AV1 to AIFC Converter

Convert AV1 to AIFC: Read This First

This page converts an .av1 file to .aifc (AIFF-C) audio. There is an important catch worth knowing before you upload: a bare .av1 file is a raw AV1 video bitstream — a sequence of Open Bitstream Units (OBUs) that holds only picture, no sound. AV1 is a video codec released by the Alliance for Open Media in March 2018; the audio that accompanies AV1 video lives in a container (MP4, WebM, or MKV), never in the raw stream itself. So extracting audio from a true .av1 file usually produces a silent or empty AIFC, because there is nothing to extract. If your goal is the soundtrack, you almost certainly want to convert the container file instead — keep reading for exactly how.

How to Convert AV1 to AIFC

1. Upload Your AV1 File: Drag and drop your .av1 file onto the page, or click "+ Add Files" to browse. You can queue several files and convert them in one batch with the same settings.
2. Set the Audio Channel: Open Advanced Options and leave Audio Channel on "Original" to keep the source layout, or force Mono/Stereo if a target device needs it.
3. Set the Audio Sample Rate or Trim (Optional): Leave Audio Sample Rate on "Original" for a 1:1 transfer, or pick a specific rate. Set Trim (default "Unchanged") to export only a start-and-duration window.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your AIFC file. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Why a Raw AV1 File Has No Sound to Extract

AV1 is purely a video coding format. The raw bitstream — the kind of file that carries a .av1 (or .obu) extension — packetizes everything into Open Bitstream Units, and the AV1 specification defines those units for coded video only. Audio is never part of the AV1 stream; when you watch an AV1 video with sound, that audio is a separate track (commonly Opus or AAC) multiplexed alongside the video inside a container such as MP4, WebM, or Matroska (MKV).

That distinction is the whole story here:

• If you genuinely have a raw .av1 bitstream, there is no audio track inside it, so converting it to AIFC will give you an empty or silent file. That is not a bug in the tool — there is simply no sound in the source.
• If your "AV1 file" is really an .mp4 / .webm / .mkv whose video happens to use the AV1 codec, the soundtrack you want is in that container. Convert the container directly with MP4 to AIFC or WebM to AIFC and you will get the audio. Many people call those files "AV1 files" loosely because the video codec is AV1 — but the extension on disk is what decides which tool to use.

When AIFC is written here, the audio is stored as uncompressed PCM, 16-bit, big-endian (AIFF-C compression type NONE). AIFF-C is Apple's extended Audio Interchange format from July 1991; despite the "C," the container can hold either compressed or uncompressed audio, and this converter writes the uncompressed form.

AV1 (source) vs AIFC (output here) at a Glance

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "My AIFC is silent or empty" — Expected for a true raw .av1 bitstream: it contains no audio to extract. Convert the container that holds your AV1 video instead — MP4 to AIFC, WebM to AIFC, or MKV to AIFC.
• "I wanted to keep the video" — This is an audio target. To keep the picture, convert AV1 to a video format such as AV1 to MP4.
• "The AIFC won't play on Windows" — AIFF-C plays natively on macOS, in QuickTime, Logic, and most pro DAWs; on Windows, VLC opens it. For broader compatibility, AV1 to WAV is more universally accepted.
• "I expected AIFC to be smaller because the 'C' means Compressed" — The output here is uncompressed PCM; the "C" describes a capability of the AIFF-C wrapper, not your file.
• "The file won't upload or convert" — A raw .av1 stream that is truncated or non-conformant may fail to decode. Confirm the file plays in a current build of VLC first.

When This Doesn't Work

This tool can only write audio that actually exists in the source. A genuine raw .av1 bitstream is video-only, so there is no soundtrack for it to produce — the realistic path to an AIFC soundtrack is to start from the container that carries both the AV1 video and its audio track and use MP4 to AIFC or WebM to AIFC. If you instead need a small, universally playable audio file, AV1 to MP3 is the better target, and if you only want to keep the video, reach for AV1 to MP4 instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my AV1-to-AIFC output silent or empty?

Because a raw .av1 file is a video-only bitstream. AV1 is a video codec, and its raw Open Bitstream Unit stream carries no audio track at all — sound always rides in a container (MP4, WebM, MKV) alongside the AV1 video. With nothing to extract, the AIFC comes out empty or silent. To get the soundtrack, convert the container file with MP4 to AIFC or WebM to AIFC.

My video uses AV1 but it's an MP4 — which tool do I use?

Use the tool that matches the file's actual extension. If the file on disk ends in .mp4, the audio is inside that MP4 container even though the video codec is AV1, so MP4 to AIFC is the right choice. Use this AV1-to-AIFC page only for true raw .av1 (or .obu) bitstreams — and those have no audio to extract.

Does converting AV1 to AIFC keep the video?

No. AIFC is an audio-only format, so this is an audio-extraction tool with no picture in the output. Because a raw .av1 stream is video-only to begin with, you would also be extracting from a file that has no sound. If you want to keep the video, convert to a video format such as AV1 to MP4.

Is AIFC compressed, since the "C" stands for "Compressed"?

Not as written here. AIFF-C is Apple's 1991 extension of AIFF; the container can carry compressed codecs (MACE, A-law, μ-law), but it equally holds uncompressed PCM, and that is what this converter writes — compression type NONE, 16-bit big-endian. The "C" describes a capability of the wrapper, not the contents of your file.

Should I pick AIFC, WAV, or MP3 for audio from an AV1 video?

Once you are converting the right file — the container, not a raw .av1 — pick AIFC only when a specific Apple tool or sampler demands the .aifc form. For editing on most systems, the uncompressed AV1 to WAV is more universally supported; for a small, broadly playable file, AV1 to MP3 is the better target. AIFC is the niche pick, not the default.

How are my files handled, and how long do you keep them?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared or made public.