AIFF to AMR Converter

AIFF to AMR — Should You Really Convert This?

Before you start: this is a drastic, one-way downgrade. AIFF is full-bandwidth, lossless CD-quality+ audio; AMR-NB is an 8 kHz mono speech codec that keeps only the 200–3,400 Hz telephone band. Converting AIFF to AMR throws away roughly the top three-quarters of the frequency range, collapses stereo to mono, and crushes the bitrate to a few kbit/s — and you cannot recover any of it afterward. It is the right choice only when something specifically requires .amr and the content is voice: a recorded talk, a voice memo, dictation, an IVR prompt, or a clip bound for an old GSM/feature phone. For music or anything you care about keeping, convert to AIFF to MP3 or AIFF to M4A instead — far better quality at a small size.

AIFF vs AMR — Side-by-side Comparison

AMR-NB uses eight bitrate modes (4.75, 5.15, 5.90, 6.70, 7.40, 7.95, 10.2 and 12.2 kbit/s). AMR Wide Band (also known as G.722.2) raises the sample rate to 16 kHz and the speech band to 50–7,000 Hz, which sounds clearer for voice — but it is still a mono speech codec, not a music format, and the playback target must support wideband AMR.

When to Keep AIFF (Don't Convert)

• Anything musical — songs, instrumentals, singing, jingles. AMR's 3.4 kHz ceiling sits below where most instruments live, so music turns thin and warbly.
• Masters and editing sources — AIFF is the studio recording and mastering format; downgrading the master to AMR destroys the only full-fidelity copy.
• When you just want a smaller music file — use AIFF to MP3 at 128–192 kbps, which stays small while keeping the full frequency range.
• iPhone / iOS playback — Apple dropped native AMR support; iOS voice memos use M4A, so AIFF to M4A plays natively where .amr will not.

When AMR Is Genuinely the Right Target

• A legacy GSM or feature-phone ringtone or voice app that only reads .amr.
• Voicemail and IVR systems — Asterisk, FreePBX, 3CX, and carrier voicemail platforms expect AMR or G.711 greetings; recording a clean AIFF and converting to AMR-NB gives a telephony-ready prompt.
• MMS audio attachments — the format MMS was designed around, accepted by old handsets that reject large AIFF files.
• Storage-starved embedded devices — alarm panels, intercoms, and IoT firmware that allocate kilobyte-scale flash for voice prompts.

In all of these the content is speech and the tiny file size is the whole point. If you're not in one of these cases, AMR is the wrong target.

How to Convert AIFF to AMR

1. Upload Your AIFF File: Drag and drop your .aif/.aiff file onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to select it from your computer. Batch upload is supported.
2. Pick the AMR Codec: Under Advanced Options, choose AMR Narrow Band (the standard .amr, 8 kHz, for phones and telephony) or AMR Wide Band if your target device supports 16 kHz wideband speech.
3. Set Audio Channel and Sample Rate (Optional): Audio Channel defaults to MONO and Audio Sample Rate to 8000 HZ — the values the codec requires; leave them unless your device documents otherwise. You can also Trim the clip to keep only the part you need.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your AMR file. No sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my AIFF audio sound okay after converting to AMR?

Only if it's speech. AIFF is full-bandwidth lossless audio; AMR is a parametric speech codec that models the human vocal tract and discards everything above 3,400 Hz (AMR-NB). Spoken-word content — interviews, voice memos, narration, IVR prompts — stays perfectly intelligible. Music, instruments, and singing are heavily distorted because cymbals, guitar harmonics, and high vocals all live above AMR's cutoff. For music, use AIFF to MP3 instead.

Why would I convert lossless AIFF to a low-quality format like AMR?

Almost always for compatibility, not quality. Some systems accept only .amr: older feature phones, certain voicemail and IVR (phone-menu) platforms, MMS attachments, and small embedded devices. In those cases the tiny file size is also a benefit. If you simply want a smaller file that still sounds good, keep your AIFF as the master and use AIFF to M4A or AIFF to MP3.

Is the AIFF-to-AMR conversion reversible — can I get the quality back?

No. AMR is lossy and band-limited, so the frequencies above 3,400 Hz and the second stereo channel are gone for good once you encode. Running AMR to AIFF afterward produces a larger file but cannot restore detail that was never stored — it just wraps the already-degraded audio back in a lossless container. Always keep the original AIFF as your master.

What's the difference between AMR Narrow Band and AMR Wide Band here?

AMR Narrow Band (AMR-NB) is the classic .amr: 8 kHz sampling, 200–3,400 Hz, the format old phones and telephony systems expect — maximum compatibility, smallest files. AMR Wide Band (AMR-WB / G.722.2) samples at 16 kHz with a wider 50–7,000 Hz band, so voice sounds clearer — but the target device or service must support wideband AMR. Pick Narrow Band unless you know Wide Band is supported.

Why is the AMR output mono and 8 kHz instead of my AIFF's settings?

Because the AMR-NB codec is defined that way: it is a single-channel, 8 kHz speech format, so the converter downmixes your AIFF to mono and resamples to 8000 Hz to produce a valid .amr file. There is no stereo or high-sample-rate AMR-NB. If you need to keep stereo and full fidelity, AMR is the wrong target — use MP3, M4A, or keep the AIFF.

How much smaller will the AMR file be than my AIFF?

Dramatically smaller — typically well over 95%. AIFF stores uncompressed PCM at roughly 1,411 kbps for 16-bit/44.1 kHz stereo, while AMR-NB tops out at 12.2 kbit/s. In our testing, a one-minute mono AIFF voice clip of about 5 MB converted to an AMR-NB file under 95 KB. The shrinkage is the whole reason .amr exists; just don't expect music to survive it.

How do you handle my files, and how long are they kept?

Your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and the upload and result are deleted automatically a few hours after conversion. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public.