Convert WAV to MP3 online

Your WAV file is converted to MP3 right here in your browser, using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Nothing is uploaded to us, the audio never leaves your device. Quality is preserved and the download is ready in seconds.

What is a WAV file?

WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) stores raw, uncompressed PCM audio, every sample, exactly as captured. A 44.1 kHz stereo WAV runs to roughly 10 MB per minute, which is the price of keeping everything.

WAV is the working format of studios, DAWs and video editors: Audacity, Premiere, Pro Tools and broadcast workflows all expect it. Field recorders and podcast equipment often capture straight to WAV.

Why MP3?

MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is the format that made digital music portable in the late 1990s, and it remains the most universally supported audio format ever made. It compresses audio by discarding detail the ear is least likely to miss, at bitrates typically between 128 and 320 kbps.

Convert to MP3 when compatibility matters more than anything else, sending audio to someone whose device you don't know, uploading where only MP3 is accepted, or shrinking a large recording down to an email-friendly size. WAV files are enormous (ten times the size of a good MP3) and carry limited metadata support, which makes them a poor sharing or streaming format.

Frequently asked questions

Will converting WAV to MP3 lose quality?

You trade a little fidelity for a much smaller file. MP3 is a lossy format, so detail the ear is least likely to miss is discarded during encoding, for speech and most listening the difference is inaudible at the high-quality settings this converter uses. Keep your original WAV as the master and treat the MP3 as the sharing copy.

Is it free?

Yes, completely, with no account and no watermark. The conversion runs on your own device, so it costs us nothing to let you use it. The only limit is file size: up to 50 MB, which is what a browser can hold in memory comfortably.

Do I need to install anything, or upload my file?

Neither. It runs entirely in your browser using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly. Your audio is never sent to us, which is also why it works on a slow connection, only the page downloads, not your file.

Need a transcript of the audio?

Autrans also transcribes audio in Nigerian English, Pidgin, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, French, and Spanish.