AVI to AIFF Converter

AVI to AIFF — Extract the Audio, and What Actually Changes

This tool pulls the audio track out of an AVI video and writes it to an AIFF file — the picture is discarded, you get sound only. What that buys you depends on what's inside the AVI. Most AVI files carry a lossy audio track (commonly MP3 or AC-3), and decoding that to uncompressed AIFF does not restore any lost detail — the AIFF is just a much larger copy of the same lossy audio. If the AVI's track is PCM, this is a true bit-perfect unpack. Either way, the real reason to do this is workflow: AIFF is the uncompressed PCM format that Logic Pro, older DAWs, editors, and hardware samplers import natively.

AVI vs AIFF — Side-by-side

When to Extract AVI Audio to AIFF

• You're importing the soundtrack into Logic Pro, an editor, or another DAW that prefers uncompressed PCM over a video container it can't read directly.
• You're feeding a hardware sampler or older audio tool that accepts AIFF/WAV but not the audio buried in an AVI.
• You want to edit once in uncompressed PCM so repeated edits and saves don't trigger repeated lossy re-encodes of the source track — decode to AIFF first, then edit.
• The AVI's audio is already PCM and you want a maximum-compatibility uncompressed audio master with no video wrapper around it.

When to Pick a Smaller Format Instead

• You only need a shareable or listenable audio file — extract to a small format with AVI to MP3 instead of inflating the track to uncompressed AIFF.
• The AVI's audio is lossy and you just want it in a compact form — converting it to AIFF adds size with zero quality benefit.
• You want the same uncompressed audio in the cross-platform container — output WAV via AVI to WAV; it's the little-endian equivalent and sounds identical.
• Your AIFF came out larger than you'd like and you still need it lossless-friendly — run it through the Audio Compressor to trade size against bitrate.

How to Convert AVI to AIFF

1. Upload Your AVI File: Drag and drop your .avi files onto the page or click "+ Add Files". You can queue several and extract them with the same settings.
2. Set Audio Channel and Sample Rate: Leave Audio Channel and Audio Sample Rate on "Original" for a 1:1 copy of the source track, or change them only if a target device needs mono or a specific rate.
3. Trim (Optional): Use the Trim control to keep just a section of the audio; leave it "Unchanged" to extract the whole track.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your AIFF. No sign-up, no watermark.

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — never shared or made public.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will extracting AVI audio to AIFF improve the sound quality?

Only if the AVI's audio track is already uncompressed PCM, in which case the AIFF holds the same bit-perfect samples. Most AVI files carry a lossy track — frequently MP3 or AC-3 — and for those the answer is no: the original encoder permanently discarded detail to shrink the audio, and decoding it to AIFF cannot bring that back. The AIFF will sound identical to the embedded track, just much larger. Any tool promising a fidelity boost from a lossy source is mistaken.

What happens to the video in my AVI file?

It is discarded. This is an audio-extraction conversion: the converter reads the AVI container, decodes the audio stream, and writes only that to AIFF. The video frames are not included in the output. If you actually want to keep the video, you'd convert AVI to another video format instead — this tool's output is sound only.

Why is my AIFF file so much bigger than the AVI's audio?

Because AIFF stores every sample uncompressed. CD-quality AIFF (16-bit, 44.1 kHz, stereo) runs around 10 MB per minute, so a 4-minute clip's audio lands near 40 MB regardless of how small the original lossy track was. A 128 kbps MP3 track of that same length might be only about 4 MB, so expect a roughly tenfold jump. The extra bytes are uncompressed padding, not added detail — and the video being dropped is why the file can still be far smaller than the whole AVI.

Should I extract to AIFF or WAV from my AVI?

They're close cousins: both are uncompressed PCM containers and sound identical. AIFF is big-endian and based on Electronic Arts' IFF; WAV is little-endian and based on RIFF — the same RIFF family AVI itself belongs to. AIFF is the more natural fit on macOS and in Apple's audio apps, while WAV is the cross-platform default. If you'd rather output WAV, use AVI to WAV.

Why decode to AIFF before editing instead of editing the AVI's audio directly?

Because every time you re-save a lossy track after editing, the encoder runs again and throws away a little more detail — generational loss stacks up over multiple passes. Decoding once to uncompressed AIFF gives you a stable PCM working file you can cut, fade, and process repeatedly without any further lossy re-encoding. Export back to a compressed format only at the very end, once.

What bit depth and sample rate will the AIFF have?

In our testing, leaving Audio Channel and Audio Sample Rate on "Original" produces an AIFF that matches the decoded source — commonly 16-bit PCM at 44.1 kHz for a typical AVI with an MP3 or AC-3 track, or whatever depth and rate a PCM track already carried. The converter does not upsample, so a 44.1 kHz source yields a 44.1 kHz AIFF, not a higher-resolution one. To go in the opposite direction and re-pack PCM audio into AIFF from a WAV master, use WAV to AIFF.