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WMA to WAV ??


singlehumanperson

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Ok so i know nothing about audio formats and i need straight answers. First situation: I have some files that are in .wma (128kbps) but my phone can't play it so I'm wondering, if I convert these files to .wav will that result in no damage to the audio quality? Furthermore, if that is a bad idea then should i convert them to mp3 instead and if so what is the *equivalent* of 128k wma in mp3 format? (so i don't lose any quality).

 

My second situation is I am trying to convert some youtube vids and am wondering: if i convert the youtube video to .wav does that result in any quality loss? And if I convert it to .wav *first* and then convert the wav file to .mp3 (320kbps) *second* (simply for space), does that result in any quality damage? If there's a better alternative to doing what i'm trying to do i.e better formats etc. then let me know about that too.

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13 hours ago, singlehumanperson said:

Ok so i know nothing about audio formats and i need straight answers. First situation: I have some files that are in .wma (128kbps) but my phone can't play it so I'm wondering, if I convert these files to .wav will that result in no damage to the audio quality? Furthermore, if that is a bad idea then should i convert them to mp3 instead and if so what is the *equivalent* of 128k wma in mp3 format? (so i don't lose any quality).

 

My second situation is I am trying to convert some youtube vids and am wondering: if i convert the youtube video to .wav does that result in any quality loss? And if I convert it to .wav *first* and then convert the wav file to .mp3 (320kbps) *second* (simply for space), does that result in any quality damage? If there's a better alternative to doing what i'm trying to do i.e better formats etc. then let me know about that too.

.mp3 is a lossy format . i.e. it throws away data that it considers is being masked by other program content, and should be avoided these days, You should convert them to .wav or .aiff which are lossless , or if you really need to conserve space, then convert them to .flac which can also have quite small file sizes depending on the .flac settings, and retains the full quality of the original recordings.

I am assuming that your phone can play .flac files 

 

 Surprisingly, I have found that converting the audio of low bit rate (128kb/s) .aac audio on YouTube to .wav files using my video conversion software actually results in a small but worthwhile audible improvement at both the low end AND the high end , and this has been confirmed by a few sceptical technical type members of this forum as a result of posted examples .

 Alex

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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5 hours ago, sandyk said:

.mp3 is a lossy format . i.e. it throws away data that it considers is being masked by other program content, and should be avoided these days, You should convert them to .wav or .aiff which are lossless , or if you really need to conserve space, then convert them to .flac which can also have quite small file sizes depending on the .flac settings, and retains the full quality of the original recordings.

I am assuming that your phone can play .flac files 

 

 Surprisingly, I have found that converting the audio of low bit rate (128kb/s) .aac audio on YouTube to .wav files using my video conversion software actually results in a small but worthwhile audible improvement at both the low end AND the high end , and this has been confirmed by a few sceptical technical type members of this forum as a result of posted examples .

 Alex

Cool thanks man just to be clear though, so even though a wav file has a ton more kilabytes that doesn't mean it's adding a bunch of empty data and extra noise to the files?

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2 minutes ago, singlehumanperson said:

Cool thanks man just to be clear though, so even though a wav file has a ton more kilabytes that doesn't mean it's adding a bunch of empty data and extra noise to the files?

MP3 is way smaller than .wav, partly because of the Data it throws away.

.wav files are a larger size, but can make faithful copies of the original  .mp3 , and can also have a much wider bandwidth than .mp3 , which is needed for high resolution music files .

They can't however make shitty sounding .mp3 recordings sound any better though.

 These days newer Codecs can markedly reduce file size without compromising the source files provided that their data rate is adequate . The maximum bit rate of .aac  audio is normally 529kb/s and sounds very close to a 16/44.1  1,411kb/s .wav file .

A good example of this is the .mp4 codec and more recent H265 video formats which are way more efficient than for example .mpeg2 

 The best thing to do is try converting a few .mp3s to .wav or .flac  and decide for yourself by listening to both . 

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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I've kinda got a similar issue in that I have a bunch of CD's that I copied to hard drive via Windows Media Player some time back & used to listen to them played back by the computer. Now that Windows Media Player seems to be a dead format, I would like to convert those files to a .wav file or something similar for playback by another device or system. What is the best way to convert the .wma files to .wav files or some other easily usable format?

 

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On 12/25/2020 at 11:42 PM, thunderroad said:

I've kinda got a similar issue in that I have a bunch of CD's that I copied to hard drive via Windows Media Player some time back & used to listen to them played back by the computer. Now that Windows Media Player seems to be a dead format, I would like to convert those files to a .wav file or something similar for playback by another device or system. What is the best way to convert the .wma files to .wav files or some other easily usable format?

 

Price has gone up a bit over the years: dBpoweramp: mp3 Converter, CD Ripper, FLAC, Apple Lossless, WAV, AAC, AIFF. Fix album art, Asset UPnP Server

 

If looking for a free converter, check SourceForge and see if there is an open-source converter.

 

EDIT: And 30 seconds of searching: fre:ac - free audio converter download | SourceForge.net

 

Google is your friend.

QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers  

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VLC will convert wma to wav, FLAC, or any of about a dozen other formats.  It’s open source - just go to the Videolan website and download it. But I wouldn’t bother turning 128 wma files into wavs- there’s no benefit and they suck up storage.  You could make 320 mp3s if they sound better through your phone (which is not going to be a dramatic improvement).

 

VLC will also convert videos to the audio format of your choice. There’s no easier or better solution - I love it & use it frequently.

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2 hours ago, bluesman said:

But I wouldn’t bother turning 128 wma files into wavs- there’s no benefit and they suck up storage.  You could make 320 mp3s if they sound better through your phone (which is not going to be a dramatic improvement).

Many phones play .flac files. All "Android smartphones and tablets support FLAC audio playback so long as they run on Android 3.1 or later" 

 

How a Digital Audio file sounds, or a Digital Video file looks, is governed to a large extent by the Power Supply area. All that Identical Checksums gives is the possibility of REGENERATING the file to close to that of the original file.

PROFILE UPDATED 13-11-2020

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On 12/28/2020 at 11:54 AM, bluesman said:

VLC will convert wma to wav, FLAC, or any of about a dozen other formats.  It’s open source - just go to the Videolan website and download it. But I wouldn’t bother turning 128 wma files into wavs- there’s no benefit and they suck up storage.  You could make 320 mp3s if they sound better through your phone (which is not going to be a dramatic improvement).

 

VLC will also convert videos to the audio format of your choice. There’s no easier or better solution - I love it & use it frequently.

I have a ZUNE HD and put WMA Lossless files on it.  I never compared via PC if the sound was different vs FLAC as the Zune only uses WMA or MP3.  Side note: Zune HD sounds wonderful but is a fully PITA due to the format limitations.  Sounds much better than any format on an iPod.

QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers  

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