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How-To Guide

How to Convert AAX Audiobook to MP3

AAX is Audible's DRM-protected audiobook format. While Audible's app handles AAX natively on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, you may want MP3 versions for non-Audible players, archival, or playback in non-supported environments. Turning AAX into MP3 means removing that DRM, which US and UK law forbid even for books you bought. This guide covers what you can do instead.

See what FormatDrop converts
FormatDrop doesn't convert AAX to MP3 yet. The methods below use free tools that do. FormatDrop's own converters cover common image, audio, video and PDF formats, all in your browser.

Your options for Audible AAX files

  1. 1

    Listen in Audible's own apps

    Audible's free apps play AAX books on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows, and you can also listen in a web browser at audible.com. Chapters, bookmarks and your place sync between them.

  2. 2

    Play on other devices through Audible

    Audible also works on Amazon Echo speakers, in cars through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and on Sonos speakers. That covers most reasons people want an MP3.

  3. 3

    For files you can convert, use DRM-free audiobooks

    Libro.fm sells DRM-free audiobooks you download as MP3 or M4B files, and LibriVox offers free public-domain audiobooks. Those convert with any tool, including FFmpeg: ffmpeg -i book.m4b -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 64k book.mp3.

Why convert AAX to MP3?

AAX is Audible's walled garden; MP3 is universal. Converting your purchased audiobooks gives you ownership of the files you paid for, playable on any device.

Frequently asked questions

Is AAX to MP3 conversion legal?
Not in the US or UK. Removing AAX's DRM is circumvention, which the US DMCA and UK copyright law prohibit even for personal copies of books you bought, and it breaks Audible's terms. Sharing converted files is illegal everywhere. Audiobooks sold DRM-free, for example by Libro.fm, can be converted freely.
What bitrate should I use?
For a DRM-free audiobook, 64 kbps mono MP3 is plenty for speech, and 96–128 kbps stereo suits books with music. A higher bitrate than the source only makes a bigger file.
How do I split a long audiobook into chapters?
Inside Audible's apps you can jump between chapters already. For a DRM-free M4B, m4b-tool splits it into one MP3 per chapter: `m4b-tool split --audio-format mp3 --audio-bitrate 64k book.m4b`.
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