DVD sound in a Mac workflow
AIFF is Apple's uncompressed audio format and the natural choice for audio work on a Mac. Logic Pro, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools and Adobe Audition all open it without conversion. The problem is getting sound out of an MPEG file: macOS has weak support for MPEG-2 video and for the MP2 and Dolby Digital audio inside it, so a DVD or TV recording often will not even open. Converting MPEG to AIFF solves that in one step.
Typical projects
- Mixing or remastering a concert that was filmed on a DVD camcorder.
- Restoring the soundtrack of a digitised VHS tape: removing hiss, hum and level jumps.
- Using a recorded TV interview in a podcast or documentary edited in Logic or Final Cut Pro.
- Sampling sounds from your own old home videos for music production.
Quality and size
AIFF stores the decoded audio exactly, so no further loss is added while you work. If the DVD sound is PCM, as on some music discs, the AIFF is identical to it. MP2 and Dolby Digital tracks keep their earlier compression, which no format can undo.
Uncompressed audio is large: about 10 MB per minute for 16-bit stereo at 44.1 kHz and somewhat more at the 48 kHz used by DVDs. A full concert can exceed a gigabyte, so trimming to the needed part before you extract saves disk space and import time. The 32-bit float option doubles the size again but gives extra headroom for heavy processing.
How it runs
Safari, Chrome and Firefox cannot decode MPEG audio from DVD and TV sources by themselves. The page loads its built-in converter engine, decodes the sound and writes the AIFF file on your own computer. No upload is involved, and VOB files from a home DVD can be processed in one batch.
AIFF and WAV hold the same audio. For Windows tools, use MPEG to WAV. For the same lossless sound at about half the size, see MPEG to FLAC.