How to convert an AIFF to WAV or FLAC on a Mac

AIFF is Apple’s uncompressed audio format, and converting it to WAV or FLAC is lossless in both directions: all three store the exact same audio samples, so the sound never changes, only the wrapper and the file size do. If you want maximum compatibility with editing software and Windows, choose WAV. If you want the same quality in a much smaller file with proper tagging, choose FLAC. Either way, drag the AIFF onto Manatee, choose Convert, and pick your target.

What AIFF, WAV, and FLAC are

AIFF, the Audio Interchange File Format, is Apple’s container for uncompressed PCM audio: the raw, full-quality samples with no compression at all. It is what GarageBand and Logic often export and what a lot of Mac-based recording and CD ripping produces. Because it is uncompressed, an AIFF is large, but it holds everything.

WAV is the same idea from the Windows side: uncompressed PCM in a slightly different wrapper. Sonically, AIFF and WAV are twins; the differences are historical, mainly the internal byte order, and practical, meaning which software prefers which. FLAC is the useful outlier: it compresses the same PCM samples losslessly, so a FLAC file is typically a little over half the size of the AIFF while still decoding back to the identical audio. If the lossless idea is new to you, lossless-vs-lossy-what-happens-to-audio-when-you-convert-it covers it.

Why all three keep the audio intact

Converting AIFF to WAV mostly rewrites the wrapper around the same samples. Converting AIFF to FLAC decodes the PCM and compresses it losslessly, which sounds like more work but changes nothing about the audio, because lossless compression is reversible by definition. In both cases you can decode the result back to PCM and it will be bit-for-bit identical to the AIFF.

This is the opposite of converting to MP3 or M4A, where samples are permanently discarded to shrink the file. So you can convert AIFF to WAV, to FLAC, and back to AIFF as many times as you like without ever degrading the sound. That is the freedom lossless formats give you, and it is worth remembering when you decide what to keep as your master copy.

The audio’s technical shape is preserved along the way too. The sample rate and bit depth that define the recording, whether it is CD-standard 44.1 kHz at 16 bits or a high-resolution 96 kHz at 24 bits, carry straight through into the WAV or FLAC unchanged. Lossless conversion is only about how the same numbers are stored, not about resampling or requantizing them, so a high-resolution AIFF stays high-resolution on the other side.

WAV or FLAC: which should you pick

The two targets suit different jobs.

• Pick WAV when you are handing the file to audio editing or music production software, to someone on Windows, or to hardware that expects plain PCM. WAV is the universal interchange format for uncompressed audio, understood by essentially every editor and recorder. The costs are size, since a WAV is just as big as the AIFF, and weak, inconsistent support for metadata tags.
• Pick FLAC when you want to archive or store the audio, or move it to a phone, a portable player, or a network drive. You get identical quality at roughly half to two-thirds the size, plus reliable support for tags like artist, album, and embedded cover art. The one caveat is that some strictly professional audio tools, and Apple’s own Music app, do not open FLAC, so it is a storage and playback format more than an editing one.

Convert AIFF to WAV or FLAC on the Mac

For AIFF to WAV, the Music app can actually do the job: add the file, set its import settings to WAV, and use the convert option. But it will not produce FLAC at all, since Apple’s apps do not export FLAC, and the Music app route carries its usual downsides of changing a setting and filing the copy inside your library. For FLAC, or for a straightforward conversion that simply lands the new file next to the original, use a converter that supports both targets.

With Manatee:

1. Open Manatee and choose Convert, or drag the AIFF onto the menu bar icon. Finder’s right-click Fix with Manatee under Services works too.
2. Choose WAV or FLAC as the target.
3. Drop in the file, or a folder of AIFFs. Each shows in the job list with progress.
4. The new file is written alongside the AIFF, which is left untouched.

Everything runs on the Mac, and Manatee bundles its own audio engine, so there is nothing else to install.

Questions

Will WAV or FLAC sound different from the AIFF?

No. All three are lossless, so the audio samples are identical. Any difference you think you hear would come from your player or your ears, not the file. The measurable content is the same across all three.

Why is the FLAC so much smaller if it is lossless?

Because lossless compression finds patterns and redundancy in the audio and stores them more compactly, then reverses that when playing, much the way a ZIP archive shrinks a document without losing a word. Nothing is thrown away; the data is just packed tighter.

The Music app will not import my FLAC. Did the conversion fail?

No. The macOS Music app does not support FLAC in its library. If your destination is specifically the Music app or an iPhone, convert the AIFF to M4A instead. If it is any other player or plain storage, FLAC is fine as it is.

Can I convert the AIFF straight to a smaller lossy file instead?

Yes, when size matters more than keeping a perfect copy. Converting AIFF to M4A or MP3 makes a much smaller file at the cost of some detail. Keep the AIFF, or a FLAC of it, as your master so you can recreate the lossy version any time you need to.