# file conversion program needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750 "2002-05-01T23:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/1 "2002-05-01T23:33:16Z")
Are there any programs out there that will convert RealPlayer files to WAV files? I’ve got some really cool files in Real format but Real always plays lousy on my system. Any recommendations you fine people could make would be most appreciated. Chris W ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/2 "2002-05-02T00:14:55Z")
[Here’s one.](http://www.wisecroft.com/index.html) Keep in mind that if the source file is crappy converting it to a wav will not make it any better. It will probably make it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/3 "2002-05-02T00:22:17Z")
I’d be pretty surprised if there were a program that could do it, b/c Real files are streaming media format - it isn’t stored anywhere, it plays in real time. The conversion program would have to basically “record” the stream while it played, (which would open a can of worms fidelity-wise, ex: it would not sound any better than the way it sounds while playing on your system), store that data dynamically somewhere, (which would create a very large temp file), then write it to WAV format when finished. (which would create a WAV even larger than the temp file). Did you ever used to record songs off the radio by holding your mic from a portable tape player up to the radio speaker? It would be kinda like that, except ambient traffic could easily cause the song playing on the radio to stutter, reacquire, etc while you were recording it. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/4 "2002-05-02T00:44:23Z")
There’s a program called TotalRecorder that intercepts anything sent to your sound card and lets you save it as a wav file. I don’t recall the URL offhand. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/5 "2002-05-02T01:59:35Z")
**Dooku** you are quite mistaken. What “streaming” means is that the encoding information is repeated periodically along the file so the player can pick it up along the way but RA is streaming just like MP3 and both can be discrete files. I _hate_ Real Audio with passion and when I get any file I convert it to WAV by the quick and dirty method of playing in one computer and recording on another. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/6 "2002-05-02T20:41:54Z")
**Sailor** , you’re absolutely right. I was thinking about old RAM files, not the newer RA files, that are indeed encoded along the stream, like MP3s. My bad. ::CAW! CAW!! Munch, slurp, smack:: ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/file-conversion-program-needed/106750/7 "2002-05-02T23:07:30Z")
Converters of all types: [download.com](http://download.com) just search for the file extension you want to covert from/to. The programs are usually formatted that way. Like mpgtowav …