WAV files: uncompressed audio, and when you actually need it
What a WAV really contains, why it is ten times larger than an MP3, and why converting to it does not improve anything. Convert WAV in your browser, no upload.
At a glance
- Type
- Audio
- Compression
- Lossless
- Extensions
- .wav
- MIME type
- audio/wav
- Common codecs
- pcm
- Also known as
- Waveform Audio, PCM
A WAV file is a RIFF container holding, almost always, raw PCM samples: the amplitude of the waveform measured tens of thousands of times a second and written out as plain numbers. There is no compression and no cleverness. CD quality — 44,100 samples a second, 16 bits each, two channels — works out to about 10 MB per minute, which is the single most important fact about the format.
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Because it is uncompressed, WAV is what audio software wants. Editors, samplers, game engines and speech tools can read PCM without decoding anything, and no matter how many times you cut, mix and save, nothing degrades. That is the reason to convert into WAV: not quality, but the absence of further loss during work that involves repeated saves.
It is also why converting to WAV cannot improve an MP3. Decoding a lossy file to PCM gives you exactly what that file contained — the same audio, stored inefficiently. The intuition that WAV is the "high quality" format and therefore an upgrade is the most common misunderstanding about audio conversion, and it costs people a great deal of disk space.
For storage, FLAC is almost always the better answer: identical samples, roughly half the size, with checksums so you can verify the file has not rotted. Choose WAV when a specific tool demands uncompressed input, and note that WAV's metadata support is rudimentary — tags that survive in FLAC or MP3 frequently do not survive here.
Convert WAV to other formats
Convert other formats to WAV
- MP4toWAVDrops the video, keeps the audio losslessly as WAV
- MP3toWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
- M4AtoWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
- FLACtoWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
- AACtoWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
- OGGtoWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
- OpustoWAVDecodes to WAV, which stores audio losslessly
FAQ
Does converting an MP3 to WAV improve the quality?
No. Decoding a lossy file gives you exactly the audio it contained, stored without compression. Nothing is restored; the file simply becomes about ten times larger.
Why is WAV so large?
Because it stores every sample as a plain number with no compression — about 10 MB per minute at CD quality, regardless of what the audio sounds like.
When should I actually convert to WAV?
Before editing in software that wants uncompressed input, when preparing samples or game audio, or when a tool refuses everything else. For listening or sharing it gains you nothing.
WAV or FLAC?
FLAC for storage — identical samples at roughly half the size, with checksums to verify integrity. WAV only when a specific tool insists on uncompressed PCM.
Are tags kept when converting to WAV?
Often not. WAV's metadata support is rudimentary compared with MP3 or FLAC, so titles and cover art frequently do not survive the conversion.
What sample rate and bit depth will I get?
The source rate is kept by default — usually 44.1 or 48 kHz — and samples are written as standard 16-bit PCM, which every editor reads. You can force a different rate in the advanced options.
Why is the file size limit lower for conversions to WAV?
Because the output is much larger than the input, and it is the output that has to be held in memory before you can download it. Conversions that shrink the file accept far bigger sources.
Is WAV the best source for making an MP3?
Yes, along with FLAC and AIFF. Encoding from uncompressed audio is a first-generation encode, where the model works from the complete signal rather than from something already damaged.