What are AIFF, AIF and AIFC files?

In this article we will learn what are AIFF, AIF and AIFC files?And how to open, edit and convert AIFF, AIF and AIFC files.

The files ending in .AIF or .AIFF areAudio Interchange File Format files.This file format was developed by Apple in 1988, based on the exchangefile format(Interchange file format -.IFF).

Unlike a popular audio format that is MP3, AIFF and AIF files cannot be compressed.This means that these files support higher quality audio retention than MP3, but at the same time they also take up a significant amount of memory (usually 10 MB for each music file about 1 minute in duration). ).

Windows software often adds .AIF file extensions to these files, while MacOS users are more likely to see it as .AIFF.

What are AIFF, AIF and AIFC files? Picture 1

A popular variant of AIFF format (can be compressed and therefore uses less disk space) is called AIFF-C or AIFC, short for compressed audio file format (Compressed Audio Interchange) File Format).Files in this format often have an extension called .AIFC.

How to open AIFF and AIF files?

You can play AIFF & AIF files on Windows Media Player, Apple iTunes, Apple QuickTime, VLC, Media Player Classic and on most other popular multimedia players.Mac computers can also open AIFF and AIF files with similar Apple programs.

However, Apple devices such as iPhone and iPad can play AIFF / AIF files naturally without the application.But for non-Apple devices, you may need to have somefile converters(files converter) that will be mentioned belowif you cannot play one of these files.

How to convert AIF and AIFF files

If you already have iTunes on your computer, you can use this software to convert AIFF and AIF file formats to other formats like MP3.Just open the file you want to convert in iTunes, then right-click on the file and go to File> Convert> Create MP3 Version.

You can also convert AIFF / AIF to formats such as WAV, FLAC, AAC, AC3, M4A, M4R, WMA, RA and other formats by using the free file converters.For example, DVDVideoSoft's Free Studio is a great free audio file converter, but if you only need to convert a small number of AIFF files, you can use an online converter too. such as FileZigZag or Zamzar . For the sake of downloading and installing.

What are AIFF, AIF and AIFC files? Picture 2

How to open and convert AIFC files

If you use the compressed version of the AIF audio exchange file format (identifiable via the .AIFC file extension), they have the same sound quality but on CD and similar to WAV files , except that they are in compressed form (like ULAW, ALAW or G722) to reduce the overall size of the file.

Like AIFF and AIF files, AIFC files can also be opened with Apple's iTunes and QuickTime software, as well as with Windows Media Player, VLC, Adobe Audition, vgmstream and some other popular media players.

If you need to convert AIFC files to other audio formats like MP3, WAV, AIFF, WMA, M4A, etc. Please refer to theTop 10 best audio and audio conversion software today.Many of the software in this list will require you to download and install on your computer to use it, called offline conversion software.However, just like with the uncompressed audio file format mentioned above, AIFC files can also be converted online using tools like FileZigZag and Zamzar.

How if you still can't open the file?

If you have tried all themedia players mentioned above and still cannot open the file, the first thing to do is to check the format of the file as standard.Please re-read the file extension again and make sure you are not confused with other formats with similar names.For example, AIT, AIR and AFI can easily be confused as an AIFF or AIF file.There are also a number of other popular file formats that can be confusing like IAF (Outlook Internet account file), FIC (WinDev Hyper file database) and AFF (descriptive dictionary file).

If your file doesn't work as described in this article, double-check the file extension and then research, learn more about the file format and find the program that supports opening or converting that file type.

See more:

1. What is MP4 file? How to open MP4 file?
2. List of some types of files that are potentially dangerous on Windows
3. What is a DLL file? Why does the computer sometimes notice that the DLL file is missing?