{
 "id": "apple-lossless-audio-codec",
 "name": "Apple Lossless Audio Codec",
 "category": "audio",
 "identifiers": {
  "extensions": [
   "m4a",
   "mp4",
   "caf"
  ],
  "puid": [
   "fmt/596"
  ],
  "wikidata": [
   "Q621277"
  ],
  "magic": [
   {
    "offset": 4,
    "hex": "667479704d344120",
    "notes": "Apple Lossless Audio Codec"
   }
  ],
  "signatures": [
   {
    "name": "Apple Lossless Audio Codec",
    "sequences": [
     {
      "position": "bof",
      "offset": 4,
      "pattern": "667479704d344120"
     },
     {
      "position": "var",
      "pattern": "616c6163{0-72}616c6163"
     }
    ]
   }
  ],
  "priority_over": [
   "fmt/199",
   "fmt/2094",
   "fmt/2033"
  ]
 },
 "status": "writable",
 "summary": "Apple Lossless, also known as Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), or Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE), is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename extension .m4a.",
 "tools": [
  {
   "name": "FFmpeg",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "license": "LGPL-2.1-or-later / GPL-2.0-or-later",
   "open_source": true,
   "reads": true,
   "writes": true
  },
  {
   "name": "AIMP 3.5",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111665632",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Awave Studio",
   "url": "https://www.fmjsoft.com/awavestudio.html#main",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": true
  },
  {
   "name": "EZ CD Audio Converter",
   "url": "https://www.poikosoft.com/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "GarageBand",
   "url": "https://www.apple.com/ios/garageband/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "JRiver Media Center",
   "url": "http://www.jriver.com",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "MediaHuman Audio Converter",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55263594",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "freeware"
  },
  {
   "name": "Mp3tag",
   "url": "https://www.mp3tag.de/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "free license"
  },
  {
   "name": "mutagen",
   "url": "https://mutagen.readthedocs.io/en/latest/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "GNU General Public License, version 2.0",
   "open_source": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Plex",
   "url": "https://plex.tv/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "GNU General Public License, version 2.0 or later",
   "open_source": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Q141674392",
   "url": "https://getartcraft.com/apps/soundcraft",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "Apache Software License 2.0 / MIT License",
   "open_source": true
  },
  {
   "name": "Q192527",
   "url": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-media-player-d10303a5-896c-2ce2-53d4-5bd5b9fd888b",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "end-user license agreement"
  },
  {
   "name": "Q300915",
   "url": "https://www.foobar2000.org/",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "freeware"
  }
 ],
 "projects": [
  {
   "name": "File Formats Wiki",
   "url": "http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/ALAC",
   "kind": "wiki"
  },
  {
   "name": "PRONOM fmt/596",
   "url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/fmt/596",
   "kind": "format-doc"
  },
  {
   "name": "Wikidata Q621277",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q621277",
   "kind": "wiki"
  }
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "sources": [
   "converters",
   "ffw",
   "pronom",
   "wikidata"
  ]
 },
 "updated": "2026-10-24",
 "conversions": [
  {
   "to": "flac-free-lossless-audio-codec-1-2-1",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.flac",
   "fidelity": "lossless",
   "losses": "Lossless for decoded audio; a lossy source stays as degraded as it was. WAV may reduce bit depth or drop metadata.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "waveform-audio",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.wav",
   "fidelity": "lossless",
   "losses": "Lossless for decoded audio; a lossy source stays as degraded as it was. WAV may reduce bit depth or drop metadata.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "mpeg-1-2-audio-layer-3",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.mp3",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Lossy re-encoding.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "ogg",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.ogg",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Lossy re-encoding.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "mpeg-4-part-14",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.mp4",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "matroska-1-4",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.mkv",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  },
  {
   "to": "webm",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.caf out.webm",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org"
  }
 ],
 "aliases": [],
 "structure": [],
 "parsers": [],
 "samples": [],
 "claims": [],
 "verification": []
}