Abstract: To investigate the quality changes of yak meat during wet-aging, the longissimus dorsi muscles from healthy grazing yaks aged 24~36 months were vacuum-packaged and aged at 4 ℃ for 19 days. Glycogen content, pH, moisture content, cooking loss, color difference, hydroxyproline content, myofibrillar protein degradation, shear force, total viable count (TVC), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), lipid oxidation (TBARS), and odor were measured. The results showed that during wet aging, the pH of yak meat initially decreased and then increased, reaching the ultimate pH between days 7 and 10. The a^* value exhibited an increasing trend, indicating a significant improvement in color. TVC and TVB-N values reached food safety limits on days 16 and 19, respectively, confirming compliance with edible safety standards. By day 10 of wet-aging, the shear force dropped below 5 kg. Volatile flavor compounds were primarily generated between days 4 and 13, and the odor intensity of nitrogen oxides, sulfides, pyrazines, terpenes, methyl compounds, and aromatic compounds increased significantly, whereas the spoilage-related metabolites were produced during 16~19 d. Considering both quality and safety, wet-aging for 10 to 15 days significantly improves the edible quality of yak meat.