WMA to MP3, for the library Windows left behind
WMA files from a Windows Media Player library convert to MP3 here, in batches, without being sent anywhere. If they came off shop-bought downloads with copy protection, no converter can open them — this page explains how to tell.
WMA to MP3
Reads WMA, WMA Pro, WMA Lossless and WMA Voice. Select as many as you like.
Starting the converter…
Why a WMA library gets stranded
Windows Media Player ripped to WMA by default for years, so a great many CD collections from that era are sitting in a format that Windows itself still opens and almost nothing else does. Phones do not play it. Car stereos do not play it. Neither does an iPod, a Sonos, a Mac, or most modern car head units that read a USB stick.
Microsoft has effectively retired the format: Windows Media Player Legacy still exists, but the modern Media Player is built around MP3 and AAC. Converting is not a preference at this point — it is the way to keep listening to a collection you already paid for.
There are four WMA formats, and they behave differently
| Variant | What it is | Converting to MP3 |
|---|---|---|
| WMA (Standard) | The ordinary lossy one, what most rips used | A second lossy encode — small cost at 192 kbps and above |
| WMA Pro | Later, more efficient, sometimes multichannel | Same, and any surround channels are folded down |
| WMA Lossless | Bit-perfect, like FLAC | The first lossy step. Consider FLAC instead and keep it lossless |
| WMA Voice | Low-bitrate speech | Already thin; 64 or 96 kbps is enough, and mono halves it again |
The converter reads all four and shows which one it found before you commit, because the answer changes what you should choose. If a file turns out to be WMA Lossless, converting it to MP3 discards something that has never been discarded before — FLAC or ALAC keeps it, and both are in the format list above.
The files that will not convert, and how to spot them
Music bought from the old Windows-era download shops — Napster, Yahoo Music, Zune Marketplace, MSN Music — was often wrapped in DRM. Those files are encrypted. No converter opens them, including this one, and any site claiming otherwise is either lying or is going to hand you silence.
How to tell before you waste time: right-click the file in Windows, choose Properties, and look at the Details tab for a Protected field reading Yes. Or simply try to play it on a machine that was never authorised — a protected file refuses.
The licence servers for most of those shops were switched off years ago, which means even the original purchaser often cannot re-authorise them. The realistic options are re-buying, a streaming subscription, or re-ripping from the CD if you still have it. We would rather tell you that than take you through a conversion that produces nothing.
We can write WMA, and we would rather you did not
WMA is in the output list because occasionally something genuinely requires it — an old car head unit, a piece of industrial or in-store playback hardware, a legacy system somebody is still maintaining.
But the only WMA encoder available here is the original WMA Standard, not Pro and not Lossless. It is worse than MP3 at the same bitrate and far worse than AAC, and it narrows rather than widens what will play the file. If something has not specifically demanded a .wma, choose almost anything else.
Doing the whole collection
Select as many files as you like; they are converted in turn with the same settings and each gets its own download. A few practical notes from doing this at scale:
- Work album by album. Easier to keep track of, and the browser holds less in memory at once.
- Tags come across. Titles, artists, albums and track numbers survive, so the collection stays organised. Cover art is carried into MP3 as well.
- Keep the originals until you have checked. Play a couple of the converted files before deleting anything. That is ordinary caution, not a comment on this converter.
- Nothing is uploaded. A CD collection is a lot of data to send somewhere, and here none of it moves.
The other ways to do this
VLC converts WMA and is free, if you can install software on the machine. Windows Media Player Legacy can re-rip from the original CDs, which is the better answer when you still have them — it skips the second lossy encode entirely. Neither works on a Chromebook, a locked-down work laptop, or a phone, which is where a browser converter earns its place.
Step by step
Find the files
They are usually under Music, in folders named by artist and album, left behind by a Windows Media Player rip from years ago.
Drag them in
Select the whole folder's worth. Each one shows its real variant — plain WMA, Pro, Lossless or Voice — before anything runs.
Pick a bitrate
192 kbps is a safe default for music ripped at typical WMA settings. For spoken word, 96 is plenty.
Download and load them onto the phone
Each result gets its own link. MP3 plays on every phone, car stereo and speaker made in the last twenty-five years.
About WMA files
Why will my phone not play WMA files?
WMA is a Microsoft format that was never adopted outside Windows. iPhones and most Android phones have no decoder for it, and neither do car stereos, iPods or Sonos. Converting to MP3 is the practical fix; the file plays everywhere afterwards.
Learn moreSome of my WMA files will not convert. Why?
They are almost certainly DRM-protected — bought from one of the old Windows download shops rather than ripped from a CD. Those files are encrypted and nothing can convert them. Check the Details tab in Properties for a Protected field reading Yes.
Learn moreWill converting WMA to MP3 make it sound worse?
Slightly, because both are lossy and this is a second encode. At 192 kbps and above the cost is very small on one pass. If the source is WMA Lossless, convert to FLAC or ALAC instead and lose nothing at all.
Learn moreShould I convert or re-rip the CDs?
Re-rip, if you still have the discs and the time. Ripping straight to MP3 or FLAC skips the second lossy encode entirely and starts from the original audio. Converting the WMA files is the right answer when the CDs are gone or there are hundreds of them.
Learn moreCan I convert the whole library in one go?
Select as many files as you like and they are converted in turn, each with its own download link. Album by album is easier to keep track of and keeps the browser's memory use down, but there is no limit imposed here.
Learn moreAre my files sent to a server?
No. The converter runs in this tab, and the page is blocked by its own security policy from contacting any host but this one. You can watch the Network panel while it works, or pull the Wi-Fi after the page loads and convert anyway.
Learn more