Convert MXF to AAC — Free Online Converter

MXF (Material Exchange Format) is the professional broadcast container standardized under SMPTE ST 377, used across major networks and post-production facilities worldwide. MXF files from broadcast workflows typically contain multiple audio tracks — often 8 or 16 channels carrying separate dialog, music, effects, and alternate language streams recorded at 48 kHz/24-bit PCM quality. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the modern successor to MP3, delivering transparent audio at 128-256 kbps with universal device compatibility.

Converting MXF to AAC extracts audio content from professional broadcast containers and re-encodes it into the most widely supported lossy audio format. This is essential for making broadcast-quality audio accessible outside of professional NLE environments like Avid Media Composer or DaVinci Resolve.

Broadcast MXF files lock audio inside containers that consumer devices and standard media players cannot open. Extracting audio to AAC makes it playable on every smartphone, tablet, computer, and streaming platform. Production teams frequently need to share audio stems, interview recordings, voiceover tracks, or music cues with clients, editors, and stakeholders who lack access to professional editing software.

AAC at 256 kbps delivers near-transparent quality from the PCM audio embedded in MXF files, with file sizes roughly 10-15x smaller than the uncompressed source. For podcast distribution, client review, archival of interview audio, or creating music libraries from broadcast recordings, AAC provides the optimal balance of quality and compatibility.

FFmpeg demuxes the MXF container and extracts audio streams, discarding all video data. MXF broadcast files typically contain PCM audio at 48 kHz/24-bit across multiple tracks. The converter selects the desired audio track (or downmixes all tracks) and transcodes to AAC using the native FFmpeg AAC encoder or libfdk_aac for higher quality. The typical pipeline: `-vn -map 0:a:0 -c:a aac -b:a 256k -ar 48000 -ac 2`. For multi-track extraction, each track can be exported as a separate AAC file.