Convert WAV to MP3
Free online converter for WAV files. The most widely compatible lossy audio format. Nothing to install, no watermark, and every file is deleted automatically.
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Upload a WAV file to convert it to MP3. Up to 3 files at once, 100 MB each.
Free · up to 3 files · 100 MB each · files deleted automatically after 1 hour.
About WAV and MP3
WAV .wav
Raw uncompressed audio samples in a thin container. Exactly what came off the recorder, at roughly 10 MB per minute of stereo CD-quality sound.
Good for
- Bit-for-bit perfect — nothing is discarded
- No decoding overhead, so editors handle it fastest
- The standard working format for recording and editing
Trade-offs
- Very large — around 10 MB per minute
- No built-in tags for artist or album
- Impractical for distribution or streaming
audio/wav
MP3 .mp3
The format that made digital music portable. Lossy, thirty years old, and still the safest choice when you have no idea what will play the file.
Good for
- Plays on essentially every device ever made
- Small files at listenable quality
- Patents long expired, so support is everywhere
Trade-offs
- Lossy — detail is gone permanently
- Beaten by AAC and Opus at the same bitrate
- No transparency about what was discarded
audio/mpeg
WAV and MP3 side by side
| WAV | MP3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Uncompressed PCM | Lossy |
| Typically used for | Recording, editing, mastering | Music, podcasts, anything that must simply play |
What changes when you convert WAV to MP3
This is a re-encode, not a repackage
Some tools can move a stream into a different container untouched when the codecs happen to line up. We do not — every job here is decoded and encoded again, so the conversion takes time in proportion to the length of the file and costs a small amount of quality even where a repackage would have been possible. In exchange the output is predictable: it plays everywhere, rather than inheriting whatever the source happened to contain.
What your MP3 will contain
The output is MP3 — written by LAME, the reference MP3 encoder, at 192 kbps by default. That sits comfortably above the point most people stop hearing a difference on ordinary equipment, and the bitrate is adjustable from 32 up to 320 if you want the file smaller or the quality nearer the source.
This step is irreversible
WAV holds every sample; MP3 keeps a close approximation. The file gets dramatically smaller, and converting back later will not undo it. Keep the WAV original if it is a master you will work from again.
Tags may not survive intact
WAV stores its metadata as RIFF INFO chunks, which many players ignore entirely, and MP3 uses ID3. Standard fields such as title, artist and album normally map across. Anything without an equivalent on the other side — unusual custom fields, some ratings and play counts, occasionally embedded artwork — has nowhere to go. Check the tags before deleting the original if your library depends on them.