What does AIFF stand for?

AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format, Apple's own audio format, developed for the Mac in 1988. Like WAV, its counterpart on Windows, it usually holds plain, uncompressed PCM audio with no part of the sound left out, so its files are larger than MP3, MP4, or FLAC files. AIFF files play in the Music app and open in GarageBand, and since uncompressed audio needs no decoding, sound engineers choose it for editing, applying effects, and mixing.

To WAV Converter turns any audio and video, including MP3, WMA, M4A, MP4, and FLAC, into AIFF in one drag and drop. Its automatic settings keep the quality, with no resampling or remixing, and all tags are transferred.

Convert to AIFF

1. Choose AIFF as the Audio Format in Preferences / Format.

   

2. Drop MP3 or other audio and video files or folders into the converter's window or icon.

   

3. Click the top link in the Progress Window to open the new AIFF files in Finder.

   

Read More: How to convert MP3 to AIFF >>
Read More: How to convert WAV to AIFF >>
Read More: To Audio Converter makes AIFF, WAV, MP3, M4A, and FLAC files >>

Inside an AIFF file

Audio apps accept AIFF files with the extensions .aif, .aiff, and .aifc. An AIFF file stores its data in chunks, each starting with a four-character chunk ID and the chunk's size in bytes:

struct AIFFChunkHeader {
   unsigned int32 chunkID;  // chunk ID, e.g. 'COMM', 'SSND', 'MARK'
   int32 chunkSize;         // chunk size, bytes
   char chunkData[];
};

AIFF files may contain these chunks:

• Common Chunk (required) - describes the parameters of the audio.
• Sound Data Chunk (required) - holds the audio frames.
• Marker Chunk - points to positions in the sound data, for whatever purpose an application needs.
• Instrument Chunk - holds the parameters an instrument, such as a sampler, uses to play the sound.
• Comment Chunk - holds text comments.
• Name Chunk - holds a name.
• Author Chunk - holds one or more author names.
• Copyright Chunk - holds a copyright notice for the sound.
• Annotation Chunk - holds a comment; the Comment Chunk is preferred.
• Audio Recording Chunk - holds information about the recording devices.
• MIDI Data Chunk - holds MIDI data.
• Application Chunk - holds data for any purpose of an application, such as Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data.
• ID3v2 Chunk - holds tags in ID3v2 format.

The Common Chunk holds the Sample Rate, Channels, and Bit Depth of the audio:

struct AIFFChunkHeaderCommon {
   unsigned int32 chunkID;       // is always 'COMM'
   int32 chunkSize;              // chunk size, bytes
   signed   int16 channels;      // the number of audio channels
   unsigned int32 sampleFrames;  // the number of audio frames in the Sound Data Chunk
   signed   int16 sampleSize;    // the number of bits in each sample
   long double sampleRate;       // the sample rate

   // NOTE: these two fields are present in AIFF-C files only
   unsigned int32 codecID;  // AIFF codec ID
   pstring  codecName;      // AIFF codec NAME
};

Tag Editor shows what the chunks hold: the codec, sample rate, and channels from the Common Chunk next to the tags from the ID3 chunk, in a handy spreadsheet for batch tagging.

Read More: Metadata Formats supported by the Tag Editor >>

AIFF codecs

Most AIFF files hold uncompressed PCM audio. AIFF-C (AIFC) files can also hold compressed audio: G.711 and ADPCM give good compression and satisfactory quality for voice audio.

To WAV Converter's AIFF Codec 'Automatic Selection' keeps the quality. To convert to a particular codec, choose PCM 8, 16, 24, or 32 Bit, PCM 32 Bit Floating Point, PCM 8 Bit Unsigned, PCM 16 Bit Little Endian, G.711 A-Law or μ-Law, or ADPCM IMA QuickTime in Preferences / Format.

Read More: How to set up the AIFF codec >>

AIFF sample rates

Sample Rate 'As Source' keeps the source file's rate, so nothing is resampled. To convert to a particular one, choose from 8000 to 192000 Hz.

Read More: How to set up the AIFF sample rate >>

AIFF channels

Channels 'As Source' keeps the source file's channels, so nothing is remixed. To convert to a particular layout, choose Mono or Stereo.

Read More: How to set up the AIFF channels >>

Tags and artworks

To WAV Converter transfers all tags from the source files into the ID3v2.4 tags of the AIFF file's ID3 chunk. Enable 'Load missing tags and artworks from network' in Preferences / Tags to find song details and album covers in online databases, such as MusicBrainz, AcoustID, and CoverArt.

Read More: Preferences / Tags >>

To WAV Converter is free to download. Upgrading to Premium unlocks Batch Processing, Metadata Downloader, Audio Effects, CUE Splitter, and Tag Stripper.