AIFF Compressor

How to Compress AIFF Files Online

1. Upload Your AIFF Files: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select AIF or AIFF files. Logic Pro bounces, GarageBand exports, Pro Tools session renders, and Mac CD-rips all work. Batch is supported — drop in an entire session folder in one pass.
2. Pick a Compression Mode: Choose a Quality Preset (Highest, Very High [Recommended], High, Medium, Low, Very Low, Lowest), target a percentage of the original size, set a specific output size in MB/KB, or pick a constant or variable bitrate. Default is Very High at 80% of original.
3. Set PCM Codec, Sample Rate, and Channels (Optional): Pick the AIFF PCM codec (PCM 16-bit Big Endian is classic AIFF; PCM 16-bit Little Endian is the AIFF-C "sowt" variant; PCM A-law and PCM mu-law produce 8-bit AIFF-C for telephony). Downsample 48000 Hz to 44100 Hz for music or to 22050/16000/8000 Hz for speech. Fold stereo to mono. Trim a clip with start time + duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss.
4. Compress and Download: Click Compress. Files process in your browser session and download individually or as a ZIP — no sign-up, no watermark, no account required.

Why Compress AIFF Files?

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is Apple's uncompressed PCM container, introduced in 1988 and built on Electronic Arts' IFF chunk model. The audio inside is bit-perfect — at CD quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz, stereo) the bitrate is 1411 kbps, which works out to roughly 10 MB per minute. A 60-minute master is about 600 MB; a multi-track Logic Pro stems folder can easily exceed 5 GB. Common reasons to shrink AIFF without leaving the format:

• Mac-native archives that must stay PCM — Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools projects, Apple Loops, and sample libraries expect AIFF. Going lossy breaks the workflow, but downsampling 96 kHz studio masters to 44.1 kHz or folding stereo to mono on speech content cuts size 2-4× while staying uncompressed.
• Email and messaging caps — Gmail tops out at 25 MB attachments, Outlook at 20 MB. A single 3-minute AIFF song is ~30 MB and won't send. A trim + downsample fits the clip under the cap without converting to MP3.
• iCloud Drive and Dropbox storage — Free iCloud is 5 GB, free Dropbox is 2 GB. A handful of 24-bit/96 kHz AIFF stems fills either. Reducing to 16-bit/44.1 kHz preserves audible quality while cutting size 3×.
• Cross-platform delivery to Logic users — Recipients on Mac DAWs want AIFF, but you don't always need 24-bit headroom on the deliverable. Drop to 16-bit/44.1 kHz before sending.
• AIFF-C compression types — Switching to PCM A-law or mu-law inside an AIFF-C container halves bytes per sample for voice archives that legacy systems still read.
• Avoiding lossy re-encoding — Some users compress AIFF to keep edit-friendly PCM. For dramatic reduction, convert AIFF to MP3 (8-15× smaller) or AIFF to FLAC (about 50% smaller, lossless) instead.

Compression Mode Quick Guide

AIFF PCM Codec Quick Guide

A-law and mu-law inside AIFF-C halve the byte count vs 16-bit PCM at the cost of dynamic range — fine for archived voice, not for music.

AIFF vs WAV vs FLAC — Format Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can I shrink an AIFF without converting to MP3?

Inside the PCM family, the practical levers are bit depth (24-bit → 16-bit halves size), sample rate (96 kHz → 44.1 kHz cuts roughly 54%), channels (stereo → mono halves size), and trim. Stacking these on a 24-bit/96 kHz/stereo master down to 16-bit/44.1 kHz/mono yields about an 8× reduction while staying uncompressed. AIFF-C with A-law or mu-law cuts another 2× on voice content. For larger reductions, use AIFF to FLAC (lossless, ~50% smaller) or AIFF to MP3 (lossy, 8-15× smaller).

Can a lossless format like AIFF really be "compressed"?

Yes, but the compression here changes audio parameters rather than applying lossless math. Lowering bit depth from 24 to 16 with proper dither, or sample rate from 96 kHz to 44.1 kHz, drops file size with only audible loss above the new Nyquist limit. Folding stereo to mono halves size when the source is already mono content (interviews, voiceover). Trimming silence at the head and tail removes bytes without quality change. The output is still uncompressed PCM, just smaller.

Should I pick CBR or VBR for AIFF?

Standard 16-bit big-endian AIFF is always constant bitrate by definition (each sample is the same size). The CBR/VBR controls in the compression panel apply when you target an exact size or bitrate and the tool re-renders the audio. For pure PCM AIFF, file size scales linearly with bit depth × sample rate × channels × duration, which is why downsampling and channel reduction are the most direct shrink levers.

Will Logic Pro and GarageBand still open the compressed AIFF?

Yes, as long as the output stays standard 16-bit or 24-bit big-endian PCM. Logic, GarageBand, and Pro Tools open native AIFF without any extra step. The AIFF-C variants (16-bit little-endian "sowt", PCM A-law, PCM mu-law) also open in Logic, but a few older third-party AU plugins and Apple Loop libraries expect classic 16-bit big-endian — keep that as default unless you have a specific reason to switch.

Will track metadata, loop points, and cue markers transfer?

Standard AIFF stores marker, instrument, and musical metadata in dedicated chunks. The compressor preserves these chunks when the output is also AIFF. If you change codec to AIFF-C with A-law or mu-law, the audio data is rewritten and any marker timestamps remain valid relative to the new sample rate. Re-importing into Logic Pro keeps tempo and key tags intact.

Can I trim a long live recording and save just one song as AIFF?

Yes. Use the trim section to enter a start time and duration. Both fields accept seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss format (00:01:30.500). Useful for pulling a single track from a multi-song concert AIFF or extracting one take from a long tracking session before delivering as a smaller AIFF.

What's the difference between compressing AIFF and compressing AIFC?

AIFC (also written AIFF-C) is the compressed extension Apple added in 1991. It uses the same IFF container but carries codec-tagged audio: A-law, mu-law, or other compression types. The compress AIFC tool starts from those compressed variants; this tool starts from classic uncompressed AIFF. The output options overlap because both can produce AIFF or AIFF-C depending on which codec you pick.

Why are my 24-bit / 96 kHz AIFF files so much larger than 16-bit / 44.1 kHz?

Bit depth and sample rate both multiply the byte count. 24-bit is 1.5× the size of 16-bit. 96 kHz is about 2.18× the size of 44.1 kHz. Combined, a 24-bit/96 kHz stereo AIFF is roughly 3.3× the size of a 16-bit/44.1 kHz stereo AIFF — about 33 MB per minute vs 10 MB per minute. Studio masters benefit from the headroom; deliverables to listeners rarely do.

Does this run in my browser without uploading to a server?

Files process in your browser session — there's no sign-up, no watermark, and no permanent server-side storage. Batch upload an entire stems folder and the compressor handles each file in parallel before packaging the output as individual downloads or a single ZIP.