M4A to AIFF Converter

M4A (MPEG-4 Part 14)

M4A is a file extension used in compressed MPEG-4 audio files that have a lossy compression algorithm. M4A is pretty much very similar to another popular compressed audio format, but is designed to have better quality in the same or even smaller file size. The M4A format was developed by Apple in 2004 and is based on the QuickTime format. Music available for purchase on iTunes usually uses M4A recordings. Many M4A files are encoded with the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) lossy codec to reduce file size. Some M4A files may use the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) instead. The M4A format provides good compression with high sound quality. Any compatible media player will work to play M4A audio, including Apple iTunes, Windows Media Player, VideoLAN VLC media player, Nullsoft Winamp, Apple QuickTime Player, and others.

AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)

The AIFF extension is an audio format file developed by Apple Computer in 1988 based on Electronic Arts' IFF format, and is most commonly used in Apple Macintosh computers. Contains CD-quality audio that is stored in an uncompressed lossless format. The content of the file is uncompressed PCM data, a digitized analog audio signal. Like any uncompressed file, AIFF files take up much more disk space than their compressed counterparts: one minute of stereo audio at 44.1 kHz sampling rate and 16 bits takes about 10 MB. The standard file extension is .AIFF or .AIF, for the compressed version the .AIFC extension must be used. AIFFs are widely supported and can store LPCM, they are suitable file formats for storing and archiving the original recording.