Apple Lossless extension

If I import an aiff file to Apple Lossless, the file extension is m4a and the "Kind" is MPEG-4, same as AAC.
Is that correct and can someone explain why?

The encoding is done in iTunes. I create a new playlist in iTunes. I drag an AIFF file from the Finder window into the empty playlist window. I set the iTunes Preferences to "Import Using Apple Lossless Encoder." Then, under the Advanced menu, I select "Convert Selection to Apple Lossless." iTunes places the resulting file in a folder named Unknown Album (within an Unknown Artist folder). I then repeat the process with the new compressed file, that is, I add the file to an iTunes playlist, change the Preferences to "Import Using AIFF" and select "Convert Selection to AIFF" under the Advanced menu. I Then compare the 2 AIFF files with the Finder's Get Info menu item. The file sizes are different as I indicated above.
If you have a small AIFF file handy, try it yourself and tell me what you get.

Similar Messages

Apple Lossless in Windows

I have iTunes working in Windows.
I have Windows Media Player automatically adding (unprotected) iTunes tracks.
I have Windows Media Player reading tags in AAC tracks (from iTunes).
I have Windows Media Player able to play AAC tracks (from iTunes).
I have Media Center also able to see and play these AAC tracks!
I have Windows Media Player able to read tags in Apple Lossless files (which use the same m4a file format and extension and tags as AAC tracks).
What I am not able to do is get Windows Media Player to play Apple Lossless files. So far I have not found a codec to do this.
This is a bit surprising since nearly every other Windows player can play Apple Lossless (e.g. WinAmp, MPlayer, etc.).
Has anyone else managed to find a solution?

It is also possible to get Windows Media Player to play Apple Lossless files as well. (In case that's what your friend really meant.)
See http://jelockwood.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/using-apple-lossless-aka-alac-in-window s.html

Apple Lossless as a Movie

Hi all,
I have recently bought an iPod 5G (not arrived yet), so I'm editing all my audio files, and I've noticed that Apple Lossless files (with .m4a file extension) are listed as Movie files. How to fix this problem? Will I have the same problem on my iPod?

If I understood right your question (I'm Italian), there's the info of the file from Windows Explorer:
http://prntscr.com/3qsow8
http://prntscr.com/3qsnhg
And this is the iTunes window:
http://prntscr.com/3qsoji
Those files were originally FLAC, but I read on the internet that iPod doesn't read this file extension so I have converted the files (with a software called "Super") to Apple Loseless (hopefully the quality will be almost the same)

No settings for Apple Lossless Audio Codec found in Compressor

For archiving reasons I have to convert many audio files to Apple Lossless (ALAC). So I thought it would be easy using Compressor 4 and and a suitable droplet. I was astonished that here are only settings for the following audio formats: AAC, AC3, AIFF, CAF, MP3 and WAV.
No Apple Lossless Codec in the settings?
Does anyone know how to create ALAC files

Thomas A. wrote:
This setting generates a QuickTime file with the extension .mov
Of course it does. Why would that be a problem? "Apple Lossless" is not a file format, it's a codec.
OK, if I change the extension manually to m4a it seems to be an ALAC file, but I am not sure if it a "correct" one in regard to the specifications.
There is no "ALAC" file format specification. What are you going to use the files for?
ALAC isn't specified at all. The audio codec is called "Apple Lossless", and it is a set of algorithms to encode audio data, and a specification for a bitstream of audio data encoded such. It can be put in various containers, the most common being MPEG-4 and Apple Quicktime, but nothing will stop you from using AVI, .mkv, .ogg or anything else as the container format.
If you're unhappy with Compressor, which only seems to offer the QuickTime container format for Apple Lossless-encoded audio, there might be other tools that will transfer it into another container while leaving the actual encoded data untouched.
Since the Apple Lossless codec is now free, mencoder might work, even for the encoding itself. I haven't checked MPEG Streamclip, Handbrake, VLC or others, which might also offer such options.
Quick tests didn't yield any success, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't work.
An alternative for lessless encoding is the "FLAC" (free lossless audio codec), which is usually stored in an ogg container file. I don't think Compressor offers that, although VLC does.
It seems that the exact thing you want is not readily available (i. e. mpeg-4 audio-only with Apple Lossless audio codec.)
Bernd

