Free, private, and instant. No uploads, no signup required.
Convert between the most popular audio formats instantly.
History, strengths and trade-offs of each format we convert.
MP3 — MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III
Created: 1993 — Fraunhofer Institute — Karlheinz Brandenburg, Bernhard Grill, Jürgen Herre and others (ISO/MPEG) · Type: Lossy
MP3 grew out of MPEG audio research in the late 1980s and was standardized by ISO/MPEG in 1993. By exploiting psychoacoustics — discarding sound the human ear barely perceives — it shrank music enough to travel over the early internet, becoming the format that defined digital music and portable players.
Advantages:
- Plays virtually everywhere — the most universally supported audio format
- Small files, easy to share and stream
- Good quality at moderate bitrates (192–320 kbps)
- Patents expired in 2017, so it is now royalty-free
Disadvantages:
- Lossy: quality is permanently discarded and cannot be recovered
- Not ideal for editing or archiving masters
- Outperformed in quality-per-bitrate by AAC and Opus
Compression: Lossy, around 10:1. A 128 kbps MP3 is roughly 9% of the original CD audio — about 90% smaller. At 320 kbps it is about 4:1.
WAV — Waveform Audio File Format
Created: 1991 — Microsoft and IBM (based on the RIFF container) · Type: Uncompressed
WAV was introduced by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 as part of Windows 3.1, wrapping raw PCM audio in the RIFF container. Because it stores the waveform untouched, it became the standard working format for recording, editing and mastering on PCs.
Advantages:
- Uncompressed and lossless — bit-for-bit perfect quality
- Universally supported and simple to read
- Ideal for editing, recording and mastering
- No decoding overhead
Disadvantages:
- Very large files (about 10 MB per minute of CD-quality stereo)
- No compression, so it is impractical for streaming or sharing
- Limited metadata support and a 4 GB file-size limit
Compression: None — WAV is uncompressed. Converting a compressed file TO WAV expands it: an MP3 typically grows about 8–11× (roughly +900%) because the discarded data is reconstructed as full PCM.
FLAC — Free Lossless Audio Codec
Created: 2001 — Josh Coalson; maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation · Type: Lossless
FLAC was created by Josh Coalson in 2001 and adopted by the Xiph.Org Foundation in 2003. It compresses audio with zero quality loss — like a ZIP made for music — and became the favourite format of audiophiles and digital archives.
Advantages:
- Lossless: identical to the source, fully reversible
- Roughly half the size of WAV
- Open, royalty-free, with rich metadata and error detection
- Widely supported on modern players and platforms
Disadvantages:
- Much larger than lossy formats like MP3 or AAC
- Not supported by some older or very limited devices
- Overkill for casual listening where small size matters
Compression: Lossless, about 2:1. FLAC is typically 40–60% smaller than WAV with bit-perfect, identical quality.
OGG — Ogg Vorbis
Created: 2000 — Christopher "Monty" Montgomery — Xiph.Org Foundation · Type: Lossy
Ogg is an open container from the Xiph.Org Foundation, most often paired with the Vorbis codec released in 2000. Created as a free, patent-unencumbered alternative to MP3, it became popular in open-source software and video games.
Advantages:
- Open and completely royalty-free
- Better quality than MP3 at the same bitrate, especially low ones
- Great for streaming, games and the web
Disadvantages:
- Lossy: quality is permanently discarded
- Less universal hardware support than MP3 or AAC
- The ".ogg" name can hold different codecs, which confuses some players
Compression: Lossy, around 10:1 — similar to or smaller than MP3 at matching quality.
AAC — Advanced Audio Coding
Created: 1997 — Fraunhofer IIS, Dolby, AT&T, Sony and Nokia (MPEG-2/MPEG-4) · Type: Lossy
AAC was standardized in 1997 as the designated successor to MP3, developed by a consortium including Fraunhofer, Dolby, AT&T, Sony and Nokia. Better sound at the same bitrate made it the default for the iTunes Store, YouTube and most streaming services.
Advantages:
- Better quality than MP3 at the same bitrate
- Very efficient at low bitrates
- The default for Apple, YouTube and most streaming platforms
Disadvantages:
- Lossy: not suitable for archiving masters
- Covered by patent licensing
- Raw ".aac" is less common than AAC carried inside an .m4a/.mp4
Compression: Lossy, around 10:1 — roughly 30% smaller than MP3 at equivalent quality.
M4A — MPEG-4 Audio (MP4 container)
Created: 2004 — Apple, using the MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4) container · Type: Lossy (AAC) or lossless (ALAC)
M4A is the audio-only flavour of the MPEG-4 (MP4) container, popularized by Apple in iTunes from 2004 to distinguish music files from video. It usually holds AAC audio, but can also carry lossless ALAC.
Advantages:
- Better quality than MP3 when it carries AAC
- Supports chapters, cover art and rich metadata
- The default in the Apple ecosystem; can also hold lossless ALAC
Disadvantages:
- Container confusion: .m4a vs .mp4 vs .aac trips up some players
- Lossy when it holds AAC
- Slightly less universal than MP3
Compression: It is a container. With AAC inside it is lossy, around 10:1 — Soundvar encodes AAC at 192 kbps. With ALAC inside it is lossless, about half the size of WAV.
Are my files uploaded?
No for MP3, WAV, FLAC and OGG file conversions. M4A and AAC will be converted on the server side.
Do I need to create an account?
No signup is required.
Is Soundvar free?
Yes. The core converter is completely free to use.
Your files never leave your device. All audio conversion happens locally in your browser using modern WebAssembly technology.