AAC, MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding File (.aac)

The AAC Audio file format

AAC files were designed with the intention of replacing MP3’s. The lossy compression provides better audio quality at similar bit rates. AAC files are standardized by the ISO/IEC as part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 families though it was first introduced into the MPEG-2 Part 7 family. AAC files contain more sample frequencies than MP3’s, as well as up to 48 channels, higher efficiency of coding and filter banks, and higher coding accuracy for transient signals. Much like MP3 files, AAC files remove audio at frequencies the human ear cannot process to create smaller and more manageable files. The file size is significantly smaller with AAC files compared to MP3 files.

Technical details of AAC files

The MPEG-2 part 7 is defined with three profiles: Low Complexity (AAC-LC), Main profile (AAC Main), and Scalable Sampling Rate profile (AAC-SSR). AAC files allows temporal noise shaping, a non-uniform quantizer, and reworking of bitstream format (for 16 stereo channels, 16 mono channels, 16 low-frequency channels, and 16 commentary channels in a single bitstream). In 1999, the MPEG-2 part 7 was included in the MPEG-4 Part 3. This added Audio Object Types and Perceptual Noise Substitution. The current AAC standard is specified in ISO/IEC standard 14496-3. Audio masking is used in the lossy compression of the audio to discard of unneeded data while retaining quality.

More information about the AAC file format

File extension .aac
File category Audio
Example file Download example.aac file (1.2 MiB)
Associated programs Windows Media Player
iTunes
KMPlayer
RealPlayer
VideoLAN VLC Media Player
Useful links More information on AAC
File conversion Convert a file to AAC
Developer Fraunhofer IIS, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Dolby, and Sony Corporation

Convert your AAC file to another file format

  1. AAC to AIFF
  2. AAC to FLAC
  3. AAC to M4A
  4. AAC to MMF
  5. AAC to MP3
  6. AAC to OGG
  7. AAC to OPUS
  8. AAC to WAV
  9. AAC to WMA
  10. AAC to 3GP
  11. AAC to ZIP
  12. AAC to MP4
  13. AAC to WEBM

Convert your audio file to the AAC format

  1. WMV to AAC
  2. 3GP to AAC
  3. WAV to AAC
  4. DOCX to AAC
  5. JPG to AAC
  6. MP4 to AAC
  7. MP3 to AAC
  8. M3U8 to AAC
  9. ZIP to AAC
  10. WMA to AAC
  11. MPEG to AAC
  12. M4A to AAC
  13. M4P to AAC
  14. FLV to AAC
  15. FLAC to AAC
  16. M4B to AAC
  17. MID to AAC
  18. OPUS to AAC
  19. AIFF to AAC
  20. MOV to AAC

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