How to compress WAV files
Upload your WAV file
Drag and drop a file or click to select one. Keep this page open while the file uploads and converts.
Compress the file
NexMedia re-encodes your WAV file on its own servers at the quality you choose. Processing time depends on the file size and how busy the queue is.
Download the compressed file
When the compression finishes, the download appears on this page. Your compressed file is kept for 2 hours, then deleted.
About WAV
uncompressed PCM audio: every sample of a recording, written out raw
WAV is the container of raw PCM audio: every sample of every channel written out with no compression. It is the format of recordings, exports and sound design because it is a perfect, simple copy.
WAV is enormous by construction: a minute of stereo CD-quality audio is about 10 MB, and an hour of a studio session at 24 bits and 96 kHz exceeds 2 GB.
What compressing WAV does
Compressing a WAV finally applies perception-based encoding: Opus, AAC or MP3 keep what listeners hear and discard the sample detail below audibility.
An hour of CD-quality WAV weighs roughly 600 MB; encoded to Opus at a transparent setting it sits near 30–40 MB.
Settings you can change
Before you compress WAV, you can adjust: Audio codec, Rate control, Audio bitrate, Quality (VBR), Sample rate, Channels, Normalize loudness, Trim start, Trim duration, and Keep tags.
Limits
Guests can compress files up to 100 megabytes and run 5 conversions per day; a free account raises this to 500 megabytes and 25 per day; paid plans go up to 100 gigabytes.
Your compressed WAV file is kept for 2 hours, then deleted.
Compressing WAV: questions and answers
Will compressing WAV reduce quality?
Because the source holds every sample, a well-set lossy encode is transparent: the encoder discards only content the ear cannot perceive, which is where all the size lives.
Can WAV files be compressed without any loss?
The PCM data itself can be kept bit-exact in FLAC, which typically compresses a WAV to 50–70% of its size while remaining mathematically identical.
Which settings can I change when compressing WAV?
You can adjust: Audio codec, Rate control, Audio bitrate, Quality (VBR), Sample rate, Channels, Normalize loudness, Trim start, Trim duration, and Keep tags. the bitrate or quality control sets where between transparency and tiny the encoder lands, and FLAC keeps every sample if the file must stay lossless
How much smaller will my WAV file get?
Lossy encodes shrink WAVs by 90–95%; lossless FLAC halves them without touching a sample.
How large a WAV file can I compress for free?
Guests can compress files up to 100 megabytes and run 5 conversions per day; a free account raises this to 500 megabytes and 25 per day; paid plans go up to 100 gigabytes. Your compressed file is kept for 2 hours, then deleted.