MP3 to WAV Converter
Some jobs need audio that is already decoded: burning a CD, loading a sampler, editing to the exact sample. This page unpacks MP3 into uncompressed PCM WAV at 16-bit, 44.1 kHz by default.
Audio Converter
or drop MP3, WAV, M4A … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Constant bitrate (CBR) gives a predictable size and works on every player. Variable bitrate (VBR) spends bits where the music needs them and is usually smaller at the same quality.
Keep the source rate unless a device asks for one. 44.1 kHz is CD standard, 48 kHz is video standard, 8 kHz is used by phone systems and AMR.
Mono halves the size of lossless files and is fine for voice recordings.
16-bit is CD quality. 24-bit keeps headroom for editing and mastering; converting a 16-bit source up does not add detail.
Optional. Seconds (e.g. 75) or minutes:seconds (1:15). Leave empty to start at the beginning.
Optional. Same format as the start time. Leave empty to keep everything up to the end.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the MP3 files
Add up to 20 MP3s at once, up to 95 MB each, which covers most albums and long DJ mixes.
- 2
Pick the target rate
44.1 kHz is preset for CDs and music. For a video project choose 48 kHz under Sample rate; for heavy processing in a DAW, set Bit depth to 24-bit.
- 3
Press Convert to WAV
Each MP3 is decoded once to PCM. Download the files separately or as a ZIP; uploads are deleted after 30 minutes.
To convert MP3 to WAV, upload the file and press Convert to WAV. You get 16-bit, 44.1 kHz PCM that every editor, sampler and CD burner reads. It will not sound better than the MP3, but it will behave better in tools that need decoded audio.
When an MP3 needs to become a WAV
MP3 is a delivery format. It stores audio as compressed frames that must be decoded before anything can be heard, and the decoder needs a moment to settle at the start of each file. For listening that is invisible. For a hardware sampler, a radio playout system or an editor where you cut on exact beats, it is friction.
The usual reasons people decode MP3s: a karaoke or backing track loaded into a sampler that reads only PCM, a sound effect pack going into a game engine that wants WAV, a DJ edit where loop points must land on a sample, and video editors that drift out of sync with variable-bitrate MP3s. In all of these, WAV removes the decoding step without changing what you hear. If the MP3 came out of a video, MP4 to MP3 or a direct WAV extraction from the original is a cleaner starting point.
MP3 from patent format to free standard
1993
Standard published
MPEG-1 Audio Layer III appears in ISO/IEC 11172-3, largely developed at Fraunhofer IIS.
1995
.mp3 extension
Fraunhofer settles on .mp3 as the file extension, replacing the earlier .bit.
1998
Portable players
Early pocket players such as the MPMan put MP3 into hardware.
2017
Licensing ends
Fraunhofer and Technicolor end the MP3 patent licensing program; encoders are now royalty-free.
MP3 to WAV converter: how the size changes
3-minute MP3, 128 kbps
≈ 2.9 MB
Compressed frames, ID3 tags and cover art
Same song as WAV, 16-bit 44.1 kHz
≈ 31.8 MB
Uncompressed PCM at 1,411 kbps
The growth is fixed by the WAV settings, not by the MP3 bitrate: a 320 kbps MP3 and a 96 kbps MP3 of the same length produce WAV files of identical size. Choosing Mono under Channels halves it for speech, and 24-bit makes it 50 percent bigger.
What the WAV cannot do is recover anything. The MP3 encoder already removed high frequencies and quiet detail, and decoding writes those gaps into the WAV as they are. Treat the result as a working copy. For storing a library, keep the MP3s, or go the other way with WAV to MP3 when the edit is finished.
MP3 and WAV format details
MP3
MP3 audio
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is a lossy audio format developed largely at the Fraunhofer Institute and standardised by MPEG in 1993. It removes sounds the ear is unlikely to notice, shrinking music to about a tenth of CD size at 128–320 kbps. All patents have expired, and every phone, car stereo, browser and media player supports it. Quality loss is audible at low bitrates and accumulates with re-encoding.
- Compression
- Lossy
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1993 · Fraunhofer IIS / MPEG
WAV
Waveform Audio File
WAV is an audio container created by Microsoft and IBM in 1991, usually holding uncompressed PCM audio. It preserves full quality, which makes it standard for recording, editing, sound effects and mastering. A minute of CD-quality stereo takes about 10 MB, so files are large. Every operating system, editor and most players open WAV, though metadata support is limited.
- Compression
- Lossless
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1991 · Microsoft and IBM
Samplers, CD-burning tools, broadcast playout and sample-accurate editing all want audio that is already decoded, so people unpack MP3 into PCM WAV once rather than making each tool decode it on the fly.
Converting MP3 to WAV: questions
Why is my WAV about ten times bigger than the MP3?
An MP3 at 128 kbps stores roughly 1 MB per minute because the encoder discarded what it judged inaudible. WAV stores every sample uncompressed at 1,411 kbps for CD-quality stereo, so the same minute takes about 10 MB, even though no detail was added.
Will the WAV start with a tiny gap of silence?
MP3 encoders add a few dozen milliseconds of padding at the start and end of each file. Decoders that read the LAME header trim it, but a short gap can remain, which matters for loops and gapless albums. Trim it in your editor or set Start at to a fraction of a second, such as 0.03.
Should I choose 16-bit or 24-bit WAV from an MP3?
16-bit already holds everything an MP3 can deliver and is what CDs and most players expect. Choose 24-bit only if you plan to apply heavy gain, EQ or effects, where the extra headroom reduces rounding error during processing.
Does the WAV keep the ID3 tags and album cover?
Basic text such as title and artist can be written into the WAV's INFO chunk with Keep tags and cover art on, but WAV has no standard slot for artwork, so the cover is dropped. If you need a lossless file that keeps artwork, convert to FLAC or AIFF instead.
Do I need WAV to burn an audio CD from MP3s?
Not always: many burning programs decode MP3 themselves. Converting first is useful when your software refuses MP3, when you want to check the tracks in an editor before burning, or when the MP3s use 48 kHz and should be resampled to the 44.1 kHz a CD requires.
Can I convert only part of an MP3 to WAV?
Yes. Enter times in Start at and End at, as seconds or minutes:seconds, and only that section is decoded. For cutting without changing format, the audio trimmer is the simpler tool.
