Tool 19 · WAV to MP3 · Free · No signup
WAV to MP3.
A WAV is about ten megabytes a minute; the same song as a 192 kbps MP3 is under one and a half. Drop one WAV or a whole batch, pick the bitrate, and each MP3 downloads as it finishes. Converted on your own machine.
01 Files
MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and Opus, or a video for its sound, as many as you like. The files are read on your device and never upload.
02 Convert to
192 kbps is transparent for most music; 320 if it is going back into an editor; 128 is plenty for speech. Title, artist, album and cover are carried over. Each file downloads as it finishes.
Converted, then a video
A song on its way to YouTube, TikTok or Reels still needs a picture there. Above, a frame from our music visualizer, which turns the converted file into a video that moves with it. For a cover held still with the sound, use MP3 to MP4; for a voice recording, the waveform video maker.
How to convert WAV to MP3
WAV is what a DAW bounces and a recorder writes: uncompressed PCM, exact and large. MP3 is what email, phones, car stereos and most upload forms take. Converting means encoding the sound once with LAME, the open-source MP3 encoder, here in your browser: the WAV never leaves your machine, nothing waits in a queue behind other people's files, and there is no cap on how many you drop.
- Drop the WAV files anywhere on the page, or click to choose them, one or a whole folder. Each shows its format, sample rate and length at once. No file to hand? Try the sample.
- Keep MP3 and pick the bitrate: 192 kbps for music, 320 if it is going back into an editor, 128 for speech.
- Press Convert. The files go one after another, each with its own progress line, and each MP3 downloads under the original name as soon as it is done.
Related
- Audio converterEvery format in, MP3, WAV or M4A out, and what each one does.
- M4A to MP3The same converter for a M4A file.
- FLAC to MP3The same converter for a FLAC file.
- OGG to MP3The same converter for a OGG file.
- Opus to MP3The same converter for a OPUS file.
- AAC to MP3The same converter for a AAC file.
- MP3 to MP4The converted file with a cover, as a 1080p video.
- MP3 tag editorFix the title, artist or cover in the MP3.
- Audio trimmerOnly need part of it? Cut it down first.
Questions
How much smaller is the MP3?+
A stereo 16-bit WAV at 44.1 kHz runs at 1,411 kbps, about ten megabytes a minute. A 192 kbps MP3 is about a seventh of that, 320 kbps under a quarter, 128 kbps about an eleventh. A four minute song of 42 MB comes out at about 5.8 MB at 192 kbps, small enough to email. A 24-bit or 96 kHz WAV shrinks even more, because the MP3 is the same size whatever went in.
Which bitrate should I pick?+
192 kbps for music you will listen to or send: on most music most listeners cannot tell it from the WAV. 320 kbps if the MP3 will be edited, mixed or encoded again, so the next step has more to work with. 128 kbps for speech, a podcast or a voice memo, where it is already plenty. The MP3 is constant bitrate, which every player and editor reads.
Does a 24-bit or 96 kHz WAV work?+
Yes, tested with a 24-bit, 96 kHz file. It is read at full resolution and resampled to 48 kHz, the highest rate MP3 has; 44.1 and 48 kHz files keep their rate. Keep the WAV as your master: the MP3 is the copy you send.
Can I convert many WAV files at once?+
Yes. Drop a folder's worth: they convert one after another, each downloads as it finishes, and its row shows the size it came out at. Chrome asks once whether the page may download several files; allow it. A file that cannot be read says why, and the rest carry on.
Will the MP3 keep a title and artist?+
If the WAV has them, yes: the title, artist and album in its INFO chunk are written into the MP3's ID3 tag. Most WAVs straight out of a DAW carry none, so the MP3 is named after the file. The MP3 tag editor on this site adds a title, an artist and a cover afterwards.
Is my audio uploaded?+
No. Each file is decoded and encoded in your browser, a piece at a time, and the download is made there. Nothing leaves your machine, nothing is watermarked, and there is no queue. The page only counts that a file was converted, with the formats, never a name or the audio.
How fast is it?+
Measured in Chrome on a laptop with a two minute song: WAV to a 192 kbps MP3 in about two and a half seconds, MP3 to WAV in under two. A phone is slower. Files go one at a time, so a batch takes the sum of its files.
Which encoder makes the MP3?+
LAME, the open-source MP3 encoder most audio software uses, compiled to run in the browser. The MP3 is constant bitrate at the source's sample rate (48 kHz for anything above), with an ID3v2 tag.