WAV at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit. The CD spec, locked in.
Splice wants it. Sample-pack distributors want it. The mastering engineer who's about to print a CD master wants it. It's the same spec everyone has agreed on since 1982 and it works everywhere. Drop any audio file here, get back a 44.1 kHz / 16-bit / stereo PCM WAV. No menus, no second-guessing.
drop any audio file
MP3, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AIFF, any other WAV at any rate. Batch supported.
Who needs this exact format
- Splice sample-pack uploads — Splice's spec says 44.1 kHz, 16-bit or 24-bit WAV. 16-bit is plenty for a one-shot or loop.
- Sample-pack producers selling on Loopcloud, Sample Magic, Splice — same spec across the board.
- CD masters — Red Book is 44.1 kHz / 16-bit by definition. If you're pressing physical CDs, this is the deliverable.
- Spotify, Apple Music intake — Both accept 44.1 / 16 as a minimum, prefer 44.1 / 24 if you have it. For the basic submission tier, 16-bit is accepted.
- Bandcamp lossless tier — 44.1 / 16 is the floor. Bandcamp will accept and prefer 24-bit, but 16-bit is fine.
- Audio for video at 44.1 kHz — Some indie film projects lock to 44.1 instead of the 48 kHz video standard. Match the post house's spec.
- Mastering engineer asks for "a CD-spec WAV" — that's this.
What we do under the hood
- Decode your source file using the browser's audio engine (handles all common formats).
- If the source is not 44.1 kHz, resample it through an OfflineAudioContext at 44.1 kHz — this includes a proper anti-aliasing filter.
- Quantize from float32 to 16-bit signed integer with simple truncation (no dither). For critical mastering, do dithering in your DAW before exporting.
- Wrap in a standard 44-byte RIFF/WAVE header with PCM format code.
- You get a file that opens identically in Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, Reaper, FL Studio, Audacity, foobar2000, every CD authoring tool — anywhere.
Why not 48 kHz / 24-bit?
48 kHz / 24-bit is the video / broadcast / streaming-master standard. 44.1 / 16 is the music / consumer / CD standard. They coexist because different industries standardized in different decades. Match the spec your destination asks for — that's the only thing that matters.
If you need 48 kHz output instead, drop the file in our sampler WAV preset page (48 kHz is the SP-404 MK2 preset) or use the main converter with sample rate set to 48000.
FAQ
Is this lossless?
The WAV itself is lossless PCM. If your source was lossy (MP3, M4A, OGG), the resulting WAV is a lossless container holding lossy audio — useful for tools that require WAV input, not actually higher quality than the source. If your source was lossless (FLAC, AIFF, another WAV), the conversion is lossless end-to-end aside from the 16-bit quantization.
Why does the WAV header say 44 bytes?
That's the standard RIFF/WAVE header for plain PCM. Some software adds extra "fact" or "bext" chunks; we keep it minimal so every tool reads it without complaint.
Should I dither the 16-bit conversion?
For critical mastering work, yes — your DAW or a mastering plugin can apply TPDF or noise-shaped dither before export. For most uploads (Splice samples, Bandcamp, web), the truncation we do is inaudible. Source noise floor is almost always well above the 16-bit quantization noise floor anyway.
What if my source is mono?
We preserve mono channel count. The WAV will be 44.1 / 16 / mono. If you specifically need a stereo WAV with duplicated mono channels, drop us a note — we can add that as a separate option.
Will it work for a 4-hour live recording?
That'd be ~2.4 GB of WAV at the end. Browsers can handle it on a 16 GB+ machine, but it's slow. For very long recordings, split into segments first with our cutter.
Does my audio get uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Unreleased masters stay yours.