Convert APE files online for free
The converter easily converts your APE file to various formats - free and online. No Monkey's Audio or or other Audio software needed.
To convert other file formats to the "Lossless Codec" file type, you need software like Monkey's Audio or a similar tool.
The .APE extension represents two distinct file types that often confuse users.
1. Monkey's Audio (Primary, ~72%):
This is a lossless audio compression format. While it offers slightly better compression rates than FLAC (reducing file size by ~50% without quality loss), it suffers from a major practical disadvantage: high processing overhead. Unlike FLAC, which is designed for fast playback, Monkey's Audio is "symmetric," meaning it requires significant CPU power to decode. This drains battery life rapidly on laptops and is natively unsupported by most mobile devices, iTunes, or standard car stereos. Users typically convert these files to FLAC for archival (retaining lossless quality with better compatibility) or MP3 for listening on smartphones.
2. A Plasmid Editor Project (Secondary, ~15%):
In bioinformatics, .APE files store circular DNA plasmid maps created by A Plasmid Editor. These files contain annotated genetic sequences and feature libraries. The friction here is proprietary lock-in; colleagues using other tools like SnapGene or Benchling cannot easily open .ape files. Researchers must convert these to standard interchange formats like GenBank (.GB) or FASTA for publication and collaboration.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your APE file.
Users also converted CUE, APF, EAC, AEP, ACSM, AIF, AIFF, CMF, FLAC, MP3, WAV and MP4 files.
If you want to convert APE file to M4A or ALAC, you can use Monkey's Audio or similar software from the "Lossless Audio Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MIDI, AAC, TTA, AU, WV, DTS, MID, FLAC, RA, MP3, PCM or WAV files to APE, try Monkey's Audio or another comparable tool in the "Lossless Audio Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our APE converter.