Convert RM to AAC — Free Online Converter
Convert RealMedia (.rm) to Advanced Audio Coding (.aac) online for free. Fast, secure video conversion with no watermarks or registration....
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Works Everywhere
Any browser, any device
How to Convert
Upload your .rm 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 .aac file when it's ready.
About RM to AAC Conversion
RM (RealMedia) files from the late 1990s and early 2000s contain audio encoded with RealAudio codecs — primarily Cook (RA8) for music and voice, or early ACELP variants for low-bitrate speech. These codecs were engineered for dial-up internet streaming, compressing audio to as low as 16-32 kbps for modem-friendly delivery through RealPlayer. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the modern standard for lossy audio compression, delivering superior quality at equivalent bitrates and supported natively on every platform from iOS to web browsers.
Extracting audio from RM into AAC converts a dead proprietary codec into the world's most widely supported lossy audio format. This is essential for anyone who has RM recordings of radio streams, lectures, music broadcasts, or news clips from the early internet era that need to be preserved in a playable format.
Why Convert RM to AAC?
RealAudio codecs are completely unsupported on modern devices. No smartphone, smart speaker, car stereo, or streaming service can decode RealAudio Cook or ACELP streams. The RealPlayer application that once played these files is effectively abandoned — the last meaningful update was over a decade ago. Audio locked inside RM containers is functionally lost without conversion.
AAC is the universal replacement: Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, podcasting platforms, and every mobile OS support AAC natively. Converting RM audio to AAC ensures these recordings survive in a format that will remain playable for decades. The conversion also discards any video data in the RM file, reducing storage requirements by 80-95%.
Common Use Cases
- Extracting audio from archived RM radio stream recordings for podcast libraries
- Recovering lectures and presentations stored as RM files from university archives
- Preserving early internet music broadcasts captured in RealAudio format
- Extracting news broadcast audio from RM clips for journalism archives
- Converting RealAudio voice recordings from corporate training materials to modern format
How It Works
FFmpeg demuxes the RM container and decodes the RealAudio stream — handling Cook (RA8), ACELP, or older RA codecs. The decoded PCM audio is then encoded to AAC-LC using the native AAC encoder at 128 kbps VBR stereo (or mono if the source is mono). The sample rate is preserved from the source, though many RM files use 22.05 kHz or 11.025 kHz rather than the standard 44.1 kHz, reflecting their dial-up optimization.
Quality & Performance
RM audio was typically encoded at 32-96 kbps with RealAudio codecs optimized for speech intelligibility over music fidelity. The source quality is inherently limited — converting to AAC at 128 kbps preserves everything the RM file contains without further degradation, but cannot restore detail that was never captured. For speech-only RM recordings, 64 kbps AAC is more than sufficient.
Device Compatibility
| Device | RM | AAC |
|---|---|---|
| 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
YouTube
Resolution: 1920x1080
Bitrate: 8-12 Mbps
H.264 recommended for fast processing
Resolution: 1080x1080
Bitrate: 3.5 Mbps
Square or 9:16 for Reels
TikTok
Resolution: 1080x1920
Bitrate: 4 Mbps
9:16 vertical, under 60s ideal
Twitter/X
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 5 Mbps
Under 140s, 512MB max
Resolution: 960x540
Bitrate: 2 Mbps
16MB limit for standard, 64MB for document
Discord
Resolution: 1280x720
Bitrate: 4 Mbps
8MB free, 50MB Nitro
Tips for Best Results
- 1Use 64 kbps AAC for speech-only RM recordings — going higher wastes space since the source was probably encoded at 32-48 kbps RealAudio.
- 2For music-containing RM files, use 128 kbps AAC to preserve whatever fidelity the original RealAudio encoding retained.
- 3Check the source sample rate before converting — many RM files are 22.05 kHz, and matching this avoids unnecessary upsampling.
- 4If the RM file contains SureStream multi-bitrate content, use FFmpeg's stream selection to pick the highest quality audio track.
- 5Batch convert entire RM library folders at once rather than one at a time — the files are small enough that hundreds can be processed in minutes.
RM to AAC extraction liberates early internet audio from RealNetworks' defunct format into the universal lossy standard. It is the most practical way to ensure dial-up era recordings remain accessible on modern devices.