iLoveConverter

AAC to ALAC Converter

FreeNo uploadNo watermarkBatch support
AAC ALAC
100% private — files never leave your device

Convert ALAC to FLAC for non-Apple players, or MP3 for sharing. If your files are still in AAC format, this page is the shortcut: AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the successor to MP3 — about 30% better quality at equal bitrates, used by YouTube, iPhone and most streamers.

This converter runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly — your files never leave your device, nothing is uploaded, and there are no watermarks, sign-ups or queues. Drop in several files at once to convert them as a batch.

How AAC compares to ALAC

AAC ALAC
Compatibility Streaming/broadcast standard iOS, macOS, iTunes, ffmpeg
Best for Streaming and mobile audio Apple-ecosystem lossless libraries

How to convert AAC to ALAC

  1. 1

    Select your files

    Drag & drop your AAC files onto the area above, or click to browse. You can add multiple files at once for batch conversion.

  2. 2

    Convert instantly

    Click "Convert to ALAC". The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly — no upload, no queue, no waiting.

  3. 3

    Download results

    Download each converted ALAC file individually, or grab everything at once as a ZIP archive.

About the AAC format

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is MP3's official successor, standardized in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 and refined over two decades. It is the audio track of YouTube, iPhone voice memos, digital radio and HE-AAC streaming — arguably the most-played codec in history. Files appear either raw (.aac, ADTS stream) or inside M4A/MP4 containers.

Its claim to fame is low-bitrate performance: HE-AAC v1/v2 keep speech and music listenable at 24–64 kbps, where MP3 collapses. Raw .aac streams carry weaker tagging than the M4A container, which is why music libraries prefer M4A even when the codec is identical.

+ Strengths

  • ✓The standard of streaming, mobile and broadcast
  • ✓Excellent low-bitrate behavior (HE-AAC)
  • ✓Better than MP3 at equal bitrate

! Limitations

  • −Raw .aac files tag poorly
  • −Flavor fragmentation (LC/HE/xHE) confuses tooling

About the ALAC format

ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is Apple's FLAC equivalent: bit-exact lossless compression inside an MP4 container, opened-source in 2011 and now native on every Apple device and most server-side pipelines. It is what iTunes Store sells as "lossless" and what iPhone recordings encode to by default.

For non-Apple players FLAC is the safer target, and conversion is sample-exact in both directions — the decode is handled by ffmpeg's native ALAC decoder without any Apple runtime.

+ Strengths

  • ✓Native on every Apple device
  • ✓Open source since 2011
  • ✓Reasonable sizes inside MP4

! Limitations

  • −Outside Apple ecosystems FLAC wins
  • −Slightly worse ratios than FLAC
  • −Confusing .m4a extension doubles as lossy

Why convert AAC to ALAC?

Think of it as moving your file to the container that fits the job. Raw .aac files tag poorly ALAC works differently: Native on every Apple device If any of that sounds like your task, run the conversion — it takes seconds and nothing leaves your device.

Frequently asked questions

Is this AAC to ALAC converter really free?

Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.

Are my files uploaded to a server?

No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.

Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?

Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.

Is there a file size limit for AAC to ALAC?

The only limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded. Files up to a few hundred megabytes work fine on a modern desktop browser; very large files simply take a little longer.

Will converting AAC to ALAC reduce audio quality?

If ALAC is lossless, the output contains everything the AAC file contains — no further loss is added. If ALAC is lossy, one recompression pass is unavoidable; the quality slider controls how much. Loss that already happened in the source file can never be undone by converting.

Are tags like title and artist preserved?

Tag handling varies between target formats and this conversion focuses on the audio itself. For archival copies where tags matter, keep the original file; the converted copy is for playback and sharing.

Popular AAC conversions