The effects of pretreatment of samples with lactic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid respectively on the physical and chemical characteristics and the changes in volatile flavor components of air-dried yak beef were investigated in this paper. Fresh yak meat was cured with different organic acids. After the curing process, the shear force of the fresh yak meat was measured firstly. Then the marinated fresh yak meat was made into air-dried yak meat, and the pH value, color differential, water content, Aw, MFI, sensory quality and volatile flavor substances of samples were measured.The results showed that as the organic acid concentration increased, the shear force value of fresh yak meat decreased significantly（P＜0.05）, the pH value and a* value of air-dried yak meat also decreased significantly（P＜0.05）, and the water content、 Aw、 L* value、 MFI of air-dried yak meat increased significantly（P＜0.05）, but the b* value of air-dried yak meat showed no significant change（P＜0.05）. The air-dried yak meat had the best taste after 3% citric acid treatment. The content of volatile flavor substances in air-dried yak meat treated with lactic acid and citric acid increased, but that of air-dried yak meat treated with acetic acid decreased. In conclusion, the texture improvement of air-dried yak meat with 5% acetic acid pretreatment was the best, and the flavor quality of air-dried yak meat with 3-4% citric acid pretreatment was the best.