Sep 19,2019 • Filed to: YouTube Downloader and Converter • Proven solutions

MP3 Audio Format. Is the most common format for storing audio. Almost any player on any platform can open mp3 files. The audio is compressed with loss of quality, but the loss is negligible for the typical user, and the file size is usually less than that of the original files. Nov 04, 2017  How To Easily Reduce Audio File Size On A Mac - iTunes. How To Convert M4A To MP3 File Format For Free. ThioJoe Recommended for you. How to convert m4a files to mp3 - Duration: 3:37. How to Convert a GarageBand File to an.mp3 GarageBand files will only play in GarageBand. If you want to put them on the web, on a CD, or on your iPod, you’ll need to convert them to an appropriate audio format. Here are some typical audio formats: AIFF (.aif) = Audio Interchange File Format.

As we know, most of purchased and protected iTunes music files are in AAC audio format, so you can't copy and share the songs directly. It is inconvenient if you want to play the songs on other media player or edit them. No worry now, this article will show you 3 easy ways to convert iTunes Music to MP3, including DRM protected and unprotected iTunes music. MP3 is an universal music file format, it is compatible with most media players. Hope these methods can help you to convert your AAC audio files iTunes music into MP3 successfully.

Part 1. Record and Convert iTunes Music to MP3 in the Easiest Way

It will be an easy way to convert iTunes music to MP3 with the help of iTunes music converter. Here iTube HD Video Downloader is the highly recommended iTunes music to MP3 converter that allows you to record iTunes music and turn your iTunes music into MP3 format. You also can directly download YouTube to MP3 then import to your iTunes library. This smart program can both convert the new downloaded videos and your desktop videos. Just try it out.

iTube HD Video Downloader - iTunes Music to MP3 Converter

• One click to download videos or music from 10,000+ video sites like YouTube, Netflix, Vimeo, Vevo, etc.
• Support to directly download YouTube to MP3, or convert downloaded videos to MP3 or other audio formats.
• Built with a well-balanced media recorder which allows to record any music or videos online.
• Convert videos to any format if you want to play them on other protable devices.
• Batch download multiple video or music files at the same time with 3X faster speed.
• Transfer downloaded iTunes AAC music files to portable devices to enjoy on the go.

How to Record and Convert iTunes AAC Music to MP3

Step 1. Run this iTunes AAC to MP3 converter

Launch the iTunes music to MP3 converter and go to the main interface.

Step 2. Record iTunes AAC music

First go to the 'Record' tab and click the 'Record' button on the top of the window, and go to the iTunes to open the video or music video you want. And then click the 'REC' to start record iTunes music.

In case you have got iTunes music, import the iTunes music to the converter. Just go to the 'Convert' tab and click 'Add' icon on the top to import the iTunes music you want to convert to the program. The iTunes music will be listed in the music list.

Step 3. Convert iTunes music to MP3

Now you can click the 'Convert' icon beside the music and choose MP3 as the output format. The iTunes music will be converted to MP3 then.

Part 2. Convert Protected iTunes AAC Music to MP3

First of all, what is a protected iTunes Music? This refers to the format of iTunes files that are DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management), which serves as a security function that restricts the copying of the file. In this case you should:

How to Convert Protected iTunes Music to MP3 in Steps

Step 1. Upgrade iTunes Music Tracks

First you need to check if the files are protected type: In iTunes, click the view menu and select View Option. See to it that the box next to Kind is marked with check. This will display the Kind column in the library and it will show tracks that are protected in the Protected Column.

Upgrade the songs by right clicking on them and select upgrade. There will be a charge of $0.30 fee for each song upgrade. Once upgraded, the file can be now converted.

Step 2. Conversion process from Protected iTunes to MP3

Important: You should know that generally, conversion will have some adverse effect on the file that you want to be converted. Either there will be some minor sound difference like decrease or increase in noise, or it might damage the files.

1. Then Open iTunes Preferences. Windows: Choose Edit, Preferences. Mac: Choose iTunes, Preferences. Click the General Button and the Importing Setting afterwards.

2. Then from the Import using menu, choose the MP3 encoding format. Save the settings by clicking OK. Select the tracks that you want to be converted by pressing CTRL + right click on the tracks. You will now have the Create MP3 Version option. Click it and wait for the process to be completed.

Alternatively, some people burn their music in to a CD first before importing them back to iTunes to bypass the restriction and then convert iTunes music to MP3. Here’s how:

1. Create a playlist. Click File, New Playlist

2. Add the files you want to be converted in the playlist by dragging them in the new playlist.

3. Burn the playlist. Make sure that you configure everything in the Burn Setting Menu of iTunes.

4. Wait for the burning process to finish. Change your import setting to your specification. This time Select MP3 Encoding.

5. Import the song back to iTunes. This will take about 10 minutes depending on your number of tracks.

6. Once the iTunes has finished importing the CD, go to your music collection then click FILE, Display Duplicates.

7. Delete the DRM protected one. Examine the songs just to be sure. Your newly imported files are now in mp3 format. You don't need to pay any cents for that. You just have to use a Blank disc in this procedure.

