How to play a .AAC file online
Three steps, no player to install.
Choose your file
Drop your .AAC file on the box above, or click Choose file. Big files are fine.
It opens right away
Your .AAC file plays straight from your device, with its title, artist and cover art shown when they are inside.
Play, loop, capture
Use the waveform to jump around, loop a section, change the speed or save any frame as a PNG image.
What is a .AAC file?
Everything worth knowing about Advanced Audio Coding.
An AAC file contains lossy compressed audio encoded with Advanced Audio Coding, the format that replaced MP3 as the default for iTunes, YouTube and digital broadcasting. It plays in VLC, Windows Media Player on Windows 10/11, and the Music app on Apple devices. The most common question: most "AAC" music you own is actually .m4a, not .aac.
Programs that open .AAC files
- Windows
- VLC media player, Windows Media Player, Audacity, Foobar2000
- macOS
- VLC media player, Music (formerly iTunes)
- Linux
- VLC media player, mpv
- Android
- VLC for Android
- iOS
- Files / Music
| Full name | Advanced Audio Coding |
|---|---|
| Developer | MPEG (Fraunhofer IIS, Dolby, AT&T, Sony, Nokia) |
| First released | 1997 (MPEG-2 Part 7); MPEG-4 AAC in 1999 |
| Category | Audio & Video |
| MIME type | audio/aac |
| Signature | FF F1 (ADTS sync word (also FF F9)) |
Related viewers
Other free tools to open and preview your files.
Is my .AAC file uploaded anywhere?
No. Your .AAC file is played for you. Waveforms, tags and snapshots are all computed on the fly,.
Why does a file show audio but no picture (or not play at all)?
A container like MP4, MOV or MKV can hold many codecs. If your browser lacks the codec inside (for example H.265 or AC-3 audio), the player tells you and offers the Media Converter, which can turn it into a format that plays everywhere.
Can I play AVI, WMV, FLV or MKV files?
Browsers don't play these old or exotic containers natively. Open them in the Media Converter: it inspects every track and converts the file to MP4, WEBM or MP3.
How do I loop part of a song for practice?
Press A at the start of the part, B at its end, and the section repeats. Combine it with a slower speed (0.5× or 0.75×) to learn tricky passages.
How do I save a still image from a video?
Pause on the frame you want and press the camera button (or S). The frame is saved as a full-resolution PNG image.
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