AAC Issues You Cannot Miss

Summary: What is AAC? How to convert AAC to MP3/FLAC/WAV/ALAC? What is the difference of AAC VS MP3, AC VS AC3, AAC VS ALAC, AAC VS WAV? Find all answers in the following description.

• Part 1. What is AAC file
• Part 2. AAC VS MP3 VS AC3 VS ALAC VS WAV
• Part 3. AAC conversion
• Part 4. AAC player

Part 1. What is AAC file

AAC, Advanced Audio Coding, is the standard for lossy digital audio compression. This file is the standard audio format for YouTube, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, iTunes, DivX Plus Web Player, PlayStation 3 and various Nokia Series 40 phones. The AAC codec is supported on PlayStation Vita, Wii, Sony Walkman MP3 series and later, Android and BlackBerry. AAC is also supported by manufacturers of in-dash car audio systems.

Part 2. AAC VS MP3 VS AC3 VS ALAC VS WAV

AAC, as the audio format, is different from other audio formats like MP3, AC3, ALAC, WAV, etc. Check the difference between them.

AAC VS MP3

Though AAC and MP3 is the lossy audio file, but they are still different. See AAC VS MP3 in the following list:

Features	AAC	MP3
File size	AAC Compressed size is slightly smaller than MP3DVD disc/folder/ISO file
Quality	AAC file sounds much better than MP3 at the same bit rate
Compatibility	iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Microsoft's Zune, Sony PS3/PSP, and some mobile phones	Common devices
Extension	*.m4a, *.m4b, *.m4p, *.m4v, *.m4r, *.3gp, *.mp4, *.aac	*.mp3

AC3 VS AAC

AC3, also AC-3, is the Dolby Digital audio codec. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. And Dolby Digital is the common version containing up to six discrete channels of sound. It is now also used for other applications such as TV broadcast, radio broadcast via satellite, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and game consoles. Find the difference between AC3 and AAC.

Features	AAC	AC3
File size	AAC uses less space while preserving sound quality than AC3
Quality	AAC produceS better audio quality than AC3 with the same bitrate, especially on low bitrates
Compatibility	YouTube, iTunes, DivX Plus Web Player, PlayStation Vita, Wii, etc.	Widely used in HDTV broadcast, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and game consoles
Extension	*.m4a, *.m4b, *.m4p, *.m4v, *.m4r, *.3gp, *.mp4, *.aac	*.ac3

Apple Lossless Audio Codec VS AAC

ALAC, Apple Lossless Audio Codec, is the lossless data compression of digital music developed by Apple. Let's see ALAC VS AAC as below:

Features	AAC	ALAC
File size	ALAC file size is three times larger than the same AAC song
Quality	WAV is sound quality better than ALAC
Compatibility	iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Microsoft's Zune, Sony PS3/PSP, and some mobile phones	iTunes software (either the Mac OS or Windows versions) or by iOS devices
Extension	*.m4a, *.m4b, *.m4p, *.m4v, *.m4r, *.3gp, *.mp4, *.aac	*.m4a

AAC VS WAV

WAV, Waveform Audio File Format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. Check the comparison between AAC and WAV.

Features	AAC	MP3
File size	WAV with no compression takes up more space than AAC
Quality	WAV is sound quality better than ALAC
Compatibility	iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Microsoft's Zune, Sony PS3/PSP, and some mobile phones	Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems
Extension	*.m4a, *.m4b, *.m4p, *.m4v, *.m4r, *.3gp, *.mp4, *.aac	*.wav, *.wave

Part 3. AAC conversion

From the above description, you must know that AAC has its advantages and disadvantages. In compatibility and file size, it may be not the best option for you. So for getting a smaller audio file size or put AAC on more players for easy playback, you need to make MP3 conversion.

How to convert AAC to MP3/WAV/M4R/AIFF/FLAC/ALAC, etc.

Free Video Converter is the free video audio converter, which can help you convert AAC (.m4p) to other audio formats, like MP3, WMV, FLAC, etc. so you can easily play AAC file.

Step 1 Add AAC file

After installing this software, run this interface. Click "Add File(s)" to load AAC files.

Step 2 Select output format

Select the output format from "Output format" as MP3, AIFF, ALAC, ALAC, WAV, etc.

Step 3 Convert AAC

Click "Convert" to start to convert AAC to MP3 or other audio formats.

How to create AAC version in iTunes

As mentioned as before, AAC is compatible with iTunes. iTunes is not only compatible with AAC, but also MP3, AIFF, ALAC, are also supported. When you get a MP3 file, you could also use iTunes to create AAC version. Check the steps below to convert MP3 to AC on iTunes.

Step 1 Set AAC importing on iTunes

Run the latest iTunes on your computer, go to "Edit" > "Preferences" > "General" > "Import Settings" > Select "AAC Encoder" from Import Using and click "OK" to save the changes.

Step 2 Add MP3/AIFF/WAV/ALAC music file to iTunes

After making all settings, you could add MP3/AIFF/WAV/ALAC songs to iTunes by dragging them into iTunes directly. Or click "File" > "Add File to Library" to put the songs to iTunes.

Step 3 Create AAC version in iTunes

Select the songs that you want to convert to AAC, click "File" > "Convert" > "Create AAC Version". Here you could select more than one song with the Ctrl keyboard. Then you just copy the converted AAC songs by right-clicking the mouse, and paste them on the places on your computer. Then you just need to change the file extension from .m4a to .m4r.

Note: This way is available for you to create MP3, AAC, ALAC, AIFF and WAV version in iTunes. But this method is not applied to the songs downloaded from iTunes Store.

Part 4. AAC player

AAC format is compatible with iTunes, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Microsoft's Zune, Sony PS3/PSP, and some mobile phones, but it is not playable for other players. So here you could use a mighty audio player to help you.