ALAC to TAR Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
Apple Lossless and TAR Archive exist for different jobs: ALAC is Apple's lossless codec inside an MP4 container — the iTunes Store lossless tier and every big iOS recording. TAR preserves the exact file tree and permissions that Linux tooling expects.
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 to convert ALAC to TAR
- 1
Select your files
Select your ALAC file — it never leaves your device.
- 2
Convert instantly
The engine packs the file, byte for byte, into a TAR container — no re-encoding, no quality change.
- 3
Download results
Download the finished TAR archive.
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
About the TAR format
TAR (tape archive) is Unix's fifty-year-old answer to bundling: it concatenates files with headers into a single stream, preserving POSIX permissions, ownership and symlinks — but compressing nothing. It is the container half of the classic .tar.gz pairing and the native format of Linux source trees and backups.
Being pure bundling, TAR pairs with a compressor: gzip (the classic), bzip2, zstd. Alone, a TAR is the same size as its contents. Windows 10+ ships bsdtar, so even Windows can unpack it now — permissions aside, where NTFS has no room to be faithful.
+Strengths
- ✓Preserves Unix permissions and symlinks
- ✓Streamable: works over pipes and tapes
- ✓The standard of Linux distribution and backup
!Limitations
- −No compression by itself
- −No built-in encryption
- −Permissions meaningless on Windows filesystems
Why convert ALAC to TAR?
Converting makes sense where the strengths of TAR meet what ALAC cannot give you. Preserves Unix permissions and symlinks Meanwhile Outside Apple ecosystems FLAC wins One pass through the converter above puts your file on the right side of that trade-off.
Frequently asked questions
Is this ALAC to TAR 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 ALAC to TAR?
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.
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.
Will converting ALAC to TAR reduce audio quality?
If TAR is lossless, the output contains everything the ALAC file contains — no further loss is added. If TAR 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.