ParrotNotes

AIFF to WAV Converter

Got an AIFF from Logic, GarageBand or a Mac, and a Windows program, a sample library or an upload form that only takes WAV? Drop it here and get a WAV with the same samples, the same sample rate and the same channels. The file is read on your device and is not uploaded.

Drop your AIFF file here or click to browse

.aiff, .aif or uncompressed .aifc, up to 100 MB.

The AIFF is read and the WAV written in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

How to convert AIFF to WAV

The page reads the AIFF's header as soon as you pick it, so you see what you have before anything is written.

  1. 1

    Drop the AIFF

    Drag an .aiff, .aif or .aifc onto the box or click to pick one, up to 100 MB. A line appears under the name with its bit depth, sample rate, channels and length.

  2. 2

    Leave the bit depth on Auto

    Auto writes the WAV at the AIFF's own depth, 16 or 24 bits. A note under the choice tells you whether the result is an exact copy, and why if it is not.

  3. 3

    Convert, listen, download

    The samples are copied into the WAV in one pass. Play the preview, then save the file under its old name with .wav at the end.

Is AIFF to WAV lossless?

Yes, for the usual 16-bit and 24-bit AIFF files. Both formats store plain PCM: a list of whole numbers, one per sample per channel. The main difference is the order of the bytes inside each number. AIFF keeps the most significant byte first (big-endian) and WAV the least significant first (little-endian), so converting is a reshuffle of bytes, not a new encoding.

This page does that reshuffle directly on the integers. It does not send the audio through the browser's decoder, which turns samples into decimal numbers and back and can move a sample by one step. At the same bit depth, the WAV's audio data is the same set of numbers the AIFF held.

Two cases are not exact. A 32-bit integer AIFF or a floating-point AIFF is written as 24-bit WAV, because 16 and 24 bits are what this page writes; the page says so before you convert. And if you pick 16-bit for a 24-bit file, each sample is rounded to the nearest 16-bit step without dither.

AIFF and WAV compared

Same kind of audio inside, different wrapping. That is why the sound does not change.

AIFFWAV
Made byAppleMicrosoft and IBM (Windows 3.1)
Byte order of the samplesBig-endian (most significant byte first)Little-endian (least significant byte first)
Endings.aiff, .aif, .aifc.wav
One minute, 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereoAbout 10 MBAbout 10 MB
Extra data it can holdMarkers, loop points, instrument chunkINFO tags, which many programs read badly
Compressed variantAIFF-C (IMA 4:1, µ-law and others)ADPCM, A-law and others
From the Library of Congress format descriptions and the Wikipedia articles on AIFF and WAV, read 6 November 2026. Apple also uses a little-endian AIFF-C type called sowt, which this page reads too.

How big the WAV will be

Converting does not shrink or grow the audio: the WAV is the size of the AIFF, give or take a few bytes of header. The 100 MB limit is the only one; there is no limit on length.

FormatOne minuteLongest file under 100 MB
16-bit, 44.1 kHz, stereo10.1 MB9 min 54 s
24-bit, 48 kHz, stereo16.5 MB6 min 04 s
24-bit, 96 kHz, stereo33.0 MB3 min 02 s
16-bit, 44.1 kHz, mono5.0 MB19 min 48 s
Sample rate × bytes per sample × channels × 60. 1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes. The first row is CD quality.

What carries over, and what does not

  • Kept: rate, channels, samples

    44.1, 48, 96 kHz or any other rate stays as it is; there is no rate menu because nothing is resampled. Mono stays mono, stereo stays stereo, and a surround AIFF keeps every channel.

  • Surround files

    A WAV with more than two channels is written in the WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE layout that Microsoft defines for that case. The page does not know which speaker each channel belongs to, so it leaves the speaker map empty.

  • Not kept: markers and loops

    AIFF can store markers, loop points and the note a sample plays. These are not copied, and neither are names or artwork. If your sampler needs loop points, set them again after converting.

  • Compressed AIFF-C

    IMA 4:1, µ-law, A-law and other compressed AIFF-C files are refused, and the message names the type. Export plain AIFF from the app that made the file, then convert that.

Sources

Recording interviews or episodes on a Mac: how to record an interview, podcast transcription.

Is the AIFF a recording of people talking?

A WAV opens in more programs, but you still have to listen to find what was said. ParrotNotes is a phone app that records conversations such as meetings and interviews, and gives you a transcript and a summary.

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Related tools

AIFF to WAV FAQ