What this does
Reads the uncompressed sound in the WAV and encodes it as an MP3 at the bitrate you choose. A batch of files is converted one after another and offered together as a ZIP.
What it can’t do
Make the sound any better than the recording, or keep a multichannel surround mix: MP3 holds stereo.
A worked example
A 45-minute interview recorded on a field recorder is a 480 MB WAV, too big to email. At 128 kbps it is a 43 MB MP3, which goes through.
Questions
- How much smaller will the file be?
- A CD-quality WAV is about 10 MB per minute. The same minute as a 192 kbps MP3 is 1.4 MB, and at 128 kbps about 1 MB.
- What is lost?
- Detail the ear is unlikely to notice at a sensible bitrate. For listening, 192 kbps is hard to tell from the WAV. Keep the WAV if you will edit the recording again.
- Does the MP3 keep the recording's notes?
- No. Broadcast WAV files can hold the name of the recorder, the date and the studio's coding history. None of it is carried into the MP3.
Your file stays on this device
The tool above runs in a sealed frame that cannot send your file anywhere. It works with airplane mode on, and the counter above it stays at 0. Here is how you can check that yourself.
Related tools
- MP3 to WAV Save an MP3 as an uncompressed WAV for editing.
- Convert audio Change a recording to WAV, MP3, FLAC or OGG.
- Trim audio Cut the start and end of a recording.
- M4A to MP3 Turn an iPhone voice memo or an AAC track into an MP3.
- MP4 to MP3 Save the sound of a video as an MP3.
- Extract audio from video Save the sound of a video as its own file, with no quality loss.
- MOV to MP4 Change the container of a video without re-encoding it.
Last updated .