Convert WAV to MP3 or MP3 to WAV

By  on  

Boy I would have loved this post a decade ago when I was ripping CDs from my local library.  The memory is actually quite hilarious:  I would request 100 CDs at a time from the local library system, pick up however had been delivered at 10 a.m. that morning, and return them at 5 p.m. that day.  I had a giggle with the librarian in those days but the real giggle was the fact that the WAV files were bloating up my hard drive.

The following simple command would convert those WAV files to MP3s:

ffmpeg -i song.wav song.mp3

Of course converting from MP3 to WAV would simply be swapping the extensions in the command above.

ffmpeg is a marvel of a utility.  Video conversion, audio conversion, and probably the key to world peace.  Thank you ffmpeg!

Recent Features

  • By
    Responsive and Infinitely Scalable JS Animations

    Back in late 2012 it was not easy to find open source projects using requestAnimationFrame() - this is the hook that allows Javascript code to synchronize with a web browser's native paint loop. Animations using this method can run at 60 fps and deliver fantastic...

  • By
    9 Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos

    As much as developers now loathe Flash, we're still playing a bit of catch up to natively duplicate the animation capabilities that Adobe's old technology provided us.  Of course we have canvas, an awesome technology, one which I highlighted 9 mind-blowing demos.  Another technology available...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    CSS Transforms

    CSS has become more and more powerful over the past few years and CSS transforms are a prime example. CSS transforms allow for sophisticated, powerful transformations of HTML elements.  One or more transformations can be applied to a given element and transforms can even be animated...

  • By
    Facebook-Style Modal Box Using MooTools

    In my oh-so-humble opinion, Facebook's Modal box is the best modal box around. It's lightweight, subtle, and very stylish. I've taken Facebook's imagery and CSS and combined it with MooTools' awesome functionality to duplicate the effect. The Imagery Facebook uses a funky sprite for their modal...

Discussion

  1. Mark Progano

    If you’re on a mac and you want to do it on your machine, after installing X-Code,type in brew install ffmpeg

  2. If you also want to edit your audio first, Audacity has been a trusty companion for years now. Looks like arse, works like a charm. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

  3. MaxArt

    Back in the days, the best mp3 converter was LAME.
    I don’t know if something better came out in the meanwhile, but it’s a highly customizable multiplatform tool.

    It looks like ffmpeg can use the libmp3lame audio codec, I guess it would be nice to know how to use it.

  4. yes, LAME pretty much was the bee’s knees.

  5. Kimomat

    Great tool! A gulp package is also available: https://github.com/cab/gulp-ffmpeg

  6. I have usef ffmpeg for converting images to video. very useful for that.

  7. No joke.. 5 years ago, it would have been such a savior.

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!