Convert AAC back to Apple Lossless

See Identify cloud status icons in your music library on your Mac or PC - Apple Support. You can check to see if a particular song is matched or uploaded, and whether it is Apple Lossless audio file or AAC audio file. Purchases should show up as Purchases AAC audio file. You can also enable the bit rate and other related columns to see what you've got.

As to what you'll get from the cloud if you use the right-click option to remove download, then redownload, test it and find out. Right click the current copy and use show in Finder, make a copy just in case, then back in Music, right-click and use remove download which gets rid of the existing file, then tap the cloud icon in the library to download the copy of the track in the cloud. Hopefully you get what you wanted.

tt2

fsparsoe wrote:

Can I convert an AAC music file (originally downloaded as lossless) back to Apple Lossless via Music Match?

No, iTunes Match (or did you mean Apple Music?) generally provides download content in 256K AAC format. Potentially content what was uploaded rather than matched might come back in the original format, but there is no guarantee of that.

I have a number of music files originally downloaded as Apple Lossless which I inadvertedly have converted to AAC. When I reinstall them as lossless files, it seems to convert back to Apple Lossless. (Do you mean AAC?)

If you attempt to re-rip music that is already in your library the new copies may be eliminated as duplicates. You may need to remove the existing AAC versions before you can successfully reimport the tracks in Apple Lossless form.

Is the file back to its original format or is it just the name and data that have changed?

AAC and Apple Lossless (ALAC) both use the .m4a file extension. You need to look at the size and other properties to determine which format the data is actually in.

Thanks.

For the avoidance of doubt while it is possible to convert 256K AAC file to ALAC there is no benefit in doing so. Any losses introduced by compression cannot be undone. In general converting to a new format in iTunes or Music leaves the original in place and provides a new copy. I'm not quite sure how you can inadvertently end up with only the new copies. Backup your whole library using Time Machine or something like it so that you can walk back from a similar mistake in future.

tt2

Your import settings in preferences controls what happens when your rip from CD or convert an existing file. Purchases from the iTunes Store are always provided in 256K AAC format. Downloads of uploaded content from your iCloud Music Library may be in the original uploaded format or might be in 256K AAC. If a track is listed in the cloud the format shown there might not be a clear indication of what you get if you download it. Once downloaded Get Info should show the correct details for the local file. The File tab should indicate file format, or you can use the Kind column in the Songs view.

tt2

Yes, you can convert an AAC track to ALAC, but that doesn't make it a better quality version. Just a larger file. There is no benefit to doing this. If you have original CDs then you can rip those in ALAC to get marginally better quality than 256K AAC. Whether you can discern the difference between the two versions will depend on the equipment you're using and your hearing.

tt2