Convert WMA to MP3 for Portable Audio

Compact discs were a great technological breakthrough when they were first introduced back in the late 70s. However, the music files were quite large in size when converted into a digital format such as the wav (Windows wave) audio format. In this format at a high quality setting (44,100 Hz, 16 bit, stereo – comparable to CD quality sound) the end files could be up to 50 MB or more. The wav file format would work out at about 10MB per minute of audio which of course made transferring files over the internet a time-consuming and bandwidth intensive task. This was not helped by the fact broadband internet was not widely established back then and slow dialup was the standard connection.

A more recent development that has advanced audio compression technology greatly was the invention of the MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) and WMA (Windows Media Audio) formats. These audio compression codec’s have the ability to make audio files much more usable and manageable. What used to be a huge 50 MB file can now be compressed to little over 3 MB. For an MP3 file recorded at a decent quality setting it should equate to around 1MB per minute of audio rather than 10MB per minute as with the wav format. This makes files much easier to store – and a lot faster too.

The Difference between WMA and MP3 Formats

The WMA (Windows Media Audio) format was developed by Microsoft as an alternative to MP3s. When they first launched, WMAs claimed to provide a better quality of sound than MP3s, but that was disputed. Today both WMAs and MP3s have a high sound quality. WMAs also had a feature that prevented the files from being copied. There are other variables that make the two formats different, but now there is software available that allows people to convert wma to mp3 or vice-versa at a click of a button.

Today MP3s are far more common than audio files in the WMA format. However, you may find some audio files are still available in the WMA format. This is because WMA is beginning to rise in popularity as it is said to actually produce a higher sound quality at a lower file size than the more common MP3 format. A test was performed with a 96 kbps (in one test a 64 kbps was used) WMA file and the file was comparable in sound quality to a 128 kbps MP3 file.

For many who own an Apple iPod the WMA format may not be an option as this format is associated with one of Apple’s biggest competitors Microsoft. While you may have begun purchasing only MP3s to play on your iPod or other MP3 players incompatible with WMA, you can in fact still make use of the WMA audio files available to you as it is possible to successfully convert WMA to MP3 with almost no loss of sound quality from the original.


How to Convert WMA to MP3

While the process to convert WMA to MP3 might seem rather intimidating, it’s actually not such a difficult thing to do and is in fact very simple and easy.

Over the internet you can find many software programs that can convert WMA to MP3. iTunes itself is very useful; you can now import your entire CD collection to the high-quality AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format. Your existing music can now be safely converted WMA to MP3 where it can then be synced with your iPod.

Shareware and freeware programs are also widely available. One reputable freeware program, Switch, easily can convert WMA to MP3 – not only that, but it can aid in the conversion of many other file formats too.


Just like CDs replaced cassettes – and cassettes replaced eight-tracks, and so on – the new MP3 technology might someday render CDs obsolete; perhaps where audio and music exists only as intangible digital media. Thus, the ability to convert WMA to MP3 is very useful as it is certainly a lot better to simply convert the audio files you have already rather than having to buy all your same favorites over again in a new format.