1 Correct answer
Cool; got 'em, and they'll work with my solution! I'm assuming you're doing this on Windows, but it should work on a Mac too.
- Get MPEG Streamclip for your OS here: http://www.squared5.com/
- Once you've open MPEG Streamclip (no install needed), select List > Batch List. The Batch List window will appear.
- Click the Add Files button at the bottom of the window, and navigate to the folder where your CAF files are saved.
- The CAF files will not appear by default, so in "File name" box, type (without quotes
16
Replies
No worries 
Before I go all crazy with a tutorial for something that doesn't work, do you have a short sample of one of the files that I could play with? Doesn't need to be more than a few seconds; shoot me a PM if you have an upload location or I can give you access to my FTP. If it's less than 5-10MB, email would work too.
As mentioned, I've found that there is all sorts of variability in these files; this is predicated on my research, but not actual testing. I only have one to work with at the moment, and while I thought you could find EVERYTHING on the Internet, apparently CAF files are exempt from that rule 
Cool; got 'em, and they'll work with my solution! I'm assuming you're doing this on Windows, but it should work on a Mac too.
- Get MPEG Streamclip for your OS here: http://www.squared5.com/
- Once you've open MPEG Streamclip (no install needed), select List > Batch List. The Batch List window will appear.
- Click the Add Files button at the bottom of the window, and navigate to the folder where your CAF files are saved.
- The CAF files will not appear by default, so in "File name" box, type (without quotes) "*caf" to make them appear. When they do, select them all (Ctrl+A works) and click Open.
- A dialog will appear asking you to "Please choose a task;" from the dropdown, select the "Save As" option. No need to check the other options; just click OK.
- When you hit OK, you'll be presented with a folder/file browser window; navigate to your destination folder, and click OK.
- You'll then see a window that says "File open error: unsupported file type." Do not despair Simply click "Open Anyway."
- The next window will ask you to select a file format; choose MOV and click OK.
- Finally, after all that, the files will be added to the Batch List window with the parameters you just set. Simply hit the Go button, and watch the files fly!
The conversion should go very quickly, because there is no re-encoding happening. MPEG Streamclip is simply splitting the CAF container open, extracting the streams, and rewrapping them in an MOV container. They'll also be named the same as your originals. The CAF files are encoded with the Apple Lossless Audio Codec, which is a legitimate codec in QuickTime, on Windows, and even in Premiere, but the CAF container cannot be split open by anything but QuickTime (at least on a PC). MPEG Streamclip is an extremely capable front-end for QuickTime; it does just about everything QuickTime Pro does (and more, like batching) for free.
EDIT: Actually, I just noticed that your CAFs were encoded with AAC audio; the test clip I had was ALAC. Nevertheless, they import just fine.
Anyway, you will end up with a pile of MOVs with no video, but with ALAC audio streams. These import perfectly well into Premiere, and you'll have done so losslessly; compare the file sizes and you'll see that they are within a few KBs of the CAF files.
Hope that works for you!
Glad you found it useful 
I'm all about flying, stabby ninja stuff like this 
Another way to do this without compression (I assume MP4 would attempt compression) would be to change Step 5:
Currently step 5 is to choose "save as" and then choose "MOV" or "MP4" (video containers).
You can instead choose "Export Audio" and then choose AIFF (or AAC, MP3, or MP2). Guaranteed working in Premiere Pro CS5. Doing the rest of the conversions now!
Actually, this is backwards: the reason I suggested MOV (and Toomany countered with MP4) is because the Save As options don't recompress--the Export options do. This mirrors the Save As vs. Export functionality in QuickTime Pro. The Save As option will simply rewrap the existing streams into a new container; Export recompresses the stream (even if you set the settings to be exactly the same) and puts it in a new container.
Another option in this would be to use the Save Track > Save Audio Track command; that will extract just the audio to an M4A file, which will indeed import into Premiere Pro as well.
Have fun!
VERY good point. Now that I'm looking at my newly converted files they are most definitely compressed. Damn! I will just go back and do it again as .mov
AdChoices