APE File Format (.ape)
An APE file holds audio compressed with Monkey's Audio, a lossless codec Matthew T. Ashland released in 2000 that trades slow, CPU-heavy decoding for smaller files than most other lossless formats.
APE at a glance#
| Full name | Monkey's Audio |
|---|---|
| File extension | .ape |
| Category | Audio Files |
| Developer | Matthew T. Ashland |
| First released | 2000 |
| Compression | Lossless |
| FileFlip support | FileFlip reads this format but does not write it |
What a .ape file can hold#
These are the things a APE file either supports or does not, and they are what decides whether a conversion keeps everything or quietly drops something.
| Lossless compression | Yes |
|---|---|
| Embedded metadata | Yes |
Strengths and limitations of APE#
What APE does well
- Often compresses several percent smaller than FLAC at its higher compression levels, while still being bit-for-bit lossless
- Stores tags with the same APEv2 metadata format FLAC and other formats also use
Where APE falls short
- Decoding is noticeably slower than FLAC, and gets slower still at the highest compression levels
- Almost no portable players or car stereos decode it natively, unlike FLAC which is now widely supported
- Outside Windows it depends on third-party software such as foobar2000 in Wine, JRiver, or Plex rather than built-in OS support
Keep audio as APE when it was already ripped that way for an archive and the extra compression over FLAC actually matters for storage.
Convert APE to FLAC when the file needs to play on a portable player, a car stereo, or any app or device that only recognizes the more common lossless format.
How to open a .ape file#
A .ape file opens in the programs below, grouped by the platform you are on. If you would rather not install anything, FileFlip converts APE into a format your machine already opens, and it does it in the browser tab rather than on a server.
| Platform | Programs that open it |
|---|---|
| Windows | foobar2000, JRiver Media Center, dBpoweramp, VLC |
| macOS | Cog, VLC, JRiver Media Center |
| Linux | VLC, mpv |
| Web | FileFlip |
APE questions people ask#
What creates an APE file?
An APE file is produced by encoding audio with Monkey's Audio, almost always through the ripping and tagging tools popular with Windows-based audio archivists, such as foobar2000 or dBpoweramp. It is rarely the format a recording device or streaming service hands you directly.
What still plays APE files?
foobar2000, JRiver Media Center, and dBpoweramp play APE natively on Windows, and VLC decodes it on any platform. Very few phones, portable players, or smart speakers support Monkey's Audio, which is the main practical drawback compared to FLAC.
Should I convert APE to FLAC or MP3?
Convert APE to FLAC to keep lossless quality while gaining support on far more devices and software; convert to MP3 only if the smaller lossy file size matters more than exact fidelity. Going from APE to FLAC loses nothing, since both are lossless and the original audio data is fully recovered either way.
Converting APE files#
Convert APE to another format
FileFlip does not write .ape files, so nothing on the site converts into this format. It works as a source only.
Every conversion runs inside your browser. The file is read from your disk, the work happens on your own machine, and nothing is uploaded. How FileFlip works names the engine behind each family and how to verify that for yourself.