AIFF to AAC Converter

Convert AIFF — Apple's uncompressed lossless format — into AAC for everyday Apple-ecosystem playback. Massive size reduction with near-transparent quality.

AIFFAAC

Drop your AIFF file here or click to browse

AIFF (.aiff) · Max 20 MB

Free — 10-second preview, 5 conversions/month. Upgrade for unlimited

What is AIFF?

Apple's uncompressed format. Similar to WAV but with better metadata support. Used in professional Mac audio workflows.

What is AAC?

Advanced Audio Coding. Successor to MP3 with improved compression. Widely used in streaming services.

Why Convert AIFF to AAC?

AIFF is what Logic Pro, GarageBand, and macOS Voice Memos export when set to lossless. It's huge (10 MB per minute of CD-quality stereo) and not designed for portable playback. AAC is the Apple-native lossy format — same audio quality at a tenth of the size for everyday listening. Going AIFF → AAC is the standard step after recording or mastering: keep the AIFF as the studio master, transcode to AAC for iTunes import, iPhone sync, and sharing. Quality from an AIFF source is excellent because the encoder has perfect uncompressed input — no quantisation noise from previous compression, no codec artifacts to magnify. One clean lossy pass. Pick 256 kbps AAC for archival-quality output (matches Apple Music streaming, transparent on virtually any material). 192 kbps for everyday music. 128 kbps for voice content. The output M4A file plays on every iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, HomePod, and modern Bluetooth speaker shipped in the last 15 years.

Who Uses This Converter

GarageBand / Logic export for sharing

Export from your DAW as AIFF for the master, transcode to AAC for sharing — keep the studio quality and the small file size.

Voice Memo size reduction

macOS Voice Memos exports AIFF on certain settings. Convert to AAC for 5–8× size reduction with no audible quality loss.

iPhone sync

AIFF sync via Apple Music is awkward and storage-heavy. AAC is the Apple-native portable format — convert once, sync everywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is AIFF so much larger than AAC?

AIFF stores raw uncompressed PCM — every audio sample, no compression. CD-quality stereo AIFF is ~10 MB per minute. AAC at 256 kbps is ~2 MB per minute, achieved by discarding audio data the psychoacoustic model considers inaudible. The size ratio is typically 5–8× smaller for AAC versus AIFF, with no audible difference at high bitrates.

What AAC bitrate should I pick from an AIFF master?

256 kbps for archival quality — Apple Music's stream rate, transparent on almost any music. 192 kbps for everyday listening. 128 kbps for voice and audiobooks. Going from a clean AIFF source means even 192 kbps AAC sounds excellent because there's no noise floor or artifact stack to compound.

Is the output .aac or .m4a?

Our output is .m4a — AAC audio in an MP4 container, which is what iTunes, Apple Music, and iPhone expect. Drop the .m4a directly into iTunes or your Music app.

Will GarageBand and Logic Pro project metadata transfer?

Track-level metadata (title, artist, year if you set them in the AIFF) transfers to the M4A. Project-level information (BPM, key, marker positions) does not — that's session metadata, not file metadata.

Should I use ALAC instead?

Use ALAC (Apple Lossless) if you want to keep AIFF's lossless quality but in a smaller, Apple-friendly container. ALAC is roughly half the size of AIFF with bit-perfect quality preservation. Use AAC when file size matters more than perfect quality — which is true for portable use on most listeners.

Will the conversion work for AIFF-C or compressed AIFF?

Yes. AIFF-C is the variant container that can hold compressed audio (rare these days). Our converter detects the variant and decodes accordingly. Standard AIFF (uncompressed PCM) is the common case and converts directly.