How to Convert AIFF to OGG

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) was developed by Apple in 1988 based on the RIFF container standard. It stores PCM audio — uncompressed, with no quality loss. AIFF is the Apple equivalent of WAV: professional, large, and archive-quality. OGG Vorbis is an open-source lossy codec created by Xiph.Org Foundation. It achieves good quality at much smaller file sizes and carries no patent restrictions. A 5-minute AIFF at 44.1 kHz 16-bit is approximately 50 MB. The same audio as OGG at quality 5 is approximately 4–5 MB. The size reduction is around 10x. Quality loss at quality 5–7 is typically inaudible on standard listening equipment.

OGG is the distribution format of choice in several ecosystems: Linux and open-source software communities prefer OGG over MP3 for patent-freedom reasons. Game engines (Unity, Godot, LÖVE, and others) support OGG natively and often recommend it for music assets. Web applications on non-Apple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) support OGG in HTML5 audio without issues. If you produce music in Logic Pro or GarageBand (which saves as AIFF internally), converting masters to OGG is a common step for web and game distribution. The key advantage of OGG over MP3 as a distribution target is quality-per-bitrate: OGG sounds better than MP3 at the same file size.

AudioUtils runs FFmpeg in WebAssembly inside your browser. The pipeline: the AIFF file is read locally, the PCM audio data is extracted, and it is encoded using the libvorbis encoder into an OGG Vorbis container. AIFF files are uncompressed, so FFmpeg does not need to perform lossy decoding — the full quality PCM is available as input to the Vorbis encoder. This is the ideal situation for lossy encoding: you are starting from the best possible source. AIFF files are large. A 50 MB AIFF file may take 20–60 seconds to process, depending on the OGG quality level chosen and your hardware speed.

Since AIFF is a perfect lossless source, you have the full dynamic range and frequency content available for the OGG encoder. Choose the quality level based on intended use: Quality 3 (~112 kbps): for web delivery of background music where bandwidth matters. Slight high-frequency rolloff audible on critical listening. Quality 5 (~160 kbps): good all-purpose choice. Standard for web audio and game music. Quality 7 (~224 kbps): excellent quality, recommended when the audio is the focus. Quality 9 (~320 kbps): near-transparent. Used for audiophile OGG distribution. For single distribution conversions from AIFF masters, quality 6–7 is the standard choice. This maximizes listener experience while keeping file sizes practical.

AIFF files can contain metadata in Apple-format chunks (ID3 tags embedded in the AIFF container). OGG uses Vorbis Comment tags. FFmpeg remaps common metadata fields: title, artist, album, track number, and year transfer from AIFF to OGG Vorbis Comment tags. More obscure AIFF metadata (loop points, markers used in Logic Pro or GarageBand) will not have OGG equivalents and will be dropped. Embedded album artwork may or may not transfer depending on how it was stored in the AIFF. After conversion, verify the metadata in a media player and add any missing information manually.

Safari and iOS do not natively decode OGG Vorbis. If your distribution targets Apple device users, OGG files will not play without a polyfill or web audio workaround. For Apple-primary audiences, convert your AIFF masters to AAC/M4A instead. Windows does not natively support OGG in Windows Media Player. Users on Windows who do not have a third-party media player will not be able to play OGG files directly from File Explorer. For maximum compatibility, MP3 remains the safer format for general distribution. Use OGG specifically when you are targeting open-source ecosystems, Linux users, or game engines that prefer it.