Add your ALAC file
Drop one or more .alac files onto the converter above, or browse for them. They load into browser memory only — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size-based pricing and no server queue.
ALAC to AU
Re-encoding .alac audio as .au changes how the sound is compressed and which players will accept it. Free, private, and validated — the file never leaves your browser.
Private for supported formats — processed in your browser
Runs on your deviceConvert supported files
Drop ALAC files here
Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.
Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.About converting Apple Lossless audio to Sun audio
Re-encoding .alac audio as .au changes how the sound is compressed and which players will accept it. ALAC, the Apple Lossless Audio Codec, compresses music with zero quality sacrifice, and the .alac extension is occasionally used to label such files explicitly even though the codec normally travels inside an .m4a container. Decoding reproduces the original samples exactly, making it Apple's counterpart to FLAC.
An .au file is the Sun audio format, one of the earliest structured audio files, created for Unix workstations. A minimal header followed by sample data, classically 8 kHz mu-law telephony audio, makes .au about as simple as an audio format can get. For this route the practical draw is so simple that nearly any audio tool can parse it and pCM variants preserve the recording exactly — balanced against essentially obsolete outside legacy systems, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.
Why convert ALAC to AU?
The practical trigger for this conversion is usually a mismatch: with .alac, compresses slightly worse than FLAC on average. Switching to .au buys you so simple that nearly any audio tool can parse it, which is why it is the better fit for maintaining sound assets in vintage Unix and Java software. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.
ALAC vs AU at a glance
| Aspect | Apple Lossless audio (.alac) | Sun audio (.au) |
|---|---|---|
| Format type | Lossless — every pixel or sample is preserved exactly | Lossless — every pixel or sample is preserved exactly |
| How it stores data | linear-prediction compression conceptually similar to FLAC, typically reaching 40 to 60 percent of PCM size | a 24-byte header carries a '.snd' magic number, data offset, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count |
| Strongest at | building a lossless library that syncs cleanly to iPhones and the Music app | maintaining sound assets in vintage Unix and Java software |
| Weak spot | compresses slightly worse than FLAC on average | essentially obsolete outside legacy systems |
| Metadata | inherits the full iTunes metadata atom set from its MPEG-4 container, including artwork, composer, and grouping fields | an optional annotation field in the header can hold a short text string; no formal tag structure exists |
Pick AU as the output
Select .au in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if AU is selectable, the route is real and validated.
Convert on your device
Press Convert. The transcode runs on an FFmpeg engine compiled to WebAssembly, so the audio never leaves your device.
Verify and download
Each result is signature-checked before the download unlocks, so a failed encode can never masquerade as a valid AU file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .au extension.
ALAC to AU questions, answered
Will converting ALAC to AU lose quality?
Both sides are re-encoded, so expect a small generation loss controlled by the quality setting: alac is lossless-oriented and au is lossless-oriented. For visually or audibly transparent results keep quality high; for smaller files lower it and compare.
Is it private to convert ALAC files here?
Yes — the .alac file is processed inside your browser tab and never uploaded. The transcode runs on an FFmpeg engine compiled to WebAssembly, so the audio never leaves your device. Close the tab and the file is gone from memory.
Where will the AU file work?
Audio tools such as Audacity, sox, and ffmpeg open .au readily, and Java's sound APIs still accept it. Consumer players, phones, and browsers dropped meaningful support long ago, so conversion to WAV or MP3 is the practical route.
Will the AU file be bigger or smaller than my ALAC?
It depends on the content: a 24-byte header carries a '.snd' magic number, data offset, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count. Convert one representative file first and compare before batch-processing a large set.
What happens to the metadata in my ALAC file?
This converter strips container metadata deliberately (the FFmpeg command runs with metadata mapping disabled) so exported files do not leak recording details. In the source, inherits the full iTunes metadata atom set from its MPEG-4 container, including artwork, composer, and grouping fields; none of it is transmitted anywhere because the file never leaves your browser.
Can I convert AU back to ALAC?
Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .alac → .au → .alac is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.