Convert AIFC to ALAC — Free Online Converter
Convert AIFF-C Compressed Audio (.aifc) to Apple Lossless Audio Codec (.alac) online for free. Fast, secure audio conversion with no watermarks or reg...
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Upload your .aifc file by dragging it into the upload area or clicking to browse.
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About AIFC to ALAC Conversion
AIFC (AIFF-C) is Apple's legacy compressed audio format from the late 1980s, supporting codecs like IMA ADPCM, MACE 3:1/6:1, and G.711 variants alongside uncompressed PCM. ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is Apple's modern lossless compression format, introduced in 2004 and open-sourced in 2011. ALAC achieves 40-60% compression of PCM data without any quality loss.
Converting AIFC to ALAC moves legacy Apple audio into Apple's current lossless standard. ALAC plays natively on every Apple device — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, HomePod — and is the format used by Apple Music for lossless streaming. This conversion bridges two generations of Apple audio technology.
Why Convert AIFC to ALAC?
AIFC's compressed codecs (MACE, IMA ADPCM) have zero support on modern Apple devices. You cannot play a MACE-compressed AIFC file on an iPhone or through Apple Music. ALAC, as Apple's official lossless codec, works everywhere in the Apple ecosystem without any compatibility concerns.
For AIFC files containing uncompressed PCM, converting to ALAC provides genuine lossless compression — reducing file size by 40-60% while preserving bit-perfect audio quality. This is a strict improvement: smaller files, identical audio, and universal Apple device support. Even for MACE-compressed AIFC sources, ALAC wraps the decompressed audio in a modern, well-supported container.
Common Use Cases
- Migrating a classic Mac audio library to Apple's modern lossless ecosystem
- Preparing AIFC sound archives for Apple Music lossless upload requirements
- Converting legacy AIFC recordings for playback on iPhone and HomePod
- Preserving AIFC audio in a lossless format that will remain supported for decades
- Building an ALAC music library from vintage Mac OS audio collections
How It Works
FFmpeg decodes the AIFC container — handling PCM, IMA ADPCM, MACE, u-law, or A-law transparently — to raw PCM samples. The ALAC encoder then compresses these samples using predictive coding and entropy coding, achieving lossless compression ratios of 40-60%. The output is wrapped in an M4A (MPEG-4 Audio) container, which is the standard wrapper for ALAC on Apple platforms. All metadata fields (title, artist, album) are mapped to the M4A tag structure.
Quality & Performance
ALAC is mathematically lossless — the decoded output is bit-for-bit identical to the PCM input fed to the encoder. For AIFC files containing uncompressed PCM, the full conversion chain is lossless. For AIFC files with MACE or IMA ADPCM, the ALAC output faithfully preserves whatever quality the compressed AIFC source contained, without adding any further degradation. ALAC's compression is entirely reversible.
Device Compatibility
| Device | AIFC | ALAC |
|---|---|---|
| Windows PC | Partial | Partial |
| macOS | Partial | Native |
| iPhone/iPad | Partial | Native |
| Android | Partial | Partial |
| Linux | Partial | Partial |
| Web Browser | No | No |
Recommended Settings by Platform
Spotify
Resolution: N/A
Bitrate: 320 kbps
OGG Vorbis preferred
Apple Music
Resolution: N/A
Bitrate: 256 kbps
AAC format required
SoundCloud
Resolution: N/A
Bitrate: 128 kbps
Lossless FLAC/WAV for best quality
Podcast
Resolution: N/A
Bitrate: 128 kbps
MP3 mono for spoken word
Tips for Best Results
- 1Use ALAC for Apple-centric workflows and FLAC for cross-platform needs — both are lossless, so you can convert between them without quality loss
- 2M4A is the correct container for ALAC — do not use raw ALAC bitstreams as they lack metadata support
- 3For AIFC files with MACE compression, consider extracting to WAV first to verify audio quality before committing to ALAC archival
- 4Batch convert entire AIFC collections at once — ALAC encoding is fast even on modest hardware
- 5Tag your ALAC files with proper metadata after conversion to maintain an organized Apple Music library
AIFC to ALAC is the ideal conversion for bringing legacy Apple audio into the modern Apple lossless ecosystem. PCM sources are preserved bit-perfectly; compressed sources are wrapped in a universally supported modern container.