WHAT IS AAC?
| Full name | Advanced Audio Coding |
| Format type | Audio |
| Developed by | Fraunhofer, Dolby, Sony, and others |
| Description | AAC, which stands for Advanced Audio Coding, is a widely used format for audio compression and the most common audio format for Apple devices. The AAC file type was created as a substitute for MP3. Generally, AAC provides better sound quality than MP3 at similar bitrates. Many devices, including Apple and Android, support AAC. But if you want to play your audio collection on another device without iTunes, your best option is to change the format of your files to MP3, which is still used almost everywhere. Check the list below if you’re not sure how to open AAC audio files and which programs support playback of these files. |
| File extension | .aac, .m4a, .m4p, .m4b, .mp4, .3gp |
| Technical details | Files with the AAC specifications enable temporal noise shaping, non-uniform sampling, and bitstream reformatting for 16 stereo, 16 mono, 16 low-frequency channels, and 16 annotation channels in a single bitstream. In 1999, the AAC format was included in the MPEG-4 Part 3 format, after which AAC added support for audio object types and permanent noise replacement technology. AAC is currently described in the ISO / IEC 14496-3 standard. |
| Associated programs | iTunes, KMPlayer, RealPlayer, VLC, and others |