# Any way to convert .wav files to .dss? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081 "2004-10-19T18:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/1 "2004-10-19T18:39:20Z")
I’ve got a nifty Olympus recorder that I take to class and tape stuff with. However, I have converted all of my files to .wav files, and have deleted the .dss ones. I know, it was silly of me to do that, but I wanted to play my recordings through other software. I didn’t think I’d ever want to play the .dss files again. The software that came with the Olympus player only allows .dss files to be uploaded to the player. So right now I want to listen to a recording of my Appellate Advocacy class while out jogging, and I’ve already converted it to .wav and deleted the .dss file. I have been looking for a program to converted the .wav files to .dss files so I can take my recorder with me on my jog, but nothing has popped up. I don’t have any other recorders small enough to take with me on my jog. Can anyone point me the way to a piece of software that would accomplish this? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/2 "2004-10-19T18:48:51Z")
.dss file? What type of file is that? I do audio engineering, and I’ve never heard of a .dss file. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/3 "2004-10-19T19:04:02Z")
“digital speech standard” used by a couple digital recorder vendors, including Olympic & Philips. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/4 "2004-10-19T19:11:37Z")
I meant Olympus, not Olympic. The format’s virtue is that it is optimized for speech, so it’s very small, and intended to support speech-to-text conversion. Unfortunately, Olympus themselves has this to say in their FAQ: > [@](#): > > It is not possible to convert Wave into DSS; when you convert into wave it is always saved as a copy. Please, do not delete the original DSS file if you still want to use it. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/5 "2004-10-19T19:12:50Z")
Ok, makes a little more sense. If you don’t have any luck finding a convert, let me put forth the ghetto solution. Play the wav file, and put the recorder next to the speaker. Hopefully the loss of quality shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll see if I can figure anything else out. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/6 "2004-10-19T19:26:31Z")
**World Eater** , I hadn’t thought of that, but it will probably work. It will take a while, and I’ve already gone for my jog. I know that .dss is a proprietary file format belonging to Olympus, but I just don’t see why they wouldn’t support a conversion to it from .wav. It’s no smaller than mp3 format, is it? I would think they would support this conversion so people would use their products more frequently. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-convert-wav-files-to-dss/270081/7 "2004-10-19T19:46:58Z")
> [@Elysian](#): > > **World Eater** , I hadn’t thought of that, but it will probably work. It will take a while, and I’ve already gone for my jog. Not an elegant solution by any stretch, but it will do the job. I’ve had to do some pretty odd things in the studio, and that’s about the oldest trick in the book. > [@](#): > > I know that .dss is a proprietary file format belonging to Olympus, but I just don’t see why they wouldn’t support a conversion to it from .wav. It’s no smaller than mp3 format, is it? I would think they would support this conversion so people would use their products more frequently. Oh well. Those companies can be pretty wacky about those things. They’ll dump the money into getting it to _function_, but beyond that, you’re on your own. Good luck.