Compress WAV to 1MB
Compress a WAV file to about 1MB. 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 1 MB does to a WAV
Set 1 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.
What happens on the way to 1 MB
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1
The format changes, and that is the point
There is no bitrate inside a WAV to turn down. The only way to make one meaningfully smaller is to encode it, so the output is an MP3 rather than a smaller WAV.
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2
Check what the recording is
A notification sound or a short sample reaches 1 MB easily once encoded. Two minutes of speech gets there at about 64 kbps. A full song does not, and will arrive thin.
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3
Keep the WAV if something downstream needs it
Mastering, sampling and broadcast workflows often require the uncompressed file. Compress a copy for sending and keep the original where the work happens.
A megabyte of WAV is under six seconds
This is the target where the format matters more than the number. A WAV stores sound uncompressed at about 1,411 kbps for CD quality, so one megabyte holds roughly five and a half seconds of audio. Unless your recording is a single sound effect, it cannot stay a WAV and reach 1 MB. It is encoded to MP3 instead, and what you get back is an MP3.
Why a WAV is so much larger to begin with
A WAV writes every sample as it was captured, with no attempt to predict or discard anything. That is why it is the format studios work in and the worst format to send anywhere. A three-minute recording occupies about 30 MB as a WAV and about 3 MB as a reasonable MP3, with no audible difference for most listeners.
The size you start from therefore tells you very little. What matters is the length, because that is what the new bitrate has to cover.
When 1 MB is the wrong target for a WAV
If the recording is music of any length, this cap forces a bitrate that will be obvious. Five or ten megabytes leaves room for the encode to be transparent. Use 1 MB when the file is genuinely short or when something downstream insists on the number.
Frequently asked questions
Why can a WAV not just be compressed like an MP3?
Because there is nothing in it to compress in that sense. An MP3 has a bitrate that can be lowered; a WAV is raw samples. Reducing it means choosing what to discard, which is what an encoder does, and the result is a different format.
Will I get a WAV file back?
No. To reach 1 MB the audio has to be encoded, so the download is an MP3. If you need the file to remain a WAV, the only lever left is length or sample rate, and neither will approach this target for a recording of any duration.
How much audio is one megabyte of WAV?
About five and a half seconds at CD quality, which is 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo. That is the whole reason this page exists: the target is unreachable without changing the format.