How to Convert MP3 to WAV

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: March 11, 2023 Tested

Using Audacity

|

Using iTunes

|

Using OnlineConvert

|

Q&A

|

Tips

|

Warnings

This wikiHow teaches you how to convert an MP3 audio file into a WAV audio file. This is useful if you have a video or a radio program in need of an audio file that won't lose quality. You can convert an MP3 file into a WAV file on any Windows or Mac computer by using Audacity or iTunes, both of which are free programs. You can also use a free online converter if you don't have access to Audacity or iTunes.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Audacity

1
Open Audacity. Click or double-click the Audacity app icon, which resembles a pair of blue headphones on top of an orange sound wave. Audacity will open to a blank window.
- If you don't have Audacity, first download and install it for your Windows or Mac computer from the following site: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
- If you're on a Mac, consider using iTunes instead.
2
Click File. It's in the upper-left corner of the Audacity window (Windows) or the top-left corner of your Mac's screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
- On Mac, you may instead need to click the Audacity menu item in the top-left corner of the screen.
Advertisement
3
Click Open…. It's in the drop-down menu. Doing so opens a window for you to select music.
4
Select a song. Click a song that you would like to convert from MP3 to WAV format.
- You may first have to select your music folder from the left-hand side of the window, or double-click a song's folder in the main part of the window.
5
Click Open. Doing so will begin importing the music file into Audacity. This can take a couple of minutes.
- Once the music file is open, you'll see a blue sound wave in the middle of the Audacity window.
6
Click File again. The drop-down menu will re-appear.
7
Select Export. It's in the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so prompts a pop-out menu.
- If your File menu has Export Audio... as an option instead, click it and then skip the next step.
8
Click Export as WAV. This is in the pop-out menu.
9
Select a save location. On the left side of the window, click the folder in which you want to save the WAV copy of your file.
- On a Mac, you'll click the "Where" drop-down box and then click the folder you want to use there.
- If you clicked Export Audio..., you'll also need to click the "Save as type" (Windows) or "File type" (Mac) drop-down box and select the WAV (16-bit or 32-bit are both fine) option.
10
Click Save. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window.
11
Click OK when prompted. This will save the music file in your selected WAV format to your specified folder.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using iTunes

1
Open iTunes. Click or double-click the iTunes icon, which resembles a white icon with a multicolored musical note on it. The iTunes window will open.
2
Make sure iTunes is up to date. Some older versions of iTunes may not allow you to convert an MP3 file into a WAV file, but modern versions of iTunes do. iTunes should automatically check for updates when it starts up, but you can manually check by clicking Help and then clicking Check for Updates.
- If prompted to update, click Download iTunes and follow any instructions. You may have to restart your computer before proceeding.
3
Enable WAV encoding. By default, iTunes won't convert files into the WAV format on request. You can change this by doing the following:
- Click Edit (Windows) or iTunes (Mac) in the upper-left corner.
- Click Preferences... in the drop-down menu, then click the General tab if it doesn't open.
- Click Import Settings....
- Click the "Import Using" drop-down box, then click WAV Encoder in the menu.
- Click OK at the bottom of the Import Settings window, then click OK at the bottom of the Preferences window.
4
Click Songs. This tab is below the "Library" heading in the upper-left side of the iTunes window. Your iTunes songs will be displayed.
5
Select songs to convert. Click a single song to select it. You can also hold down Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ Command (Mac) and click individual songs to select them independently.
- To select a block of songs, click a song at the top of the list to select it, then hold ⇧ Shift and click the bottom song in the list. The whole list will be selected.
6
Click File. It's in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window (Windows) or in the top-left side of your Mac's screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
7
Select Convert. This option is near the bottom of the drop-down menu. You'll see a pop-out menu emerge with a few file conversion options.
8
Click Create WAV Version. It's in the pop-out menu. Doing so will create WAV copies of your selected songs.
- Once the WAV copies are created, you can delete the original songs from your library.
- To go to the location of a converted WAV file, right-click the WAV version of the song, then click Show in Windows Explorer (Windows) or Show in Finder (Mac).

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using OnlineConvert

1
Open the OnlineConvert page. Go to https://audio.online-convert.com/convert-to-wav in your computer's web browser.
2
Click Choose file. It's a grey button near the top of the page. Doing so opens your computer's File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).
3
Select your MP3 file. Go to the location of the MP3 file that you want to convert, then click it once.
4
Click Open. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. Doing so uploads your MP3 file to OnlineConvert.
- On a Mac, you may click Choose instead.
5
Scroll down and click Convert file. You'll find this grey button at the bottom of the page. OnlineConvert will begin converting your MP3 file into a WAV file.
6
Click Download. It's a light-green button across from your converted WAV file's name. Doing so prompts the converted file to download onto your computer.
- Depending on your browser settings, you may have to confirm the download or select a save location before the file will download.
- Your file may automatically download once its conversion is complete.

Community Q&A

Question

Can the wav-to-mp3 compression process be precisely reversed to restore the original file quality?

Community Answer

You can't add data that isn't there without manually doing it yourself, some programs do increase the quality, but it's kind of like blurring a pixelated image.

Warnings

Be careful about using online audio converters which ask for personal information. Any site that wants to send the converted file to your email address rather than just letting you download it is likely going to spam you.

⧼thumbs_response⧽
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1