Free online DAV to AAC converter

What the DAV format is

DAV is a proprietary surveillance recording format, most commonly produced by Dahua recorders and cameras; some other CCTV systems also use DAV-like files. A DAV file normally contains video, audio, timestamps, and surveillance metadata rather than a standalone audio track.

DAV recordings are commonly opened with the manufacturer’s playback software, such as Dahua Smart Player. Standard players and converters may reject the file because the container, codec, or metadata is proprietary. Check that the recording actually contains audio before converting; silent camera channels cannot produce an AAC track.

What the AAC format is

AAC is a lossy audio codec supported by phones, browsers, music applications, video editors, and most modern media players. At similar bitrates, it generally provides better quality than MP3, while common settings such as 128–192 kbps keep speech and surveillance audio relatively small.

AAC can be saved as a raw .aac stream or placed in an .m4a container. .m4a is usually easier for software to identify and seek through, while .aac is useful when a system explicitly requires an AAC elementary stream.

How to actually convert DAV to AAC

Using the online converter

You can use the free converter on 101convert.com without installing software. Upload the DAV file, select AAC as the output format, choose an audio bitrate such as 128 kbps or 160 kbps, start the conversion, and download the resulting file. If a particular DAV variant is not accepted, first export it to MP4 or another standard video format with the CCTV manufacturer’s player, then convert that exported file.

Using CCTV playback software and FFmpeg

1. Open the recording in Dahua Smart Player or the player supplied with the recorder.
2. Use the player’s export or conversion function to save the recording as .mp4, .avi, or .wav. Select the original channel and time range, and enable audio if the software provides that option.
3. Install FFmpeg, then extract and encode the audio from the exported file. For a widely compatible AAC file in an M4A container, run:

ffmpeg -i exported.mp4 -vn -c:a aac -b:a 160k output.m4a

-vn removes video, -c:a aac selects the AAC encoder, and -b:a 160k sets the audio bitrate. To create a raw AAC stream instead, use:

ffmpeg -i exported.mp4 -vn -c:a aac -b:a 160k -f adts output.aac

If the CCTV software exports uncompressed audio as audio.wav, convert it directly:

ffmpeg -i audio.wav -c:a aac -b:a 160k output.m4a

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Converting DAV to AAC is normally a second encoding step because the recorder’s original audio codec is not usually AAC. The result cannot recover detail already lost in the surveillance recording; use 128 kbps for speech-focused files, 160–192 kbps for better general audio, and avoid repeated re-encoding.

AAC conversion preserves audio only. Camera video, time overlays, motion events, GPS data, authentication information, and other DAV metadata are not retained in the AAC output. Keep the original DAV file if it may be needed as evidence, because transcoding can remove forensic metadata and alter timestamps.

If FFmpeg reports that the input has no audio stream, inspect the channel in the CCTV player or export settings. If it reports an unsupported DAV container, use the manufacturer’s player to create an intermediate MP4, AVI, or WAV file first.