# Split wav files and convert to mp3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011 "2010-12-05T05:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/1 "2010-12-05T05:48:43Z")
What is a good program (preferably free) that can split a wav file into multiple files? Also, what is a good program to convert wav to mp3? I have a couple of recordings from our band when we were in high school and all of the songs are in one continuous wav file. I want to split it into individual songs and convert them to mp3. ---
**Author:** ![W0X0F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@W0X0F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/W0X0F)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/2 "2010-12-05T06:49:02Z")
[Audacity](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/3 "2010-12-05T14:24:06Z")
Perfect. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/4 "2010-12-05T14:44:10Z")
Audacity will work fine for the OP question, but just as an FYI for other people that have many songs on one file AND a cue sheet, you can use [CueTools](http://www.cuetools.net/doku.php) As I said, it’s not what the OP needs, but it’s a great program so I figured I’d throw it in for anyone else reading the file, who may be interested in splitting a wav with a cue sheet You can also verify any of your lossless downloads to make sure they are correctly ripped. You can even use it to convert formats ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/5 "2010-12-05T15:45:44Z")
agree that Audacity would work well, it has lots of features. probably quickest to make file copies and crop. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/split-wav-files-and-convert-to-mp3/563011/6 "2010-12-05T15:56:05Z")
For the record, iTunes will do this too. If you “File \> Get Info” on the original WAV file, and go to the “Options” tab, you can enter a “Start Time” and a “Stop Time”. If you then convert the WAV file to MP3, iTunes will create on MP3 containing only the portion of the WAV file between those two times. You can repeat the process as necessary to create a bunch of MP3s, though it can get pretty tedious if you’re splitting the WAV file into more than about four or five pieces.