Ripping CDs via Apple Lossless

In anticipation of the launch of iTunes Match, I started ripping my CDs in Apple Lossless format. I ripped two CDs but then I notice that those tracks were not available on my Windows Media Player as well as for Amazon cloud drive. I then converted the files to AAC via iTunes, which made them compatible with Amazon (haven't tested the WMP yet). However, all the tracks were duplicated in iTunes. Is there any way to avoid this, basically have both Apple Lossless and AAC files in my machine, but not duplicate my iTunes albums? Thanks!

It is perfectly possible to get WMP 12 in WIndows 7 to accept Apple Lossless files, to play them, and even to read the embedded metadata including the embedded album artwork. I cannot comment about Amazon's cloud, however even Apple's own iCloud only supports AAC format in that via iTunes Match (when turned on by Apple) it will provide only 256kbit AAC even if your own iTunes copy is in something else like Apple lossless.
To get WMP 12 and Windows 7 to accept Apple Lossless you need to do the following
Install a directshow filter so WMP can play Apple lossless, there is only one such directshow filter available, it was written by Milenko Mitrovic and is based on a solution devised by myself. The easiest way to install this is as part of a codec pack for Windows 7, as this pack will also do the hard work of disabling the built-in AAC codec which otherwise would interfere, the directshow filter can play both AAC and Apple Lossless. This pack can be downloaded from here http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
You now also need to install a plugin for WMP 12. While Apple Lossless uses exactly the same file extension, exactly the same file format, exactly the same metadata format as AAC which WMP 12 already understands, Microsoft deliberately chose to make life difficult and put Apple Lossless files in the other section instead of the music section. This plugin written by Tim De Baets tricks WMP 12 in to handling Apple Lossless just like AAC and therefore put them in the music section, see http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=75123&view=findpost&p=76 7947
I have my entire iTunes library in Apple Lossless and shared with WMP. Via WMP it even works in Microsoft Media Center.
If your syncing your iTunes library to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, you can set iTunes to automatically convert to AAC format when copying to your iPod (or similar) device. Your iTunes library will be unaffected and just keep a single Apple Lossless version.
If you do want to have both AAC and Apple Lossless versions but not have both listed, you can create a second separate iTunes library by holding down the Shift key when you launch iTunes.

Can't Import Songs To iTunes Using Apple Lossless Encoder

I have about 4,000 songs in FLAC format (which is a lossless format) on my external hard drive. I want to import them into iTunes using the Apple Lossless Encoder. I called Apple support and asked them how to do this, and they told me to go under "Preferences" in iTunes and chose to import using Apple Lossless Encoder.
I did this using Preferences>General>Import Settings, and then went to File>Add Folder to Library, however, it still imported my songs as AAC Audio Files. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

iTunes cannot read nor import FLAC files - not without third-party plugins, anyway, and I don't know of any that will allow iTunes to convert a FLAC file to another format - so I'm a bit confused as to the procedure you're following. If all you're doing is using the Add to Library command and choosing the FLAC files, it's quite possible that iTunes is misinterpreting the format and adding what is in reality an invalid link with erroneous format information.
If you have some sort of third-party plugin for FLAC for iTunes, please post that information and perhaps someone here can determine whether iTunes can do a conversion successfully.

How do I Download from Itunes store using the Apple Lossless format?

I use my music on a home sterio and import locally from CD's to Windows using the Apple Lossless format only, to achieve the Highest quality sound. However, When I buy from Itunes store I can only get AAC format, which is low quality. How can I get Itunes to give me only Apple Lossless format?
Your help will b e appreciated.
Thanks
Phil

I do agree with what i have been said. I am a musician, i think AAC is definitely medium-low quality. I bought this year lots of AAC 256 for Itunes. I have been surprised. SO many times i need to go to the equalizer to counter-balance the weakness of this file format.
I advise you to do the following. Import a CD using Apple LossLess and then import a CD using AAC 256. You will see a HUGE difference.
Now i start to buy CD again in order to get the music Quality. Then i import my CDs to Itunes using Apple LossLess (920Kbps). You will ear that on Snares and Rides. Bass will sound more natural. Bass, Medium, Sharp will more balance with each other. You will hear instruments with more clarity especially when there are a lot of instruments. Because of that, you will not need to raise up the volume.
But more than anything... you will gain VOLUME in your files.
In general over the internet all the online music stores including Itune doesn't provide HD quality. AAC 256 is not enough. A track bought over Itune Store should weight 30 megabytes, not 5. And then you would decide to compress it or not.

