Free online MKA to ALAC converter

1. Source format: MKA

MKA is an Matroska audio container file. It is commonly used to store one or more audio tracks, often with lossless or high-quality compressed audio such as FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, or Opus. MKA files are used by media enthusiasts, archivists, and anyone who wants flexible audio storage with support for metadata, chapters, and multiple tracks.

MKA is especially useful when audio needs to be kept in a modern container that can hold rich tags and multiple streams, but it is not as universally supported by consumer devices as more common audio formats.

2. Target format: ALAC

ALAC stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec. It is a lossless audio format designed to preserve the original audio quality while reducing file size. ALAC is widely supported in the Apple ecosystem, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, iTunes, and Apple Music, and it is also supported by many third-party players and converters.

The main advantage of ALAC is that it offers bit-perfect audio preservation compared with the source, while remaining more compatible with Apple devices than many other lossless formats.

3. How to perform the conversion

The best method depends on whether your MKA file already contains an ALAC audio stream or another codec.

If the MKA already contains ALAC audio:

1. Use a tool that can remux or extract the audio without re-encoding.
2. With FFmpeg, you can copy the audio stream into an ALAC file if the codec is already ALAC:

ffmpeg -i input.mka -c:a copy output.m4a

This keeps the audio unchanged and places it in an M4A container, which is the most common file extension for ALAC.

If the MKA contains another audio codec:

1. Convert the audio to ALAC using FFmpeg.
2. Run:

ffmpeg -i input.mka -c:a alac output.m4a

This creates an ALAC file in an M4A container. In practice, ALAC is usually stored as .m4a rather than .alac.

Using a desktop converter:

1. Open the MKA file in a program such as FFmpeg-based tools, foobar2000, or VLC if supported by your workflow.
2. Choose Convert or Save as.
3. Select Apple Lossless or ALAC as the output codec.
4. Export the file as .m4a.

You can also convert the file on 101convert.com for free, without installing any software.

4. Notes on quality, compatibility, or limitations

ALAC is lossless, so if the source audio is already lossless, the conversion can preserve quality exactly. If the source audio is lossy, converting to ALAC will not improve quality; it only avoids further loss during the conversion.

Because MKA is a container, it may include multiple audio tracks, subtitles, or metadata. When converting to ALAC, only the audio stream is kept, and extra streams are usually discarded unless your tool explicitly preserves tags.

For best compatibility, use .m4a as the output extension. Some software may accept .alac, but M4A is the standard container for ALAC playback on most devices.