PFC converters are widely used in industrial drive systems. The modulation scheme and the topology of the converter have a considerable impact not only on the switching losses, but also on the volume of the passive components, i.e. the EMI filter (CM and DM) and the dC link capacitors. In order to evaluate this impact, different modulation schemes for 2L and 3L topologies are analysed in this paper based on comprehensive converter optimizations. In these optimizations also a model for the EMI filter is included and the optimal converter volume including the EMI filter is evaluated for the different topologies and modulation schemes. Thus, significant differences in the converter volume can be observed for the different modulation schemes. Also the impact of SiC semiconductors on the system performance is analysed. The 3L-NPB modulation scheme with a NPC topology offers the best compromise of heat sink, EMI filter and DC link capacitor volume.