How do i convert my exsisting itunes library to apple lossless?

Also whrn i do this will i have duplicate files(original/lossless)? If so what is the best way for me to delete them form my macbook? Thanks

Not to pile on here, but the only point of Apple Lossless is to have a slightly compressed version of the an original CD (AIFF). I have converted my full CD collection (too many disks to even count) to Apple Lossless. The sound quality is indistinguishable from the original CD. Because the files are rather large for use on an iPhone or smaller iPod, I then convert them to 256 AAC (for my iPhone) or 160 MP3 to burn MP3 disks for my cars. I keep the Lossless files as the original content.
However, lately, I'm just purchasing 256 AAC iTunes Plus files. I'm losing quality, but it's just not worth the time to purchase CD's and convert them any more.
There is absolutely no reason to convert 256 AAC files to Lossless. In fact, I'm sure it might degrade the sound quality in that a lot of information just isn't in the 256 AAC file. However, don't quote me on this.

Converting "Apple Lossless" back to "AAC" - More than 1 track at a time...

Hello,
Short version: I have hundreds of tracks that need to "Create AAC Version", and I can't right-click 8,536 songs in my library one at a time to find them all. Is there a method to sweep the entire library and convert all songs to this format if they are not already?
The problem with this is it still creates a duplicate of the song and the other original needs to be deleted.
Note - the file name changing (it appends a "1" on the M4A file), the "tag" displayed in iTunes retains the song name.
Thanks!,
Joseph
Long version: For the benefit of people facing the same problem and combing the forums for help, here's the rest of the story...
I'm not entirely sure when this changed (and I've reset my Import settings back to AAC 128-bit now), but I've managed to import a good number of CDs at this higher quality "Apple Lossless" format. Essentially, that's overkill - I listen to an iPod classic with headphones the majority of the time (98%) and I won't hear the difference.
CHECK: Edit | Preferences | "General" tab | "Import Settings" button
Essentially my hard-drive space has been disappearing at a rapid rate. I downloaded a tool (WinDarStat) and found my iTunes folder is 50% of my 200GB used. (Yes, I'm on an older laptop -- HD=220GB -- and am getting the 'out of space' warnings.) I found some folders for recent CDs were over 1GB alone and started digging.
I happend to have REM's studio "Man on the Moon" on here twice. The IN TIME version is AAC 128-bit and only 4.9MB in size, whereas the PART LIES version is Apple Lossless 1068-bit and 8x's larger at 39.9MB.
If you right-click a track, it provides option to "Create [other] version.", depending on going to/from ACC to Lossless or vice-versa.
Once I did this for "Man on the Moon", I got 75% of the song's space back ... from approximately 40MB to 11MB.
It does create a second copy of the song, so the original has to be deleted - be certain to "Move the song to the Recycle Bin" when warned.
A better option - all be it more time consuming - is to re-import the CDs.

For backup see this user tip.
The Create <Format> version tool uses whatever the current import settings are.
You can create a playlist of things that need converting as Ed says above.
To ease the conversion process, and keep your current ratings, playcounts, and playlist membership, plus recyle the old files automatically see my script ConvertFormat. Test on say a single album first to make sure it works as you expect/need.
tt2

Apple Lossless Tags won't Save

Hi everyone,
Has anyone experienced this? I have about 4 CDs that I've ripped in iTunes (I think), and they are all in Apple Lossless m4a. Despite the fact that their tags load just fine in other programs, iTunes is treating these files as if they had no tags whatsoever. I've tried to rewrite some of the tags within iTunes, but removing and reloading my library into iTunes reveals that these tags were never written in the first place.

