Why convert
WAV is uncompressed: a minute of CD-quality stereo takes about 10 MB. The same minute as an MP3 at 128 kbps is about 1 MB, and most people cannot hear the difference at 192 kbps or above.
In your browser
- Open WAV to MP3.
- Choose a quality: 192 kbps for music, 128 kbps for speech and podcasts.
- Drop in the WAV file and download the MP3.
Which bitrate?
| Bitrate | Good for |
| 128 kbps | Speech, podcasts, voice memos (about 1 MB per minute) |
| 192 kbps | Most music |
| 320 kbps | The highest MP3 quality (about 2.4 MB per minute) |
With Audacity
Open the WAV in Audacity, choose File → Export Audio (or Export → Export as MP3 in older versions), pick MP3 and a quality, and save.
With FFmpeg
ffmpeg -i recording.wav -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 192k recording.mp3Keep the WAV if you will edit
MP3 throws away detail each time it is saved. Edit the WAV and convert to MP3 last.