iTunes was formerly the go-to multimedia player of Apple for its devices. It was born out of a need to organize Apple’s music both on their PCs and devices. It became famous for so many years until it was replaced by the multimedia function on Finder and the Apple Music app on Mac. With this, here, you’ll get to know more details about the iTunes store audio format.

The audio format in the iTunes store was unique. The next parts will discuss this further. Part 1 will deal with the intricacies of this format. Part 2 will tackle DRM. Lastly, part 3 will deal with a tool that can remove the DRM protection of songs from Apple Music. This will help you play the music on any media player you want.

Article Content Part 1. What Audio File Formats Does iTunes Store Support?Part 2. What is DRM in iTunes Songs?Part 3. How to Remove DRM from Your iTunes/Apple Music Songs?Part 4. Summary

Part 1. What Audio File Formats Does iTunes Store Support?

The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. The iTunes Store is available on most Apple devices, including the Mac (inside the Music app), the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod touch, and the Apple TV, as well as on Windows (inside iTunes). Video purchases from the iTunes Store are viewable on the Apple TV app on Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices and certain smart televisions.

iTunes Store

Yet, sometimes, you may fail to play certain types of music or movies via iTunes. So, what is the iTunes Store audio format? What video and audio formats does iTunes support? Audio files in iTunes have different extensions according to the format. If the format is not compatible with the player, then the audio file may not be playable on the device.

The audio files sold in the iTunes store have been encoded using the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec. All AAC files offered by Apple are encoded at 256 kbps. AAC is much more advanced than MP3. It has better compression characteristics compared to an MP3 file with the same sampling or bit rate. Many people think AAC is a proprietary Apple format, but that's wrong. AAC is also the default or standard audio format for Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, YouTube Music, DivX Plus Web Player, and PlayStation 4.

Advanced Audio Coding

Also, the iTunes Store audio formats include WAV and AIFF. WAV and AIFF are two uncompressed formats with exceptional sound quality but eat much disk space. The AAC audio format in iTunes can further be divided into protected and non-protected files. Usually, protected files have the .m4p extension while non-protected files have it as .m4a.

If you download some songs purchased from the iTunes store and subscribed to Apple Music, the songs are protected AAC (.m4p) audio files. This DRM restriction prevents songs from being copied or shared. So what is DRM? DRM will be discussed in detail in the next part.

Part 2. What is DRM in iTunes Songs?

What is DRM in iTunes Store audio format? DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It’s a technology that prevents unlimited duplication of songs by media pirates. It ensures video, audio or any media content is transmitted and stored in an encrypted form, so only authorized users and/or devices can play back the content.

Digital Rights Management

FairPlay is a digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by Apple Inc. It is built into the MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted AAC audio layer, and the company uses it to protect copyrighted works sold through iTunes Store, allowing only Apple-certified devices to play the content.

So DRM is somewhat of a gatekeeper that checks your log-in info before being able to play your downloaded Apple Music songs. Note that with the iTunes AAC (.m4a) audio files, there’s no need to worry about DRM. Apple Music has decided not to encrypt iTunes store songs as these songs are bought by the user. This is unlike songs from Apple Music which are only “rented” to the user; hence it’s encoded with DRM.

DRM-protection songs are difficult to work with. First, you won't be able to play them with any media player you want, only Apple-certified apps can play them. Second, you can’t edit them. You won’t be able to use them for any other purpose than listening to them on the Apple media players. This means you can’t use them for video editing, PowerPoint presentations, and even web page jingles. This keeps the purpose of the song limited.

How do I listen to music in iTunes Store audio format on my MP3 player? How to burn iTunes songs to CDs for listening in the card? Is it legal to enjoy iTunes music files on non-Apple devices? Don't worry, we plan to provide a more detailed guide on how to do these in the next part, which will help you overcome this limitation by using a reliable Apple Music tool for this.

Part 3. How to Remove DRM from Your iTunes/Apple Music Songs?

To overcome the restrictive nature of DRM, you should use a versatile Apple Music tool. This tool is called the TunesFun Apple Music Converter. TunesFun Apple Music Converter is guaranteed to convert downloaded iTunes or Apple Music songs into standard music format. If you have audio files in iTunes store audio format though, you don’t need to worry. Through this, you’ll be able to edit your songs and use them in several applications.

Key Features of TunesFun Apple Music Converter:

  1. Remove DRM from iTunes M4P music, M4P/M4B Audiobooks and Audible AA/AAX Audiobooks legally;
  2. Remove DRM from iTunes/Apple Music songs, playlists and albums legally;
  3. Common DRM-free output formats: MP3, AAC, M4A, AC3, FLAC, WAV.
  4. Batch converts Apple Music songs at up to 16X speed.
  5. Keep ID3 Tags and all metadata. Convert Apple Music Songs with 100% lossless quality.
  6. Perfectly compatible with Windows 10 & macOS.

How to Use TunesFun Apple Music Converter:

  • Download the TunesFun Apple Music Converter app on TunesFun’s website. Or click the download button below.

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  • Open TunesFun Apple Music Converter, select the Apple Music that you'd like to convert to MP3 format, and then click OK.

Upload The Music

  • Select MP3 as the output format. You can also choose the output audio quality, specify the output folder and so on.

Select The Output Format

  • Click Convert to start the conversion process.

Click The Convert Button To Start Converting

  • After it finishes you can proceed to the Finished tab to view your converted files.

TunesFun Apple Music Converter simply converts your Apple Music songs into standard music format. It is using sound recording technology for this. By doing so, no DRM laws are broken. With a professional team, you’re guaranteed a high-quality product with timely updates. This is unlike those unprofessional Apple Music Converters out there. Be careful of them as they may be riddled with malware or spyware.

After conversion, you can get DRM-free Apple Music songs on your device, you can play them on any device. If you love creating funny PowerPoint, you can also download DRM-free background music for presentations to retain the audience’s attention and make the presentation more memorable. Music can also add more interest to your videos, making them even more engaging and entertaining. The good news is that adding music to videos is pretty simple because TunesFun converts all audio files in the iTunes music library to DRM-free MP3, M4A, and FLAC files.

Part 4. Summary

The most common iTunes store audio format are AAC, WAV, and AIFF. Some purchased iTunes music and Apple Music use protected AAC (.m4p) instead of MP3, they can only be played on authorized devices by Apple. You cannot be edited and copied to another file format.

If you want to enjoy iTunes music and Apple Music on any device and player without limits, you can try this powerful TunesFun Apple Music Converter. TunesFun is a good tool to use to be able to remove DRM from your Apple Music songs. It can convert all audio files in the iTunes music library to DRM-free MP3 files with 100% lossless audio quality, or even better.

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