WAV to AIFF Converter

Convert WAV files to AIFF format online for free. No installation or registration required.

Quick Answer: How to Convert WAV to AIFF

WAV is an uncompressed audio container that stores sound exactly as digitized. AIFF is Apple's uncompressed audio format, the Mac-side counterpart to WAV. Converting between them re-encodes the media with AIFF's compression model, so output quality depends on the settings you pick in the converter. Run it free at practicalwebtools.com/convert/audio/wav-to-aiff: drop in your WAV, adjust settings if you like, and download the AIFF — no signup, no upload, everything stays on your device.

WAV vs AIFF: Which One and Why

WAV is an uncompressed audio container that stores sound exactly as digitized, created by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 for Windows 3.1 multimedia. AIFF is Apple's uncompressed audio format, the Mac-side counterpart to WAV, designed by Apple in 1988 from Electronic Arts' IFF standard. People reach for WAV mainly for studio recording and mixing, sound effects, archiving masters, while AIFF is the usual choice for professional music production on macOS, DJ software libraries, sample packs. WAV's headline strength: bit-perfect audio with zero generational loss. AIFF's: bit-perfect quality. On the other side of the ledger, WAV limitation: enormous files — a 4-minute song is ~42 MB at 44.1 kHz stereo — and AIFF limitation: same huge file sizes as WAV.

How to Convert WAV to AIFF Online

  1. 1

    Add your WAV file: Drag and drop it into the converter, or click to browse. WAV files up to the size limit are accepted, and nothing is uploaded — processing runs locally in your browser.

  2. 2

    Set AIFF options: Pick your quality: the converter exposes the settings that matter for AIFF. Higher bitrates preserve more of the WAV's detail at larger file sizes.

  3. 3

    Download the AIFF: Conversion runs on your device. When it completes, download the AIFF file — repeat for as many files as you need, free and unlimited.

Key Facts

  • WAV: created by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 for Windows 3.1 multimedia, none (typically) — CD-quality stereo WAV runs 10.6 MB per minute.
  • AIFF: designed by Apple in 1988 from Electronic Arts' IFF standard, uncompressed PCM — same size as WAV at equal settings.
  • WAV strength: bit-perfect audio with zero generational loss.
  • AIFF strength: bit-perfect quality.
  • WAV limitation to know: enormous files — a 4-minute song is ~42 MB at 44.1 kHz stereo.
  • AIFF limitation to know: same huge file sizes as WAV.
  • Under the hood: AIFF-C (compressed AIFF, the .aifc extension) can hold IMA/SDX2 codecs — rare today, but why some .aifc files are far smaller than expected

Format Background

WAV

WAV — created by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 for Windows 3.1 multimedia. WAV can also wrap compressed codecs, but "WAV" almost always means PCM — pulse-code modulated raw samples

AIFF

AIFF — designed by Apple in 1988 from Electronic Arts' IFF standard. AIFF-C (compressed AIFF, the .aifc extension) can hold IMA/SDX2 codecs — rare today, but why some .aifc files are far smaller than expected

Frequently Asked Questions

Will converting WAV to AIFF lose quality?

It depends on the formats: WAV is none (typically) — CD-quality stereo WAV runs 10.6 MB per minute and AIFF is uncompressed PCM — same size as WAV at equal settings. Any step from a lossless source into AIFF keeps everything; any lossy step re-encodes and discards some data.

Are my files uploaded anywhere during WAV → AIFF conversion?

No. This converter runs on WebAssembly inside your browser — your WAV file is read from disk, processed by your device's CPU, and the AIFF is written back locally. There is no server upload at any point, which also means no size-based throttling or waiting in queue.

Do I need to install anything to convert WAV to AIFF?

No installation. The converter is a web page — open it in any modern browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, or Android. WAV decoding and AIFF encoding both run via WebAssembly at native-adjacent speed.

Does the converter keep metadata (title, artist, cover art)?

Where the AIFF container supports it, standard tags are carried across. AIFF-C (compressed AIFF, the .aifc extension) can hold IMA/SDX2 codecs — rare today, but why some .aifc files are far smaller than expected

Related Converters

WAV to MP3WAV to OGGWAV to AACWAV to M4AMP3 to AIFFOGG to AIFFAAC to AIFFM4A to AIFF

Read More

Guides and explainers on the Practical Web Tools blog cover audio and video formats in depth — or browse every audio converters pair from the hub.