Convert music with iTunes - Here's how

With Apple's music player iTunes, you can easily convert audio tracks to another file format. We show you what you have to consider and how you can best proceed.

Add music to convert to iTunes

Of course, music files that you want to convert must be stored locally on your computer or on a data medium directly connected to your computer. If your music files are only stored in iCloud via iTunes Match, you must download them first.

Convert music track to iTunes

With the following steps you can convert your iTunes files into the formats AIFF, MP3, WAV, AAC and Apple Lossless Audio Codec Files with the formats mp4 or m4a.

1. Open the iTunes settings. To do this, click on the "iTunes" menu on your Mac and on the "Edit" menu on your PC. Then select the "Settings" button.
2. Then click on the "Import Settings" button at the bottom right in the "General" tab.
3. In the drop-down menu next to "Import with:", select the format in which you would like to convert your titles. Save the settings with "OK".
4. Now mark the titles you would like to convert.
5. Open the "File" menu on your Mac or the "File" menu on your PC. Under the menu item "Create new version" (Mac) or "Create new working copy" (Windows) you can convert your music file into the previously set format.
6. The original version is retained. If you no longer want to use them at all, you can delete them. However, first check the quality of the new audio track.

Import and convert audio file to iTunes at the same time

1. Select the File menu (Mac) or File (Windows).
2. Select "Create new working copy" (Windows) or "Create new version" (Mac).
3. Press and hold the Alt key (Mac) or the Shift key (Windows). For example, click "Convert to AAC" if you previously selected AAC as the conversion format.
4. Now select which music files you want to import and convert. Then click on "Open".

Conversion and music quality

• There should be no loss of quality from a compressed to an uncompressed file format. However, there may be a reduction in quality when you convert files to a compressed format. It does not matter whether the output format is compressed or not.
• "Lossy formats" greatly reduce the storage space of your iTunes songs, but can also affect the quality of your music collection.
• If you only have the compressed title, you can no longer make a file with the original sound quality.

In another practical tip, we will tell you what you can do if iTunes does not load album art.