Compress WAV to 10MB
Compress a WAV file to about 10MB. A WAV carries no bitrate to lower, so it is encoded to MP3, the only way to make an uncompressed file meaningfully smaller.
Up to 50 MB per file. Sign up free to compress files up to 100 MB.
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Checking files and selected compression settings.
This page stops at 50 MB and one file per run. Pro compresses files up to 1 GB and a full batch in one go, with a priority queue.
What reaching 10 MB does to a WAV
Set 10 MB as the target and the engine works down to it in steps, stopping at the first result that fits rather than padding the file back out.
A WAV carries no bitrate to lower, so reaching a target means encoding it. What comes back is an MP3, which is the only way to make an uncompressed file meaningfully smaller.
Files are processed on our servers, not in your browser. The upload and the result are both permanently deleted within 1 hour, no backups and no copies kept.
No watermark, and no account needed to use it. 5 files a day at up to 50 MB each, sent singly or together; signing in is free and raises each file to 100 MB.
Taking a long WAV down to 10 MB
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1
Mono first for spoken recordings
Interviews and lectures captured in stereo usually carry one useful channel. Folding them halves the data at no audible cost and is the difference between an hour fitting and not.
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2
Know what the length leaves you
Ten megabytes is roughly eighty thousand kilobits. An hour of audio has about 23 kbps, half an hour has 47, ten minutes has 140. Speech copes with the first two; music needs the third.
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3
Split rather than crush
Past about two hours the bitrate falls below what stays intelligible. Splitting the recording and compressing each part gives every second twice the budget.
One minute uncompressed against eleven encoded
Ten megabytes of WAV is about a minute of audio at CD quality. The same ten megabytes as an MP3 holds nearly eleven minutes at 128 kbps, or several hours of a single voice in mono. This is the WAV target where long recordings become possible, which is why most files arriving here are interviews, rehearsals and lectures rather than songs.
Why long WAVs get unmanageable so quickly
Uncompressed audio grows at about 10 MB a minute, so an hour-long interview is roughly 600 MB before anything is done to it. That is past most mail limits, most upload forms and a good deal of patience on a slow connection.
Encoding it to fit ten megabytes is a reduction of around sixty times, which is only possible because speech is highly predictable and because one voice does not need two channels.
What this target cannot do
It cannot carry long music. Past roughly eleven minutes the bitrate drops under 128 kbps and a recording with any width to it starts to audibly thin. Long musical material either gets split or accepts a larger file.
Frequently asked questions
How long is ten megabytes of WAV?
Just under a minute at CD quality. Uncompressed audio runs at roughly 10 MB per minute, which is why any recording worth the name has to be encoded to reach this target.
Can an hour-long interview fit in 10 MB?
Yes, in mono. An hour has about 23 kbps to spend at this cap, which stays intelligible for a single voice. In stereo, or with music underneath, it will not.
Should I convert to MP3 first and then compress?
No, that is two lossy steps where one will do. Bring the WAV here directly so the encoder works from the uncompressed original and picks the bitrate that meets your target in a single pass.