# .WAV to MP3 conversion **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225 "2001-11-26T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/1 "2001-11-26T03:19:22Z")
Where is the best software to do this? I have a whole bunch of huge .wav files that I need to convert to mp3 and the “save as” obviously doesn’t work, where can I download software for it? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/2 "2001-11-26T03:29:51Z")
[http://www.musicmatch.com](http://www.musicmatch.com) [List of MP3 ENCODERS Descriptions : Software that converts the WAV to MP3 format](http://www.dailymp3.com/encoders.html) ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/3 "2001-11-26T03:34:29Z")
Thank you much, astro. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/4 "2001-11-26T05:46:04Z")
Musicmatch is great for CDs, no doubt about it. I use [dbPowerAmp](http://www.dbpoweramp.com/) for most other conversions though. Mainly because it integrates itself into the right click menu so it is even easier. ---
**Author:** ![Skip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/5 "2001-11-26T10:10:07Z")
Slight Hijack: Consider using the [Ogg Vorbis](http://www.vorbis.com) compression codec. It’s patent free (unlike mp3) and is totally open. It is equivalent (if not slightly better) than mp3 in file size and audio quality. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/6 "2001-11-26T13:27:05Z")
One I’ve used and really like is Acoustica’s [**MP3 to Wave Converter**](http://www.mp3towave.com/). I’ve tried a number of other programs out there and have liked this one so much that I’ve always gone back to it. It easy to use (Simply right click a highlighted MP3 and tell it to convert) and it can handle multiple conversions at once with surprising speed. It has a pretty long free trial, so try it, I think you’ll like it. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wav-to-mp3-conversion/95225/7 "2001-11-26T15:23:31Z")
Personally, I use a combo of cd2wav and LAME to encode–both are pretty high quality and free. More importantly, they’re command line utilities, so I can run everything off a batch file, and tweak each track individually if I need to. Probably not a good recomendation, though, if you’re not comfortable in DOS. 🙂