CAF to WAV Converter

How to Convert CAF to WAV Online

1. Upload Your CAF File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select .caf files. Logic Pro session bounces, GarageBand exports, macOS system audio captures, and iOS app recordings all work. Batch is supported — convert an entire session folder in one pass.
2. Pick the WAV PCM Encoding: Choose 16-bit little-endian PCM (CD-standard, mainstream WAV), 24-bit (DAW work and mixing headroom), or 32-bit (mastering and intermediates). 16-bit big-endian PCM is available for legacy SGI / classic Mac toolchains, and PCM A-law / μ-law for telephony pipelines.
3. Set Sample Rate, Channels, and Trim: Match the CAF source rate (commonly 44.1 kHz for music, 48 kHz for video-aligned audio) or pick from 8 kHz up to 48 kHz. Choose mono or stereo. Optionally trim using start time + duration in HH:MM:SS.sss format to pull a single region out of a long Logic bounce.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files convert in your browser session and download individually or as a ZIP — no sign-up, no watermark.

Why Convert CAF to WAV?

CAF (Core Audio Format) is Apple's native audio container, designed for macOS and iOS. It can wrap PCM, AAC, Apple Lossless (ALAC), and other codecs, and unlike WAV it has no 4 GB file-size cap — useful for long captures and high-resolution audio. The downside is reach: outside the Apple ecosystem most software either can't open CAF at all or handles it poorly. WAV is uncompressed PCM in a container every operating system, DAW, sampler, and broadcast system has read since the 1990s. Common reasons to convert CAF → WAV:

• Cross-platform DAW handoff — Logic Pro and GarageBand bounce or render to CAF by default. Pro Tools, Reaper, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase, Audacity, and Adobe Audition all import WAV cleanly. Convert before sending stems or sessions to collaborators on Windows or Linux.
• CD burning and broadcast delivery — Audio CD specification (Red Book) requires PCM WAV at 44.1 kHz / 16-bit / stereo. Many broadcast playout systems and station automation tools accept WAV only.
• Hardware samplers and DJ gear — Pioneer CDJs, Akai MPCs, Native Instruments Maschine, and most hardware samplers expect WAV on USB sticks and SD cards. CAF is rarely supported directly.
• Speech-to-text and analysis pipelines — Whisper, Deepgram, Google Speech-to-Text, and most ASR APIs handle WAV most reliably. Many take CAF only after a pre-processing step you can skip by converting first.
• Game audio and middleware — Wwise, FMOD, Unity, and Unreal Engine prefer WAV as the source asset. Converting CAF captures from a Mac dev machine to WAV avoids per-platform import quirks.
• Long-term archival across toolchains — WAV is the lowest-common-denominator lossless format. Re-saving WAV is bit-identical; CAF that contains AAC degrades on re-encode.

CAF vs WAV — Format Comparison

WAV PCM Encoding Choice

Frequently Asked Questions

Is converting CAF to WAV lossless?

It depends on what's inside the CAF. If the CAF contains PCM or Apple Lossless (ALAC), the conversion to WAV PCM is bit-perfect — every sample is preserved. If the CAF contains AAC (lossy), the audio is decoded once into PCM and written to WAV; the WAV is a faithful copy of the decoded AAC, but it can't recover information that AAC discarded during encoding. The conversion step itself doesn't add new loss.

Why won't my CAF file open on Windows or Linux?

CAF is an Apple format with limited support outside macOS / iOS. Windows Media Player and most native Windows tools don't recognise it. VLC plays many CAF files, and FFmpeg can decode them, but full editor support is rare. Converting to WAV is the most reliable way to get the audio into Windows / Linux DAWs, samplers, and players.

What sample rate and bit depth should I pick?

Match the CAF source when known — Logic Pro and GarageBand sessions are commonly 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, often 24-bit. For music distribution and CD burning, choose 16-bit / 44.1 kHz stereo. For audio paired with video, 16- or 24-bit / 48 kHz keeps the rate aligned with the video frame clock. For mastering or further processing, 24-bit / 48 kHz or 96 kHz preserves headroom.

Why is the WAV bigger than the CAF?

CAF often wraps compressed audio (AAC at 128-256 kbps, or ALAC at roughly half the PCM size). WAV stores every PCM sample at full bit depth — a stereo 16-bit / 44.1 kHz signal is ~1411 kbps regardless of content. A 4 MB AAC-in-CAF clip can land around 40 MB as 16-bit WAV. That's expected: WAV trades size for editability and universal compatibility.

Can I batch convert a folder of CAF files?

Yes. Drop in an entire session folder or render export at once. Each file converts in parallel within your browser session and downloads individually or as a single ZIP. Settings can apply uniformly across the batch (typical for stems from one session) or be tuned per-file.

Does this handle CAF files with multiple audio tracks?

Standard multi-channel CAF files (mono, stereo, and common surround layouts) convert to WAV with channels preserved. Highly unusual CAF variants — exotic surround layouts or non-PCM codecs that aren't widely decoded — may need a downmix step. Most music and voice CAFs from Logic, GarageBand, or iOS apps convert without manual intervention.

Will markers, region names, or chapter metadata transfer?

Sample data and basic format chunks transfer cleanly. CAF supports rich annotations — markers, region names, MIDI tempo maps — that don't all have direct WAV equivalents. Standard WAV chunks (fmt, data) are always written; non-portable Apple-specific metadata may not survive. If you need to preserve markers for DAW work, keep the original CAF as a master and use the WAV for delivery.

Should I convert to MP3 or M4A instead for a smaller file?

If size matters more than editability, yes. WAV is for editing, mastering, and tools that require PCM. For distribution and casual listening, CAF to MP3 gives roughly 10× smaller files at near-transparent quality, and CAF to M4A keeps files in an AAC container that's still well-supported on Apple devices but smaller than WAV.