Convert WMA to MP3

Why your WMA music stopped playing everywhere

For years, Windows Media Player ripped CDs to WMA unless you told it otherwise, and Microsoft's own players still open those files. Much of the rest of the world never took WMA up: iPhones and Apple Music don't play it, many car stereos and portable players ignore it, and upload forms often refuse it.

MP3 has none of those gaps. Converting once gives you a collection that plays on any phone, car or computer, and the WMA originals stay where they are until you decide to delete them. Tags travel along: each MP3 keeps the title, artist and album of its WMA, so your music app sorts the new files the way it sorted the old ones.

The trouble often only shows up later. Windows still plays the WMAs, so the collection seems fine until you copy it to a phone or the car's USB stick and the songs don't appear at all. Converting the whole folder once settles it.

Which bit rate to choose

Rips from that era vary in bit rate. As it is reads each file's rate and reuses it for the MP3 (never below 128 kbps or above 320): a 128 kbps WMA turns into a 128 kbps MP3, and a 192 kbps one stays at 192. The files stay about the same size, and you don't pay for space that holds no extra sound.

WMA to MP3 is lossy to lossy, so a little detail goes again; at the same bit rate it is hard to hear. If you still own the CDs and want the cleanest copy, ripping them again straight to MP3 skips that second step: Windows Media Player Legacy offers MP3 in its rip settings.

WMA Lossless files come out at 320 kbps. WMA Pro files with 5.1 surround are mixed down to stereo, since MP3 stops at two channels.

Copy-protected WMA files

Some WMA files are copy-protected, such as songs bought from some online music stores years ago, or CDs ripped with copy protection switched on. Octoolo can't read the sound in those files, so they won't convert. The row shows an error, and the rest of the batch carries on.

If one of your own rips fails while the others work, it was probably saved with protection, or the file is damaged. Try playing it: a file that won't play anywhere is usually damaged rather than protected. Either way, if you still have the disc, ripping it again gives you a file without either problem. Octoolo does not remove copy protection and has no setting that tries to.

Doing the whole collection in one go

Drop the whole Music folder at once. Octoolo looks three folders down, which covers the Artist and Album folders Windows Media Player made, and lists up to 500 songs for each folder you add. For a bigger collection, add the artists in a few rounds with Add more; rips spread over several drives can be added the same way, one folder after another, into the same list.

With Save in left at The same folder as each original, every MP3 sits in its album folder next to the WMA it came from, and music apps that read folders find it in the right place. Once the last song is done, a summary counts what was converted. Play a few, and when you're happy you can delete the WMA files yourself: Octoolo never deletes or changes them.