: ffmpeg -i input.mov -vn -c:a pcm_s24be output.aifc. For 32-bit integer or 32/64-bit float precision, use pcm_s32be, pcm_f32be, or pcm_f64be respectively. Higher bit depths increase file size proportionally and are most useful when the source MOV was recorded at 24-bit or higher.
Yes. On macOS or Linux you can run a shell loop: for f in *.mov; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -vn -c:a pcm_s16be "${f%.mov}.aifc"; done. On Windows PowerShell, use: Get-ChildItem *.mov | ForEach-Object { ffmpeg -i $_.FullName -vn -c:a pcm_s16be ($_.BaseName + '.aifc') }. The browser-based tool processes one file at a time, so the FFmpeg desktop command is especially practical for batch workflows or files larger than 1GB.
Standard ID3-style metadata tags (title, artist, album) may be partially carried over by FFmpeg if the AIFC container supports equivalent fields, but MOV-specific metadata such as QuickTime timecode tracks, chapter markers, and spatial audio descriptors will be lost entirely — AIFC has no equivalent structures for these. If metadata preservation is critical, review the output file in a tool like MediaInfo or ffprobe to confirm which tags survived the conversion.
Technical Notes
AIFC is a superset of Apple's AIFF format, adding support for compressed audio codecs alongside traditional uncompressed PCM. However, in practice most professional tools expect AIFC to carry PCM audio (pcm_s16be being the standard 16-bit variant), and this conversion writes exactly that. One important limitation: AIFC is a strictly audio-only, single-stream container, so any secondary audio tracks, embedded subtitles, chapter markers, or video data from the MOV are silently discarded. The -b:a 128k flag is included in the command for completeness but has no practical effect on uncompressed PCM codecs — PCM bitrate is determined entirely by sample rate × bit depth × channel count, not by a target bitrate setting. A standard stereo 44.1 kHz 16-bit AIFC file will always be approximately 1.4 Mbps regardless of the -b:a value. File sizes will typically be significantly larger than the source MOV's audio because AAC-encoded MOV audio is usually compressed at 5:1 or greater ratios. AIFC files use the .aifc or .aiff extension and are natively supported by macOS (Core Audio), Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and most professional audio applications.