Convert AAC to WAV
Free online converter for AAC files. Uncompressed PCM audio for editing and mastering. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
Drag and drop your files
or
Upload a AAC file to convert it to WAV. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About AAC and WAV
AAC .aac
MP3's designated successor, and the default in the Apple ecosystem and most streaming services. Better sound than MP3 at the same bitrate.
Good for
- Noticeably better than MP3 at equal bitrates
- The default across Apple devices and most streaming
- Handles multichannel audio properly
Trade-offs
- Lossy
- Patent licensing is more involved than Opus or Vorbis
audio/aac
WAV .wav
Raw uncompressed audio samples in a thin container. Exactly what came off the recorder, at roughly 10 MB per minute of stereo CD-quality sound.
Good for
- Bit-for-bit perfect — nothing is discarded
- No decoding overhead, so editors handle it fastest
- The standard working format for recording and editing
Trade-offs
- Very large — around 10 MB per minute
- No built-in tags for artist or album
- Impractical for distribution or streaming
audio/wav
AAC and WAV side by side
| AAC | WAV | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy | Uncompressed PCM |
| Typically used for | Streaming, Apple devices, video soundtracks | Recording, editing, mastering |
What changes when you convert AAC to WAV
This is a re-encode, not a repackage
Some tools can move a stream into a different container untouched when the codecs happen to line up. We do not — every job here is decoded and encoded again, so the conversion takes time in proportion to the length of the file and costs a small amount of quality even where a repackage would have been possible. In exchange the output is predictable: it plays everywhere, rather than inheriting whatever the source happened to contain.
What your WAV will contain
The output is 16-bit PCM — as uncompressed 16-bit PCM, the format CDs use. There is no quality setting because nothing is being decided: every sample is stored literally. Expect around 10 MB per minute of stereo audio, which is the price of a format that every editor and every piece of hardware will open.
Quality cannot come back
AAC already discarded detail permanently, and WAV stores exactly what it is given. The result will be considerably larger while sounding identical to the AAC you started from — lossless preserves, it does not restore. That is still the right move if you are about to edit, because further saves will not degrade it again.
Tags may not survive intact
AAC stores its metadata as ID3, and WAV uses RIFF INFO chunks, which many players ignore entirely. Standard fields such as title, artist and album normally map across. Anything without an equivalent on the other side — unusual custom fields, some ratings and play counts, occasionally embedded artwork — has nowhere to go. Check the tags before deleting the original if your library depends on them.