AIFF vs WAV
AIFF and WAV are the same uncompressed audio in different wrappers: AIFF is Apple's, WAV is Microsoft's. The sound is identical. Use whichever your software expects; WAV is accepted in more places.
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Choose AIFF when
- Logic, GarageBand and Mac workflows that default to it.
- Files you want to tag in Apple Music, which reads AIFF tags better than WAV ones.
Choose WAV when
- Windows software, samplers and anything cross-platform.
- Sending audio to someone whose setup you do not know.
What AIFF actually is
AIFF is Apple's uncompressed audio format, and it is essentially WAV with the bytes in the opposite order. It stores raw samples at full quality and is the traditional working format in Mac-based recording studios.
AIFF and WAV are the same audio at the same size; only the byte order and metadata differ. Converting between them changes nothing you can hear.
What WAV actually is
A WAV file normally holds uncompressed samples exactly as they were recorded: about 10 MB per minute of CD-quality stereo. There is no decoding step, no quality loss, and no ambiguity, which is why it is the working format in recording and editing.
Converting an MP3 to WAV makes the file ten times larger without recovering anything. The detail the MP3 discarded is gone.
AIFF and WAV side by side
| AIFF | WAV | |
|---|---|---|
| Extension | .aiff | .wav |
| Media type | audio/aiff | audio/wav |
| Inside the file | uncompressed big-endian PCM | uncompressed PCM |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| One minute of stereo | about 10 MB | about 10 MB |
| Plays on | Macs, Logic, GarageBand and most DAWs | every editor, DAW and operating system |
| We can write it | Yes | Yes |
Questions
Is AIFF higher quality than WAV?
No. Both store uncompressed PCM. At the same bit depth and sample rate they are identical.
Can I convert AIFF to WAV without loss?
Yes. Only the container changes.