Audio Processing: Top Pick for the Best Free Mac Audio Converter

Posted by Mia to audio processing, audio converter for Mac | May 25, 2018

There are tons of different audio formats, for example, MP3 is the most popular accepted compressed sound format, AAC, an efficient audio coding standard designed to replace MP3, WAV and AIFF, the widely accepted lossless formats. Sometimes you need to convert between different audio formats to make ringtones, fix compatibility issue for MP3 Player, iPhone iPad iPod, Android etc. You can use iTunes to convert audio files on Mac, but iTunes only transcodes between MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, and M4A, it won't expand support for non-Apple standards. Here we review the best free audio converter for Mac 2018 for users who are seeking for a reliable audio processing tool.

What to Look for When Selecting an Audio Converter for Mac

Audio format support

Since there are massive audio formats, it becomes essential for an audio encoder & decoder for Mac 2018 to support a wide range of sound file formats as input and output. Most free online audio applications are able to import about 10 audio file types, namely MP3, AAC, AIFF, FLAC, WAV, M4A, etc. The best free audio converter for Mac should be able to import lesser know audio formats from Amazon, Sony, Olympus, etc. What's more, it is able to transcode music videos of MP4, MKV, FLV etc. to MP3 or other audio formats.

Audio Processing Speed

Compared to video processing, it takes less time and has lower stress on CPU to process an audio file in the same length since video encoding is more complicated. However, forums are still flooded with problems, for example, Handbrake stutters and crashes when converting audio, it takes so long for online audio converters to transfer WAV to MP3, it's very slow to use iTunes to convert AIFF audio to AAC. A solid audio converter Mac 2018 can process audio files in batch smoothly in a blazing fast speed.

Output Sound Quality

Output audio quality depends upon the quality of the audio converter for Mac, bit rate, sample rate and sound file format. It's possible to get unchanged sound quality if you convert between uncompressed formats or switch a compressed format to an uncompressed format, such as WAV to AIFF, MP3 to WAV. There might be a quality loss when converting between compressed formats and transfer an uncompressed to a compressed format, like WAV to MP3, FLAC to MP3, MP3 to AAC. The tool you use for audio conversion also plays a big role in the final quality. High-quality Mac audio converter with advanced coding scheme can guarantee perfect reconstruction of the original waveform during audio processing.

Batch Conversion Ability

It's OK to transcode audio format one by one if you only have several media files, but it will be labor-intensive to convert hundreds of files. Things become much easier by using the best free audio converter for Mac 2018 that is able to convert multiple audio files at once. The ability to convert audios on Mac in a batch is also highly appreciated.

Customization Capabilities

The best free audio converter for Mac won't just let you change audio formats. It always comes with the extra function to customize audio files, for example, the ability to adjust audio bitrate for size reduction, change audio sample rate, channels, edit ID3 tags like title, artist name, the genre of music, and other information. Most free online audio conversion tools for Mac don't offer tag editing options.

Best Free Mac Audio Converter 2018 - macXVideo

File Size: 29.4MB
OS: Mac OS X 10.6 - macOS High Sierra
Input: MP3, AAC, WAV, M4A, AIFF, FLAC, AC3, OGG, M4R, and more.

Which program should you choose? To help with this task, we tested the most popular free audio converters for Mac, including online tools, and we picked macXVideo, a high-end program that can handle nearly any audio formats. It is able to convert audios from numerous compressed and uncompressed sound formats to MP3, such as AAC to MP3, WAV to MP3, AIFF to MP3, FLAC to MP3, to name a few. It supports processing audio files in batch and transferring music videos, soundtracks in MKV, FLV, MP4 etc. to MP3 audio format. Multiple audio files/folders can be converted within seconds, thanks to Hyper-threading technology. The High-Quality Engine promises the highest sound quality. Moreover, you can use it to easily edit and organize your music libraries.

Free Download macXvideo for Mac

Tutorial - How to Process and Convert Audio Files on macOS

The free audio converter for Mac 2018 has well-designed interface with unnecessary toolbars stripped away, making it super easy for beginners to learn how to begin with. Free download audio converter for Mac by clicking the download button above or head to the official site of macXvideo to grab the software, then use the following steps to encode and decode audio on Mac.

Step 1: Import music files or file folder

The first thing to do is to select your source audio files. Click the "Music" button at the top and a window pops up, browse your files and select your target one to load. You are allowed to choose more than one audio file at once. If you want to convert an audio music folder on Mac, click the Music Folder button and choose a folder. You can also convert music videos downloaded from YouTube to MP3 for importing to iTunes, iPhone, Android etc. The Mac audio conversion program will load files immediately. You can also add music videos, soundtracks and convert music to MP3 audio, for example, transcode MP4 to MP3 format.

Step 2: Select output format

Now you should see the Target Format listed at the bottom. Select MP3 from the list.

Tips: You can do audio customization before processing audio. Click the Info icon, and you'll get detailed information of the source audio files, including format, duration, bit rate, sampling rate, channel, size, etc.

Click the codec icon on the right side and a screen shows up. You can adjust audio quality by dragging the slider to Low Quality on the left or to High Quality or keep it as default. Under Audio Codec Options category, you are offered options to switch audio codec, adjust audio channel, sample rate, and bit rate.

Click the Name & Tag button on the right and you get options to edit ID3 tag, change the audio name, the genre of music, artist name, and more. After you've done with the editing. Click Done to save the settings and close the window.

Step 3: Start audio processing

Click the RUN button to start converting audio files on Mac. The best free audio converter for Mac 2018 will finish the process speedily. The time it takes also depends upon the size of the audio files and your computer performance. Then you can transfer music from Mac to iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Android phones for playback on the go or making ringtone, or put it to iTunes, etc.

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For any questions with MacX Video Converter Pro, please feel free to contact our support team.