MP3 to WAV Converter

When you need WAV instead of MP3

Most players are happy with MP3. WAV is what you reach for when the next tool in line asks for it: an audio or video editor, a hardware sampler, CD burning software or a phone system. Pick the settings for where the file is going.

1. 1Music editors and DAWs: 24-bit or 32-bit float, the MP3’s own sample rate.
2. 2Video editors: 48 kHz, the rate video projects run at; 16 or 24-bit.
3. 3Hardware samplers: 16-bit, 44.1 kHz, mono for one-shots if the sampler prefers it.
4. 4Audio CDs: 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo, the only format the Red Book standard allows.
5. 5Phone menus and hold messages: check what your phone system asks for; mono saves space.

What converting MP3 to WAV keeps, and what it can’t add back

Converting MP3 to WAV keeps exactly what the MP3 contains, sample for sample, and stores it without compression. From that point on, every edit and every save is lossless.

What it can’t do is restore detail the MP3 encoder already removed. The high frequencies a 128 kbps file left out stay out, and the spectrum before and after looks the same, as the samples on this page show. If you still have the original recording or master, convert from that instead.

MP3 to WAV settings: bit depth and sample rate

16-bit is the CD standard and holds far more range than any MP3 delivers, so it is the default. When the result is 16-bit, the converter adds a very low dither noise, which keeps fade-outs and quiet passages smooth.

Choose 24-bit when the file goes into a mixing session and will be processed further, or 32-bit float if you want room above full scale while you work. Keep the original sample rate unless the destination names one: 48 kHz for video, 44.1 kHz for CDs. Changing it uses a high-quality resampler, but staying at the source rate is always the cleanest.

Why the WAV is so much bigger

An MP3 throws away what it judges you won’t hear and packs the rest tightly. A WAV stores every sample as it is: about 10 MB a minute for 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo, compared with 2.4 MB for a 320 kbps MP3 and about 1 MB for 128 kbps.

One WAV file can hold up to 4 GB, about 6.7 hours of CD-quality stereo. For longer recordings, split the MP3 first or choose a lower sample rate or mono.

Loops and samples that land on the beat

Encoders such as LAME add a few hundredths of a second of silence at the start of an MP3 and pad the end to fill the last frame. They also write a small tag that says how much. Players that read it play the song seamlessly, but many converters ignore it and pass the silence on into the WAV, so a drum loop drifts out of time.

This converter reads that tag and cuts exactly the padding, so loops repeat cleanly and stems line up in your project. Very old MP3s without the tag keep the decoder’s few milliseconds at the start; nudge those by hand if timing is critical.

Building a sample pack? Convert the whole folder at once and keep the 24-bit setting, so every one-shot and loop arrives in your sampler at the same format.

Other ways: desktop apps and the command line

A desktop audio editor opens an MP3 and exports it as WAV, one file at a time, with its own export settings. The music app on a Mac can create WAV versions of songs once you choose the WAV encoder in its import settings. Both work offline, on a computer.

On the command line, ffmpeg -i input.mp3 output.wav converts with default settings; add -ar 48000 -c:a pcm_s24le for a 48 kHz, 24-bit file. Going the other way, from a WAV to a smaller file? Use WAV to MP3.