Since the file is already unprotected. All we have to do is to repeat the second part of the first scenario.

How to Convert Unprotected iTunes Music to MP3

Step 1. Then Open iTunes Preferences. Windows: Choose Edit, Preferences; Mac: Choose iTunes, Preferences. Click the General button and the Importing Setting afterwards.

Step 2. Then from the Import using menu, choose the MP3 encoding format. Save the settings by clicking OK.

Select the tracks that you want to be converted by pressing CTRL + right click on the tracks. You will now have the Create MP3 Version option.

Click the Create MP3 version option and let the program process the conversion. This will take time depending on the number of tracks you want to convert.

GarageBand exports exactly one file format — the Audio Interchange File Format (with extensions of aif, aiff, AIF, or AIFF). Fortunately, AIF files are the gold standard of audio files, the highest-of-high-quality uncompressed audio that you can save on a disc. AIF files sound great, but a cost is incurred: The files are huge — too big to send via e-mail or download or to stream from the Internet.

AIF files are, by definition, uncompressed. They’re usually five to ten times the size of a song in its compressed form (that is, encoded or ripped). Other audio file formats, such as MP3 and AAC, are compressed and are much smaller, by 50 to 95 percent, than the same song uncompressed.

Sound quality

Compression, by its nature, takes away part of the sound. In theory, it’s the part that people can’t hear, but some people do notice a big difference between uncompressed audio and compressed audio, even on cheap stereo systems. Others can’t tell any difference.

Some people can hear the difference between compressed audio files that are encoded (ripped) at bit rates of 160 and 192 Kbps. Others hear no difference.

The smaller, compressed audio files sound good enough to most people most of the time and have become a de facto standard for consumer audio.

iPods (and most other personal music players) and iTunes (and most other personal music-playing software not made by Microsoft) can play both uncompressed and compressed files. But most people store most of their music as compressed audio files, allowing five, eight, or even ten times as many songs to be stored in the same amount of hard drive space.

The compressed file formats can encode your song at different bit rates. The higher the bit rate, the better the song will sound. Alas, the higher the bit rate is, the bigger the file will be.

Choosing a compression type

The quality of an AIF file is top-of-the-heap because it, by definition, contains 100 percent uncompressed audio. Nothing has been added or removed; every note, breath, harmonic, overtone, string noise, buzz, hiss, and other sound in the master recording is in an AIF file.

Technically, the files on an audio CD are “Red Book Audio” files, which are slightly different from AIF files. The technical aspects aren’t important; the important part is that when you shove an audio CD into your Mac, it sees Red Book Audio files and automatically thinks of them as AIF files. No conversion or translation is needed — to your Mac, Red Book Audio files are AIF files, and vice versa, even if the rest of the world says that Red Book and AIF are different.

The problem is, while uncompressed audio may be the right format for shiny silver discs, it’s not the right format for e-mail or the Web, because AIF files are gargantuan.

Fortunately, if you have GarageBand, you also have the right tool for compressing AIF files, and in fact, that tool is already open and ready to rip. That tool is GarageBand’s iLife sibling, iTunes. With iTunes, it’s child’s play to compress (rip or encode) AIF files into MP3, AAC, or even Apple’s new high-quality lossless encoder, and it’s all done behind the scenes using iTunes built-in (and very high-quality) encoders.

MP3 and AAC are the two most common compressed audio file formats on the Mac. MP3 came first and has essentially been the compressed audio standard for many years. Then, a couple of years ago, when Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store, it also introduced the AAC file format, which it uses for the store’s rights-protected songs.

Figure 1 is worth a couple of thousand words — it shows the same song saved in all four formats and the size of each file.

Table 1 is a handy reference to the different file types and the common ways in which each type is used.

Figure 1: Compare the file size of the same song saved in four different file formats.

Table 1: File Types Large and Small

Open Audio M4 Format On Garageband Mac Download

File Type	Compressed?	What’s It Good For?
AIF	No	Audio CDs, iTunes, and archiving music in the file format that retains the most audio information. Can be used with iPod, but files are 5–10 times the size of compressed formats.
WAV	No	The equivalent of an uncompressed AIF file on a Mac, this format is used for sharing files with Windows users. File sizes are 5–10 times the size of MP3 files, which is the compressed file format of choice among Windows users.
Apple lossless	No	iTunes and archiving music in the file format that retains the most audio information. Can be used with iPod but files are 3–7 times the size of compressed formats.
MP3	Yes	iTunes, e-mail, the Web, and sharing with Windows users. Files are much smaller than either uncompressed format, making MP3s ideal for iPods.
AAC	Yes	Same as MP3 but is Mac-only. Slightly smaller files than MP3 and slightly better sound quality in those slightly smaller files. Most Windows users can’t use AAC files.