Convert RAW Audio to AIFF — Free Online Converter
Convert Raw PCM Audio (.raw-audio) to Audio Interchange File Format (.aiff) online for free. Fast, secure audio conversion with no watermarks or regis...
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How to Convert
Upload your .raw file by dragging it into the upload area or clicking to browse.
Choose your output settings. The default settings work great for most files.
Click Convert and download your .aiff file when it's ready.
About RAW Audio to AIFF Conversion
Raw PCM audio is a headerless binary stream of audio samples — the absolute minimum representation of digitized sound. Without embedded metadata, every playback parameter must be supplied externally: sample rate, bit depth, byte order, and channel configuration. This format is encountered in audio hardware testing, FPGA audio development, embedded DSP pipelines, and scientific data acquisition systems where container overhead is eliminated for maximum throughput or simplicity.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is Apple's uncompressed audio container, based on the IFF chunk structure from the Amiga era. It stores PCM audio in big-endian byte order with a structured header containing sample rate, bit depth, channel count, and optional metadata chunks. AIFF is the native lossless format for macOS audio workflows, Logic Pro, GarageBand, and professional recording studios that operate within the Apple ecosystem.
Why Convert RAW Audio to AIFF?
Raw PCM and AIFF both contain uncompressed audio samples, but raw audio lacks the self-describing header that makes AIFF immediately usable. Converting raw to AIFF adds the IFF/AIFF header structure that tells any player exactly how to interpret the samples — sample rate, bit depth, channels, byte order, and total frame count. The audio data itself remains uncompressed and mathematically identical.
AIFF is essential for Apple-centric professional audio workflows. Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and GarageBand natively import AIFF without any codec negotiation. Audio engineers working with DSP hardware or embedded systems can convert their raw test captures to AIFF for immediate import into their Mac-based production tools without any quality compromise.
Common Use Cases
- Adding headers to raw DSP output for direct import into Logic Pro or GarageBand sessions
- Converting FPGA audio test captures into a format compatible with macOS audio analysis tools
- Packaging raw hardware test bench recordings for delivery to Apple-platform audio engineers
- Creating self-describing lossless archives of raw scientific acoustic measurements
- Preparing raw interleaved PCM from embedded systems for professional mastering workflows
How It Works
FFmpeg reads the raw input with explicit format specification: `-f s16le -ar 44100 -ac 2` for 16-bit signed little-endian stereo at 44.1 kHz. The converter performs byte-order swapping from little-endian (common in x86 and ARM systems) to big-endian (AIFF standard) and writes the IFF/AIFF header with COMM (common) and SSND (sound data) chunks. The PCM samples are preserved bit-for-bit after endianness conversion — no compression or resampling occurs unless explicitly requested.
Quality & Performance
This is a lossless container conversion. Raw PCM samples are preserved exactly — the only transformation is byte-order normalization and the addition of AIFF header chunks. No audio data is modified, resampled, or compressed. The conversion is bit-perfect assuming the input parameters match the actual raw file format. AIFF maintains the full bit depth and sample rate of the original raw data.
Device Compatibility
| Device | RAW Audio | AIFF |
|---|---|---|
| Windows PC | Partial | Partial |
| macOS | Partial | Partial |
| iPhone/iPad | Partial | Partial |
| 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
- 1Verify byte order of your raw source — x86 and ARM systems produce little-endian (`s16le`), while some legacy hardware outputs big-endian (`s16be`)
- 2Use AIFF-C variant (compressed AIFF) only if you need Apple ALAC encoding inside an AIFF-like container
- 3For multichannel raw audio (surround recordings), specify the exact channel count to ensure AIFF interleaving is correct
- 4Add a descriptive title via `-metadata title=` to document the recording source and parameters for future reference
- 5AIFF files have a 4 GB size limit due to the 32-bit chunk size field — for very long raw recordings, consider WAV or FLAC
Raw audio to AIFF conversion wraps headerless binary samples in Apple's professional lossless container, adding the metadata structure needed for immediate use in macOS audio production tools with zero quality loss.