m4a2wav

A tiny CLI that converts .m4a audio files to .wav (PCM) via ffmpeg.

The decode itself is lossless: PCM output at the source's native sample rate and channel layout. The original AAC compression in the .m4a cannot be undone — this just ensures the .m4a → .wav step adds no further quality loss.

Install

pip install m4a2wav

Requires ffmpeg on PATH.

• macOS: brew install ffmpeg
• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg
• Windows: winget install ffmpeg or choco install ffmpeg

Usage

m4a2wav file1.m4a [file2.m4a ...]   # convert specific files
m4a2wav -all                         # convert every .m4a in the current folder

Files whose target .wav already exists are skipped, so re-runs are idempotent.

Notes

• Output is 16-bit signed little-endian PCM (pcm_s16le). For 24- or 32-bit PCM, edit the -c:a flag in cli.py.
• No resampling or channel downmixing is performed.
• Source files are never modified or deleted.

License

MIT.