Yes, I have experienced it. (not written into the audio file)
What version of iTunes are you using?
Over on the LogicPro8 forum
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8108295#8108295
describes a problem with adding metadata (the ID3 tags) in to a file with
versions of iTunes higher than 7.6.2 it won't write them into the audio file.
Versions of iTune 7.6.2 and lower seem to work ok and will write the info into the audio file.

IPod Nano 4G Skips During Playback with Apple Lossless Songs

My iPod Nano 4th Generation has been consistently skipping a brief portion of music about every 5th Apple Lossless song during playback. I've been working unsuccessfully to resolve this issue with tech support and fixed the problem when I disabled the energy level setting in the playback menu. While this is a hit to battery life, the skipping no longer occurs. Hoping that this issue is permanently resolved in an upcoming software update.

Hi,
I brought my ipod yesterday and had the exact same issue. it would skip certain songs frequently and was extremely frustrating. Im not sure if this is the case for all ipods (i have an ipod nano 16Gb 4th gen, with firmware 1.0.4), but i fixed my issue in a series of steps. Im not sure which exact part of my method did the job, but here it is:
1. plugged it into iTunes and clicked "restore" under the tab "summary". WARNING: This will delete everything, and restore factory settings. im not sure if this is necessary, but youll need to delete the songs which skip anyway.
2. pressed the eject button IN ITUNES (under "devices", and next to your ipod icon), ejecting the ipod. wait for the ipod to specify when it is ready for it to be unplugged. proceed to unplug said ipod.
3. Choose the language of your ipod, and go into playback settings and (settings/playback or something) and turn OFF "shake" and "energy saver"
4. Plug your ipod into your computer again and drag all the songs onto your ipod using itunes.
5. after it has finished copying, WAIT until the ipod no longer says "synching", and until it says "connected"
6. Press the eject button IN ITUNES (again, under devices, and next to your ipod icon)
7. Eject when the ipod says it is ok to do so.
As i said, im not sure which part of the method did it for me, but i think it might be the way in which i was ejecting it. Before i was ejecting the ipod on my desktop. I think it is important to eject it using itunes. Anyway this fixed my ipod. Im not sure if it will do the same to yours, but if its making you very angry (to say the least) like it made me, its worth a try i guess. I would appreciate it if people let me know if this works.

Can't access my apple lossless files on external hard drive after reinstalling windows 8.1

Hi guys
New to this. I reinstalled windows 8.1 after windows continually asking me to change my password after not recognising it despite it being the right one. All my apple lossless tunes are on my external hard drive. Windows keeps saying 'I don't have access to this file currently'. I tried right clicking on hard drive, clicked properties, and tried assigning administrator rights to everyone but still no luck. Contacted windows who said it was an apple issue so here I am.
Can anyone help. I've got 900 albums on this hard drive and the thought of ripping them all again is stressing me.
Thanks guys
Stuart

Changing the path to the media folder doesn't change which database iTunes opens. If your original database is on the external drive then shift-start-iTunes and use the choose option to open it. If you no longer have access to the original database shift-start-iTunes and create a new empty library at X:\iTunes, where X: is the external drive letter, ensure the media folder is set to X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, move all of your content inside X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, use File > Add Folder to Library > X:\iTunes\iTunes Media. See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device. There are some scripts near the end that can extract ratings, play counts and playlists from your device and the rest of the tip explains how you backup and restore the device with the new library to avoid losing data.
tt2

I'm getting a 9041 error when trying to convert files to AAC -- any ideas on how to fix it? the files files in iTunes show up as Apple Lossless but i can't put them on my iPod

i'm getting a 9041 error when trying to convert files to AAC -- any ideas on how to fix it? the files files in iTunes show up as Apple Lossless but i can't put them on my iPod

"I have been able to convert to AAC by first converting to AIFF and then to AAC. This is a pan though."
this worked for me.
thanks.

