M4A to AIF: Convert Audio from M4A(MPEG-4 Audio) to AIF(AIFF/AIFC Apple Audio) with River Past Audio Converter, M4A2AIF converter, conversion

What is M4A?

Because of its exceptional performance and quality, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is at the core of the MPEG-4, 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications and is the audio codec of choice for Internet, wireless and digital broadcast arenas. AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.

To convert MPEG-4 audio to other formats, you need to have Apple QuickTime installed.

What is AIF?

Short for Audio Interchange File Format, a common format for storing and transmitting sampled sound. The format was developed by Apple Computer and is the standard audio format for Macintosh computers. It is also used by Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI).

The AIFF format is uncompressed so AIFF files tend to be large. However, there is another format called AIFF-Compressed (AIFF-C or AIFC) that supports compression ratios as high as 6:1.

AIFF files generally end with an .AIF or .IEF extension.

AIFC files generally end with an .AIFC extension.

AIFF and AIFC are standard audio format used on MacOS systems. AIFF is not compressed. AIFC is compressed.

To encode AIF audio, please make sure Apple QuickTime is installed.

Launch River Past Audio Converter

Once River Past Audio Converter is installed properly, launch Audio Converter.

Add File

Click on the "Add File" button on the tool bar. The standard file open dialog appears. Select "M4A - MPEG-4 Audio" in its "Files of type" combo box.

Select the file you want to convert and click "Open". The file will be added to the conversion file list.

If you cannot add the M4A file, you may need to install QuickTime. We use QuickTime to decode compressed MPEG-4 Audio files.

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Select output format

Use the setting panel on the bottom of the window to control the output format. Click on the toggle to the left of the "Format" label to expand the panel. Select "AIF - Audio Interchanged File Format" as the "Audio Type".

Troubleshoot

If you don't see the AIF output option, you have a problem with your QuickTime installation.

You need to have the latest QuickTime installed. Occasionally, QuickTime may be corrupted. In any case, reinstall QuickTime should fix this problem.

You can change the compressor, and depending on the compressor, you can change the sample rate, channel (stereo or mono), bits/sample, and bitrate.

When "16 bit LPCM" or "16 bit PCM" is selected as the "Compressor", the file is uncompressed, and satisfy the original AIFF specification. When other compressors are used, the file is compressed and is considered to be an AIFC file.

Select output directory

Expand the "Output Directory" panel. Use the "Browse" button to select an output directory.

Convert

Click the "Convert" button on the tool bar.

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