Hi. I can export a WAV file to AIFF, but when I tried to set up a macro to batch-convert a whole folder of WAVs I found there’s no way to do it to AIFF. I’m new to both the Mac and the new Audacity, so I’m hoping maybe I’m just missing something. Is there a way to do it?
So, no replies seems to imply that there is no way. I noticed that batch-converting to M4A is not possible either. That’s disappointing for an app built for Macs. Perhaps a moderator could make a feature request for this to be added? I mean, allowing it just seems like common sense to me.
There is a way, but (obviously) not with Audacity.
Load all your WAV files into iTunes / Music (depending on what MacOS version you use), then select them and use from the File menu the command “Convert”, then the select AIFF. You will only see the file format you selected in “Settings → File → Import settings → Import with”, see attached image.
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Mh, Audacity is not “an app built for Macs”, it is an app which is available on Linux, Windows and Mac. I do not know which of these operating systems is the base for developping. But since the Mac offers the conversion possibility (as I described in my previous post), a feature request is not necessary.
Thank you for taking the time to reply with examples. I did try exactly that in the Music app (though not in iTunes on my old PC). Unfortunately, it strips all of Audacity’s metadata from each WAV file as it converts it. And since I won’t be playing these hundreds of files in Music anyway, I don’t want to go that route and lose all the metadata I’ve painstakingly added to them over the years. However, I do appreciate your mentioning it.
Re the “built for Mac” statement, Audacity has been developed and compiled for the Mac, and is compiling a project not called a build? My point was that, instead of just happening to work on macOS like my old Win7 Audacity still works on my old Win10, the version for macOS was purposely made for this OS, so not providing batch-conversion to Mac file types seems to be an oversight. That’s all.
Well… In general, metadata for WAV files isn’t well-standardized or widely supported. Although, Windows Media Player seems to read WAV tags created with Audacity. (I don’t know much about AIFF files except that they are “similar” to WAV.)
And metadata is a “weak area” with Audacity and it doesn’t seem to be a priority of the developers . For example, it doesn’t support embedded artwork at all.
There are different metadata formats for different file formats and they aren’t completely compatible so it’s “not easy” supporting all of the formats or to copy the tags when converting to a different format.
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Much thanks for your reply. You’re right about Audacity metadata: I’ve run into issues with it before in Windows even with MP3 files. I was hoping the new Audacity might have addressed these issues but have to agree the devs seem to have other priorities. I think I’m reaching a dead end on this – I’ll have to do more thinking and look elsewhere for solutions, if there are any. Thanks again all.
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