AIFF to WAV Converter

AIFF vs WAV — Which Should You Convert To?

AIFF and WAV hold audio in the same way: uncompressed PCM samples, lossless, bit-for-bit identical sound. Converting AIFF to WAV is a container swap, not a re-encode — you change the wrapper around Apple's format to Microsoft's RIFF/WAV so a Windows app, DAW, hardware sampler, or game engine will accept the file. If your tools already read AIFF, you don't need to convert; if anything in your chain expects WAV, this is the fix, and you lose zero quality doing it.

Side-by-side Comparison

When to Pick AIFF

• You work entirely inside macOS or Logic Pro, where AIFF is a first-class citizen.
• You want to store loop points, musical-note metadata, or instrument chunks that AIFF's IFF lineage supports.
• Your collaborators are all on Apple software and already exchange AIFF without issue.

When to Pick WAV

• You share files with Windows users, or with anyone whose software might not read AIFF.
• You feed audio into game engines, samplers, or broadcast tools — WAV is the de facto interchange standard.
• You want the safest, most universally recognized uncompressed format; every major DAW on Mac and Windows reads WAV.

WAV Bit-Depth and Sample-Rate Reference

WAV carries the same PCM depths AIFF does, so you can match your source exactly. This is the trade-off between headroom and file size when you set the Audio Codec:

Sample rate follows the same rule: 44.1 kHz is CD standard, 48 kHz is the video/broadcast norm, and 88.2/96 kHz and up are high-resolution capture rates. Leave both on Original to copy the AIFF exactly.

How to Convert AIFF to WAV

1. Upload Your AIFF File: Drag and drop your .aif or .aiff file, or click "Add Files" to browse. You can queue several files and convert them with the same settings.
2. Set the Audio Codec: WAV defaults to PCM 16-bit Little Endian (standard CD-quality). To preserve a high-resolution master untouched, pick PCM 24-bit or 32-bit under Advanced Options so no bit depth is dropped.
3. Adjust Audio Sample Rate or Channel (Optional): Leave both on Original to copy the source exactly, or downmix stereo to mono and resample (e.g. 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz) if a target device needs it. Use Trim to export only a section.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save your WAV. No sign-up, no watermark. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours.

Need the reverse direction or a smaller file? Use WAV to AIFF to go back, or AIFF to MP3 if file size matters more than staying lossless.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I lose any audio quality converting AIFF to WAV?

No. Both formats store the same uncompressed PCM samples, so a straight AIFF-to-WAV conversion is lossless and bit-for-bit identical in sound. The only change is the container and byte order (AIFF is big-endian, WAV is little-endian), which the conversion handles transparently. In our testing, the decoded PCM stream of the WAV output matched the AIFF source sample-for-sample at default 16-bit settings.

Is the converted WAV file the same size as the AIFF?

Practically yes. Uncompressed CD-quality stereo audio runs roughly 10 MB per minute in either format, because both store raw PCM at the same bit depth and sample rate. You may see a difference of a few kilobytes from header and metadata chunks, but the audio payload is the same size.

Why does WAV work where AIFF doesn't, if the audio is identical?

It is purely about software recognition, not quality. WAV is built on Microsoft's RIFF and is the long-standing interchange standard read by nearly every DAW, sampler, game engine, and editor on Windows and Mac. AIFF is native to Apple's ecosystem, so some Windows-oriented or cross-platform tools simply don't parse its chunks.

Does the WAV keep the bit depth and sample rate of my AIFF?

Yes, if you leave Audio Codec, Sample Rate, and Channel on their defaults. A 24-bit/96 kHz AIFF can stay 24-bit/96 kHz in WAV — choose PCM 24-bit Little Endian so the bit depth carries over. WAV supports 8-bit up to 32-bit integer and float, and sample rates from 8 kHz to 192 kHz and beyond.

Will AIFF loop points or metadata survive the conversion?

The audio survives perfectly, but format-specific extras may not. AIFF instrument and marker chunks (loop points, musical notes) don't map cleanly to standard WAV, so producers who rely on embedded loop data should keep an AIFF copy or verify the metadata in their DAW after conversion.

Can I convert the WAV back to AIFF later without losing quality?

Yes. Because both formats hold identical uncompressed PCM, the round trip is bit-perfect — WAV to AIFF and back changes only the container and byte order, never the samples. Use WAV to AIFF for the reverse direction whenever an Apple-native tool needs the .aiff wrapper again.

Is AIFF or WAV better for long-term archiving?

Both are equally safe for the audio itself — uncompressed PCM with no generational loss. WAV has the edge for archives you might open on any platform years from now, since nearly every DAW, editor, and player on Windows and Mac reads it, whereas some non-Apple tools stumble on AIFF's chunks. If you rely on AIFF's embedded loop points or instrument metadata, keep an AIFF copy alongside the WAV, since those extras don't map cleanly into standard WAV.

Is there a size limit on the WAV file I can create?

Standard WAV uses a 32-bit field for its size, capping a single file at 4 GB — about 6.8 hours of CD-quality stereo. Very long high-resolution recordings can exceed that; in those cases broadcast extensions like RF64 or BWF lift the ceiling. On our end the practical limit is upload size and time, not your device.