WAV and MP3 are both audio file formats commonly used for storing and playing digital audio. WAV audio file is a raw audio file that keeps the accurate quality of a recording in a lossless format. It is an uncompressed audio file format that contains original, unprocessed audio data captured from sources. WAV files are typically larger in size compared to compressed formats like MP3 because they retain all the audio data. On the other hand, MP3 is a compressed audio file format that uses lossy compression to reduce file size while maintaining acceptable audio quality. This is the reason why several people think of converting WAV to MP3. MP3 is the compressed audio file. If you are not sure how to convert a WAV file to MP3 format, keep reading. In this article, I will mention several WAV to MP3 converters and methods to convert WAV to MP3.
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Different ways to convert a WAV File to MP3
Here are different ways to convert a WAV file to MP3 on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Start using the way that suits you.
1. Online WAV to MP3 converter (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS)
There are several online WAV to MP3 converters. You just need to upload the WAV file and download the converted MP3 file. Check the list of some good online WAV to MP3 converters. These are online tools, so work on any platform including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
a) Cloudconvert
Cloudconvert is a popular online platform that lets you convert different files to other file formats. It also has a WAV to MP3 converter for converting WAV audio files to MP3. You can select MP3 Audio Bitrate and volume. The tool also lets you trim the audio file by selecting the start timestamp and end timestamp.
b) Zamzar
Zamzar is also a popular website that lets you convert different file formats to some other file formats. I have mentioned it several times in my different articles. It also offers a good WAV to MP3 online converter where you can upload WAV files and convert them to MP3 files. You can upload a WAV file of size up to 50MB to convert to MP3.
2. Use VLC to convert WAV to MP3 (Windows, macOS)
VLC is a popular video player that supports most video formats. It can also be used to convert different video and audio formats. You can also convert WAV to MP3 using VLC. First, open the VLC player in your system. Now use the File menu to open the WAV file you want to convert to MP3. Once the WAV file is loaded, go again to File Menu and click on Convert/Stream option.
It will now open the menu Window to select the output format. Select MP3 as the output format. If you want to change Bitrate, channels, and sample rate for the MP3, click on Customize next to the output file format. In the end, click on Save as File.
It will convert the WAV file to an MP3 file.
This method using VLC will work on both Windows and macOS.
3. Freemake Audio Converter (Windows)
Freemake Audio Converter is a popular and free audio converter software that can convert audio formats into different audio formats. It boasts to support over 500 different types of formats. You can change the music quality as per your need. This software is free to download and doesn’t include ads or any additional adware. It can convert MP3, WMA, WAV, M4A, AAC, and FLAC. You can also use it to extract audio from video.
It is only available for Windows.
4. HandBrake (macOS)
HandBrake is one of the best audio converter apps for macOS. It can quickly convert WAV audio files to Mp3 audio files. The only con is that the app is not for beginners and requires knowledge of audio and video conversion processes. It is free to download and open source.
It is only available for macOS.
5. WAV To MP3 Converter (Android)
WAV To MP3 Converter is a nice Android app that can convert wave files to MP3 files quickly without compromising audio quality. You can select audio Bitrate, Audio Sampling Rate, and Audio channels in the settings. If you want an easy way of converting Wav to MP3 on an Android phone and do it regularly, download and install this app.
6. The Audio Converter (iOS)
If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can download and install The Audio Converter app to convert WAV to MP3. This is a good audio format converter app for iOS. It supports several audio formats including MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGA, OGG, WAV, WMA, AC3, and AIFF. You can select the WAV file, choose the MP3 as output format and then click on the convert button.
7. Convert WAV to MP3 on Linux
If you are using Linux, you can use ffmpeg to convert WAV to MP3. First, install ffmpeg using the command:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
If the distro you are using doesn’t have this package and the above command didn’t work, try these commands to install ffmpeg.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kirillshkrogalev/ffmpeg-next
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
Now here is the command to convert WAV to MP3.
ffmpeg -i sample.wav -acodec mp3 target.mp3
That’s it.
Wrap Up
Now you know several methods to convert WAV to MP3. I have included online tools, a way of using VLC as a WAV to MP3 converter, apps, and commands to convert WAV to MP3 on Linux. Select a way that suits you to convert WAV to MP3.