MPEG to AIFF Converter

MPEG to AIF Converter

AIFF — Audio Interchange File Format — is Apple's 1988 uncompressed audio container, built on the EA IFF 85 chunk structure and holding big-endian PCM samples. It is what macOS audio tools, Logic, Pro Tools and a lot of sampler hardware expect when they want raw audio. This page takes the soundtrack out of an .mpg or .mpeg program stream, discards the video, and writes it as PCM in an AIFF file. The output is uncompressed, so there are no bitrate or quality controls anywhere on the page — the only levers are the PCM flavour, the channel layout and the sample rate.

AIFF at a Glance

What Each Audio Codec Choice Produces

The Audio Codec list on this page offers four PCM payloads, and the one you pick decides whether the file is a plain AIFF or the AIFC variant.

There is no 24-bit or 32-bit option on this page, and no floating-point payload — the four entries above are the whole list. If you need higher bit depths, the source MPEG almost certainly does not have them either: MPEG program streams carry lossy MPEG Layer II or AC-3 audio, which decodes to 16-bit perfectly well.

How to Convert MPEG to AIF

1. Upload Your MPEG File: Drag the .mpg or .mpeg file onto the page or click "Add Files". It is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark.
2. Leave Audio Codec on PCM 16-bit Big Endian: That is the preselected option and the one that produces a standard AIFF. Change it only if a specific tool has asked for sowt, A-law or mu-law.
3. Set Audio Channel, Audio Sample Rate and Trim (Optional): Both dropdowns open on ORIGINAL, which preserves the source layout and rate. Trim opens on Unchanged; switch it to Time Range to export just a section.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and download the .aif file.

Why the AIFF Will Be Bigger, Not Better

An MPEG program stream carries lossy audio — usually MPEG-1/2 Layer II at 192–384 kbit/s, sometimes AC-3. Decoding that to uncompressed PCM multiplies the size by roughly four to eight times while adding nothing: the detail the original encoder discarded is gone, and PCM simply stores the decoded result faithfully. A three-minute track that occupied about 5 MB as 224 kbit/s MP2 lands near 34 MB as 16-bit stereo AIFF at 48 kHz.

That trade is worth making when the file is going into an editor, a sampler or a mastering chain, where you want no further generation loss while you work. It is not worth making for listening or storage — for that, MPEG to FLAC stores the identical decoded samples in roughly half the space, and MPEG to MP3 is smaller still.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is .aif the same thing as .aiff?

Yes. Both name the same format; .aif is the three-character form left over from systems with eight-plus-three filenames, and Apple's own documentation treats them interchangeably. Some older Windows software only recognises the short form, which is the reason this page exists alongside MPEG to AIFF. The bytes are identical either way — you can rename the file freely.

Will converting to AIFF improve the sound?

No. The audio inside an MPEG program stream is already lossy, and decoding it to PCM captures exactly what that lossy stream reproduces — nothing more. AIFF is a transparent destination, meaning nothing further is lost, but it cannot recover what the original MP2 or AC-3 encoder threw away. Convert to AIFF because a tool needs uncompressed input, not in the hope of better fidelity.

Why is the AIFF so much larger than the MPEG?

Because it stores every sample outright. Uncompressed 16-bit stereo audio at 48 kHz runs at 1,536 kbit/s — about 11.5 MB per minute — regardless of how simple or complex the sound is. The MP2 audio it came from was typically 192–384 kbit/s. That ratio, not any setting on this page, explains the size difference, and there is no bitrate control here to change it.

When do I get an AIFC file instead of a plain AIFF?

Whenever you move off the preselected PCM 16-bit Big Endian. Standard AIFF is defined around big-endian PCM, so choosing the little-endian sowt payload, A-law or mu-law makes the file the AIFF-C variant — the header reads FORM…AIFC rather than FORM…AIFF. Modern audio software reads both, but older utilities and some hardware samplers only accept the plain form. Leave the codec alone unless something asked you for one of the alternatives.

Is there a 24-bit option?

No. The Audio Codec list here is exactly four entries: PCM A-law, PCM mu-law, PCM 16-bit Big Endian and PCM 16-bit Little Endian. There is no 24-bit, 32-bit or floating-point choice. This costs you nothing in practice, because MPEG program-stream audio decodes to 16 bits and padding it out to 24 would only enlarge the file.

Should I use AIFF, WAV or FLAC?

AIFF for macOS and pro-audio tools that ask for it by name. MPEG to WAV for the same uncompressed PCM in the container Windows and most hardware prefer — the two are equivalent in quality and size, differing mainly in byte order and heritage. MPEG to FLAC when you want to keep the decoded samples exactly but at roughly half the file size, which is the better choice for archiving.

Which sample rate should I choose?

Leave Audio Sample Rate on ORIGINAL. DVD and broadcast MPEG audio is usually 48 kHz and CD-sourced material 44.1 kHz, and resampling adds processing without adding information. The dropdown also offers 8000, 12000, 16000, 24000, 44100 and 48000 Hz; the low rates only make sense for speech destined for a telephony pipeline, typically paired with the A-law or mu-law payload.

Can I export just one section of the audio?

Yes. Open Trim, switch from Unchanged to Time Range, and give a start time and duration in seconds or as HH:MM:SS.sss. Doing it during the conversion matters more here than on a compressed target, because uncompressed AIFF grows so quickly with duration. To cut the video source before conversion instead, use the Video Cutter — the standalone audio cutter does not accept video files.

What happens to my file after the conversion?

The MPEG is uploaded over an encrypted connection, decoded on our servers, and both the upload and the finished AIFF are deleted automatically after a few hours. Nothing is published or shared, and no account is needed. Because uncompressed output is large, download time is worth planning for on long recordings — a one-hour stereo AIFF at 48 kHz is roughly 690 MB.