WAV audio files are a great way to preserve the complete and accurate quality of a recording in a truly lossless format on your computer. However, if you’re not an audiophile and are concerned about storage space, it might be time to convert them to a more manageable format like MP3.
What Is a WAV File?
A Waveform Audio File Format (WAV, pronounced “Wave”) is a raw audio format created by Microsoft and IBM. WAV files are uncompressed lossless audio, which can take up quite a bit of space, coming in around 10 MB per minute.
WAV file formats use containers to contain the audio in “chunks” using the Resource Interchange File Format. This is a common method Windows uses for storing audio and video files— like AVI— but can be used for arbitrary data as well.
They’re mainly used in the professional music recording industry, however, more and more people are moving away from WAV and using FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), as it uses compression to make files smaller while maintaining the same level of quality.
RELATED: What Are WAV and WAVE Files (and How Do I Open Them)?
How To Convert WAV to MP3
If you have a majority of your audio files in WAV format, the chances are they’re eating up a lot of disk space. One way to reduce the impact they have on your storage without getting rid of them completely is to convert them into a smaller, more compressed format— like MP3.
Using VLC to Convert Your Files
VLC is a free and open source media player that opens almost any file format, and it has an option for converting your audio files, and it’s a favorite here at How-to Geek.
Open up VLC and click “Media” then on “Convert/Save.”
Post a Comment Blogger Facebook
We welcome comments that add value to the discussion. We attempt to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam, and our editors frequently review the comments to ensure they are appropriate. As the comments are written and submitted by visitors of The Sheen Blog, they in no way represent the opinion of The Sheen Blog. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.