(Hint: Sort you Music library by Date Added and those files will float right to the top.) (If you have chosen a different format, its name will appear instead of MP3.) iTunes will convert your files, and you can search for them in your library when it has finished. These are the most common formats for audio files.īack in your playlist, select all the tracks then choose Advanced -> Create MP3 Version. (Converting from one lossy format to another will result in a very slight, but not noticeable, loss of quality.) Click OK several times to to save your settings and to close the Preferences window. But you can choose the same bit rate, so if you have 256-kbps AAC files from the iTunes Store, choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu, and then set the Stereo Bit Rate pop-up entry to 256 Kbps to make sure you don’t lose any quality. You should never choose a higher bit rate than your original files your music won’t sound any better. You can then make changes to these settings-for example, if you want to convert your files to MP3 format, choose MP3 Encoder from the Import Using menu. This shows your current CD-ripping settings (which also apply to conversions made with iTunes).

Open iTunes’ preferences, click on the General icon, then click on the Import Settings button near the bottom of the window. Here’s how:įind the files you want to convert and add them to a new playlist. Say you have some AAC files you bought from the iTunes Store (DRM-free, as all recent iTunes music comes) and want to play them on a device that only supports MP3 files iTunes can do this for you. You can convert to or from any of these formats as needed. iTunes supports AAC, Apple Lossless, MP3, AIFF, and WAV files. (Note that such a conversion can take a long time if you have a lot of files to convert.)Įven though this window says Import Settings, it’s where you choose the settings to convert files.īut you can use iTunes to convert in other ways as well. Just check the Convert Higher Bit Rate Songs To 128 Kbps AAC option on iTunes’ Summary screen for your device when it’s connected to iTunes, and the process will happen automatically when you sync. This often makes sense if your device has limited storage and/or you listen to your music outdoors or on the go, where a difference in quality (say from 256 kbps to 128 kbps) won’t be very noticeable.

You can have iTunes convert music files to 128-kbps AAC when syncing to an iOS device if you wish, for example. One reason to convert files to another format, or even another bit rate, is to save space. Depending on your originals, and the reason for the conversion, there are different ways you can do so. There may come a time when you’ll want to convert some of your audio files to a different format.

Files from other sites may be in FLAC or even WAV format the former is the most common for lossless files, notably from sites that sell live or classical music. If you’ve purchased from Amazon, you’ll have MP3 files, most likely in VBR (variable bit rate compression), so the bit rate you see will be an average. If you’ve bought music from the iTunes Store, you’ll have AAC files at 256 kbps (that’s kilobits per second, an indication of the quality of the compression higher numbers are better). Finally, some are uncompressed, such as WAV and AIFF they represent the exact data from a CD or a master. Some formats are lossless, such as Apple Lossless, FLAC, and SHN these files can be converted back to their original form without the loss of a single bit. Some are lossy, such as AAC and MP3 they save space compared to the original files, but some of the original data is lost during compression. Audio files come in a number of different formats.

Mp3 converter to wav for mac