Free online ALAC to AIFF converter

Source format

ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless audio format used mainly in the Apple ecosystem. It stores audio in a compressed form without losing quality, so it is popular for music libraries in iTunes, Music, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. ALAC is commonly found inside .m4a or .mp4 containers and is used when you want smaller files than uncompressed audio while keeping the original sound quality.

Target format

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is an uncompressed audio format developed by Apple. It is widely supported by professional audio software, DAWs, and editing tools on macOS and Windows. AIFF is often used for audio editing, archiving, and production workflows because it preserves full quality and is easy for many applications to read and process. The main tradeoff is file size: AIFF files are usually much larger than ALAC files.

How to perform the conversion

The simplest way is to use the built-in converter on 101convert.com, where you can convert ALAC to AIFF for free without installing any software. Upload the ALAC file, choose AIFF as the output format, and start the conversion. After processing, download the resulting .aiff file.

If you prefer desktop software, FFmpeg is one of the best tools for this conversion because it is fast, reliable, and preserves audio quality exactly as stored in the source file. Example command:

ffmpeg -i input.m4a output.aiff

If your ALAC file uses a different extension, such as .mp4, the command is the same:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 output.aiff

In Audacity, you can also import the ALAC file if your system supports it, then export it as AIFF using File → Export → Export as AIFF. This is useful if you want to inspect or edit the audio before saving it.

Notes on quality and compatibility

ALAC to AIFF is a lossless-to-lossless conversion, so the audio quality does not degrade during conversion. However, the file size will usually increase significantly because AIFF is uncompressed. Metadata support may vary depending on the tool: album art, tags, and chapter markers may not always transfer perfectly. If your ALAC file contains multichannel audio or unusual metadata, test the output in your target player or editor. For maximum compatibility with professional audio tools, AIFF is a strong choice; for smaller archival files, ALAC is usually more space-efficient.