What is the APE file format?
The .ape format is a lossless audio compression format developed by Matthew T. Ashland and first released in 2000. Unlike lossy formats such as MP3, .ape files preserve every bit of the original audio signal - decoding returns an identical copy of the source PCM data.
Compression is handled by the proprietary MAC (Monkey's Audio Codec) algorithm using predictive coding with Asymmetric Numeral Systems (ANS). Five compression levels are available - Fast, Normal, High, Extra High, and Insane - with typical size reductions of 37-49% relative to uncompressed WAV. Higher levels are increasingly CPU-intensive to decode; the Insane preset can take several seconds to seek within, making it impractical for real-time playback on low-power hardware.
Every .ape file starts with the four-byte magic sequence MAC (hex 4D 41 43 20), followed by a version number, audio header, seek table, compressed audio frames, and an optional APEv2 metadata tag block appended at the file end. The seek table enables random access without decoding the entire file.
Although .ape was once popular in lossless audio communities and remains common in Chinese music archives, FLAC has become the de facto lossless standard due to its open specification, faster decoding, and wider hardware support. Playback is supported by foobar2000, VLC, and Poweramp, among others.
The Monkey's Audio SDK source code was released under a permissive open-source license in 2019.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWAPE files are audio data files - they cannot execute code. The Monkey's Audio codec has had historical buffer-overflow vulnerabilities in older decoder versions (e.g. CVE-2007-0708); ensure your player/decoder is up to date. No active exploit risk in modern software.
Format details
in a nutshell- Winamp AVS Preset File - db_name in the source database says 'Winamp plug-ins AVS file' - this is a database identity error. .ape files are Monkey's Audio lossless audio files, NOT Winamp AVS visualization presets (which use the .avs extension, not .ape). The db_name is wrong; this KB describes the dominant real meaning of .ape.
Programs that open APE files
Windows5 apps
VLC media player
Open-source Open .ape via Media > Open File. VLC includes FFmpeg which decodes APE. 
Foobar2000
Free Install foobar2000 with the Monkey's Audio decoder component (bundled by default); drag .ape file onto the playlist. 
Monkey's Audio (official app)
Free Official Windows app for encoding, decoding, and converting APE files. Batch-convert APE to WAV or other formats. 
macOS2 apps
Linux2 apps
Android2 apps
Technical details
deep spec| Magic bytes | 4D 41 43 20 ("MAC " + space) at offset 0 |
| Byte order | Little-endian |
| MIME type | audio/x-ape |
| Compression algorithm | Proprietary MAC predictive coding with Asymmetric Numeral Systems (ANS); earlier versions used Range/Rice coding |
| Compression levels | 5 levels - Fast (~37%), Normal (~42%), High (~46%), Extra High (~48%), Insane (~49%) size reduction vs. uncompressed PCM |
| Seek mechanism | Frame-offset seek table in header block; enables random access without decoding the entire file |
| Metadata format | APEv2 tag block appended at file end; also used by WavPack and Musepack |
| Integrity check | MD5 hash of raw audio data stored in the descriptor block |
| Sample rate support | Up to 192 kHz; standard rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000 Hz |
| Typical file size | 150-600 MB per CD album (40-60% of uncompressed WAV) |
| SDK license | Permissive open-source (MIT-like); source code published by Matthew T. Ashland |
| Hardware player support | Limited - many portable players lack native APE decoding; FLAC has broader hardware support |
| Released | 2000 (version 1.0 by Matthew T. Ashland) |
| Latest version | 13.05 (as of 2024-2025; versioned by Monkey's Audio SDK) |
| Specification | monkeysaudio.com |
APE conversions
Community Q&A
asked by usersNo questions yet - be the first to ask about APE files.
