Introduction
Apple Music, previously known as iTunes, is a popular streaming platform. Despite the name, it allows its users to stream both audio and video files. It is not limited to streaming either; the users may choose to download purchased music to their devices to listen offline. That sounds great – and it is – but there’s one limitation. By default, when you download music from Apple Music, you get a 256kbit AAC file. By using AAC file format to store music, Apple Music achieves good (but not perfect) audio quality while keeping it lightweight enough to be suitable for streaming. However, file size doesn’t matter as much when you store music on your computer. And so, some users would prefer to download music in a lossless format such as AIFF. But is such a thing possible? Keep reading to find out.
Is it possible to download music from Apple Music in AIFF?
The answer, unfortunately, is no. It is not possible. Apple Music provides no option to download music in AIFF; only AAC file format is available. You may convert any AAC files you’ve downloaded from Apple Music into AIFF, but this will not improve the quality of music. Nonetheless, this may still be useful, for example, if you have a device that can play AIFF files but cannot play AAC.
Use Apple Music to convert audio to AIFF
Though there are many audio conversion programs that can convert AAC to AIFF, including several online ones, you will not need any of them. Apple Music itself provides this functionality, so you don’t need to download any new programs or use any websites. Here’s what you need to do to accomplish this.
- Open Apple Music.
- Click Music > Preferences if using a Mac, or Edit > Preferences if using a PC.
- Select the Files tab, then click Import Settings.
- Click on the drop-down menu named Import Using and select AIFF Encoder, then click OK.
Now you will be able to use Apple Music to convert any audio file to AIFF.
Convert music in your Apple Music library
To convert songs that are already in your Apple Music library, select all of them, then click File > Convert > Create AIFF Version. This option should also be available in the right-click menu.
Convert any audio file on your computer
Hold down the Option key if using a Mac, or the Shift key if using a PC. Then, click File > Convert > Convert to AIFF. Apple Music will prompt you to select a folder with music in it. Select the desired folder and proceed with the conversion.
Summary
Apple Music does not allow its users to download music in AIFF, only in AAC. However, you can convert AAC files to AIFF after downloading them. There are many programs that can perform such a conversion, but the easiest way to do it is to use Apple Music itself. It should be noted that doing so will not improve the audio quality, but it can be used to play these songs on devices that don’t support AAC. You may also want to read our article explaining how to download audio from YouTube on Mac.