Compress WAV to 5MB
Compress a WAV file to about 5MB. 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 5 MB does to a WAV
Set 5 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.
Getting a WAV to 5 MB
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1
Expect an MP3 back
A WAV carries no bitrate to lower, so reaching this target means encoding. For a recording of ordinary length that is the only route and the result is an MP3.
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2
Let stereo stay
Five megabytes is generous enough that there is no need to fold a stereo recording to one channel. Width and reverb survive, which is what tighter targets take away first.
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3
Judge it against the original
You have the uncompressed file, which makes a fair comparison possible. Listen to both on the same equipment before deciding the target was too tight.
Thirty seconds uncompressed, or a full track encoded
Five megabytes of uncompressed WAV is about thirty seconds of audio. Encoded to MP3, the same five megabytes carries a three-minute song at roughly 233 kbps, which is the rate at which most listeners stop being able to tell the two apart. That gap, sixty-fold on a typical track, is the whole case for encoding rather than trimming.
The target where encoding stops costing anything
For a song of ordinary length this is the first WAV target that is genuinely transparent. The bitrate it implies sits above the threshold where compression artefacts become findable, so the practical difference between the 30 MB original and the 5 MB encode is storage rather than sound.
That makes 5 MB the sensible default for sending finished audio to someone who will listen to it rather than work on it.
When to keep the WAV instead
Anything that will be edited, mastered, layered or sampled wants the uncompressed file, because each further encode compounds the losses of the last. Send the MP3 to listeners and keep the WAV for the work.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a WAV be and still fit 5 MB?
As a WAV, about thirty seconds. Encoded to MP3, five and a half minutes at 128 kbps or a comfortably transparent three-minute song. The format, not the length, is doing the work.
Is a 5 MB MP3 good enough to replace the WAV?
For listening, usually yes. For editing, no. The encode is effectively transparent to the ear at this size, but it has still discarded information that further processing would expose.
Why is my WAV so much bigger than an MP3 of the same recording?
A WAV stores every sample as captured, around 1,411 kbps at CD quality. An MP3 predicts and discards what is unlikely to be heard, typically at a tenth of that. Same audio, an order of magnitude apart.