Convert an audio file
Change an audio file from one format to another — MP3 for something small and universal, WAV when you need uncompressed audio, M4A when you want both.
Loading the tool…
Your file is uploaded to be processed, then handled under our retention policy.
Which format to pick
MP3 is the safe answer: every device made in the last twenty-five years plays it, and the files are small. M4A, which is AAC audio, sounds better than MP3 at the same bitrate and is what Apple devices and most modern software prefer. WAV is uncompressed — large, but with no quality loss at all, which is what you want if the audio is going into an editor for further work.
Converting does not restore quality
This is the thing people are most often surprised by. Converting a low-bitrate MP3 to WAV produces a much larger file that sounds exactly the same, because the detail the MP3 discarded is gone for good. Convert up to WAV when you are about to edit and want no further loss, not in the hope of recovering what was already lost.
Where your file goes
Onto our server, and this page says so plainly because it is true. Decoding real audio formats needs the FFmpeg libraries, which cannot run in a browser tab the way the image and PDF tools do. The file is uploaded, converted, and then held and deleted under the same retention policy as everything else here. If that is not acceptable for the material, it should not be uploaded to any online converter, including this one.
If you want the words
Converting audio and transcribing it are different jobs. For a transcript, go to audio to text, which does the whole thing in one step.
Questions
Is my file uploaded?
Yes, and this page will not pretend otherwise. Converting real audio formats needs a decoder that does not exist in a browser, so the file is uploaded, converted, and held under the same retention policy as everything else on the site. The image and PDF tools are the ones that run locally.
Which formats can it read?
Anything FFmpeg can open, which is essentially every audio and video container you are likely to have. Output is MP3, WAV or M4A.
How long can the file be?
Without an account there is a duration and size cap, shown on the page itself so the number you read is the number the server enforces. An account raises it.
Turn what is said into text
Scriptorium's main job is transcription: bring a video or an audio file and get back text you can read, correct, search and export.