160 Gb Classic - Audio dropouts, gaps on gapless albums with apple lossless

Dear All,
Since getting my new iPod Classic 160 Gb iPod Classic, I am experiencing audio dropouts that last between one and two seconds. They aren't frequent, occurring maybe one every hour or two of audio playback. They appear to be very random. If I play back the same track after having a dropout, it plays fine and doesn't happen again in the same place. This doesn't appear to be connected to my moving or shaking the iPod around, as it will happen when I am sitting down and perfectly stationary. Also, I don't think it is related to a bad earphone connection, as I a have played the iPod with several pairs of new and/or high quality earphones. More info: Most of my files are Apple Lossless and content is primarily regular music albums. Of note, this is the second 160 Gb iPod I've had with the same problems! The first one I brought down to the Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo and they replaced it in the blink of an eye after I explained the same as above.
Prior to the 160 Gb Classic, I have owned 1st, 3rd and 5th generation iPods (plus a 2nd gen. Nano and shuffle). The 5th gen. 60 Gb was playing the exact same audio files and never had any dropouts.
I have reset the Classic and reinstalled all my music files (with the most recent ipod software 1.0.2 and running iTunes 7.5) twice now, but the problem remains. I am now thinking of taking one of two possible routes of action. a) go back down to the Apple Store and try to get another iPod replacement (and hope and pray that it doesn't experience this problem) or, b) change all my music files to something like 192 kbps and hope (and pray!) the iPod can handle the smaller file size without the dropouts. At the moment, I am leaning towards going down to the Apple Store as it would actually be the less time consuming of the two for me.
What do you wise people out there think? Exchange iPod or downsize my audio files? Or, does anyone have another suggestion or recommendation on how to resolve this issue? Thanks for any assistance.
To add to this, I have also noticed that several of my gapless albums (DJ mix CD's like those by Global Underground), no longer play consistently "gapless". Sometimes it will pass smoothly between tracks and other times there will be a small pause/gap. No doubt, I have checked the gapless album box and selected yes, in the album get info section for all of these albums, but still problems remain. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Again, my previous iPod, 5th gen. 60 Gb had none of these problems with the same files. I am really happy with the 160 Gb capacity of my new classic but feel a bit let down with these problems I'm having.
Regards,
Peter B.

Thank heaven! I thought I might be the only one.
My situation almost exactly mirrors your own. My first 160GB classic suffered from sudden dropouts, apparently random and almost impossible to replicate in any predictable fashion. For example, I'd start playing an album and would hear a one or two second dropout in the second track, but in attempting to replicate the situation exactly (as in, powering down the iPod, powering it back up and starting over from the first track of the album) I'd find that the fault didn't recur. Restoring and reloading made no difference at all.
So I took it in to the Apple Store and had it replaced, loaded the replacement up with music and was dismayed to discover myself facing the same problem. I too have had several iPods which were loaded off this same library, and none of them ever gave trouble in this fashion.
I think the issue might just be the size of the files in our libraries. The bulk of my files are at 320kbps, and you mentioned yours were mostly Lossless - could it be that the classic has problems dealing with large files? It's a very frustrating issue, since the audio quality of my classic is so much better to my ears than that of my previous iPod 5G.
I recommend that you take the iPod in and take them to task about it. That's certainly what I'm going to do - I really don't want to re-encode all my music, especially considering that I bought this iPod due to the burgeoning size of my library, and re-encoding would defeat the point. Plus, since it has better sound it sort of deserves to be loaded with larger files. I just hope this isn't an irremediable issue, which I'm starting to suspect it might be, since your iPods were obtained in Japan and mine in the UK. I'll continue posting as this unfolds, and I hope you'll do the same.

How to find whether a m4a file is of kind apple lossless programmatically

Hi,
Through my application i am transferring music files to windows machine but as we know that windows can not play apple lossless file (.m4a) and thus while trassferring i have to check whether the file is apple lossless or not. I am unable to find a way to find the kind of file programmatically. How should i read the file tags ? or any other similar way.
thanks in advance.
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1.42 ghz powerpc g4 processor

Hi All,
I have found he solution and sharing the solution wih u all.
Actually i found a apple script in dougs website. In that we just have to compare the kind of file with Lossless. You can find the script on Dougs url as i dont remember the exact link.
Thanks for viewing my query.
Regards
@mit
ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.4) 1.42 ghz powerpc g4 processor

Apple Lossless extension

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for