Compress WAV online
WAV is the one audio format whose size is exact rather than approximate: it is sample rate times bit depth times channels times duration.
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Supported compression and conversion formats:
JPEG, JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, MP3, TIFF, TIF, BMP, DIB, RLE, JP2, JPF, JPG2, JPX, J2K, JPC, MJ2, OGG, OGV, SPX, WAV, 3GP, AAC, M4A, M4B, OPUS, OGA, MP4, AVI, MKV, MKA, SVG, EXR, RAW, ARW, SRF, SR2, CRW, CR2, CR3, DNG, DCR, KDC, ERF, 3FR, MEF, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RWL, RW2, SRW, X3F, PDF, JXL.
The three numbers that make up the size
WAV stores sound raw, with no encoding at all, so its size is pure arithmetic. Sample rate (measurements per second), bit depth (bits per measurement) and channel count multiply together and by duration. A minute of 44.1 kHz / 16-bit stereo takes exactly 10.1 MB, regardless of loudness or content.
Compressing a WAV changes those three numbers. Lowering the sample rate cuts the top of the frequency range: 22 kHz is enough for speech but audible on music. Dropping to 8 bits adds a noise floor you hear in quiet passages. Going mono merges the channels and halves the file outright — for a lecture or a voice recording that is the most harmless move available.
How much a minute of WAV weighs
The table is exact: WAV is the rare case where the promised size and the delivered size match to the byte.
When to convert instead of compress
If the file is for listening rather than editing, converting to MP3 or M4A wins far more for far less: an hour-long recording goes from 600 MB to 27–55 MB and sounds better than the same hour squeezed down to 8 bits and 11 kHz. Compressing the WAV itself makes sense when the format cannot change — when a program or a piece of hardware demands it.
| Parameters | Per minute | Per hour | Good enough for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo | 10.1 MB | 605 MB | original quality, editing |
| 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, mono | 5.0 MB | 303 MB | speech at full rate |
| 22 kHz, 16-bit, mono | 2.5 MB | 151 MB | lecture, interview |
| 22 kHz, 8-bit, mono | 1.3 MB | 76 MB | voice recording |
| 11 kHz, 8-bit, mono | 0.6 MB | 38 MB | bare intelligibility |
Common questions
How do I compress a WAV without losing quality?
Within the format itself you cannot: WAV does not compress data, so any reduction means samples were discarded. Lossless shrinking is what FLAC does, or an ordinary archiver, which wins 10–30% on WAV.
Why is a WAV ten times bigger than an MP3?
Because MP3 discards everything the ear does not catch while WAV keeps every measurement. That is not a flaw: it is exactly why WAV is used in editing — the file carries no traces of previous compression.
What does going mono buy me?
Exactly half the size. For speech it is the best first step: intelligibility does not suffer at all and the file immediately halves.