Convert WAV to AAC

What a WAV file is

WAV is raw, uncompressed PCM in a Microsoft container: the audio exactly as it was sampled, with nothing clever done to it.

Where you run into it: Recording sessions, sample libraries, video editors, anything that has to be edited rather than merely listened to.

What it costs you: It is enormous — roughly 10 MB a minute in CD-quality stereo — and it carries almost no tagging, so a folder of WAVs is a folder of filenames.

What you get as AAC

AAC is MP3's designated successor and wins at low bitrates by a clear margin. A bare .aac file is the raw ADTS stream rather than the .m4a container most software expects.

Where you run into it: YouTube and streaming audio tracks, broadcast, anything that came out of a device rather than a music shop.

What it costs you: The naked .aac extension confuses a surprising amount of software, which is the usual reason people convert it.

What this conversion actually does

This is the conversion that actually buys you something: WAV holds the full signal, and AAC trades a slice of it for a file a fraction of the size. This is where the bitrate setting matters — 320 kbps for music you care about, 192 for general listening, 128 for speech. It is a one-way trip, so keep the WAV original if it is the only copy you have.

How to convert WAV to AAC

1. Drop your WAV file onto the box above, or click it and pick the file.
2. Choose a quality if you want one — the default is the best the source can support.
3. Press Convert. The file goes to our server, ffmpeg does the work, and the result comes straight back.
4. Your AAC file downloads automatically. Both copies on the server are deleted as soon as the response is sent.

Frequently asked questions

Is converting WAV to AAC free?

Yes, entirely, and there is no cap on how many files you convert. No account, no watermark, no trial.

Does converting WAV to AAC lose quality?

Yes — that is the point of it. AAC discards part of the signal to get small. At the best setting the difference is inaudible to almost everyone on almost any equipment; at 128 kbps it is audible on music and fine on speech.

How big will the AAC file be?

Much smaller — commonly a tenth of the WAV at 320 kbps, and less again at lower settings. That reduction is exactly what you are trading a slice of the signal for.

Can I convert AAC back to WAV?

Yes — AAC is one of the formats this converter writes, so the reverse page exists at /aac-to-wav/. Remember that going back and forth between two lossy formats degrades the audio a little each time.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

The file is uploaded to do the conversion — nothing here runs in your browser — and both your upload and the converted result are deleted the moment the file is sent back. Nothing is stored and nothing is logged beyond the request itself.

Other conversions