WMA to AAC Converter

How to Convert WMA to AAC Online

1. Upload Your WMA File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select WMA files from your computer. Windows Media Player rips, voice recorder exports, old WMV soundtracks, and bulk archives all work. Batch upload an entire folder of legacy Windows audio in one pass.
2. Pick a Quality Preset or Custom Bitrate: The default Quality Preset ranges from Lowest to Highest — Highest targets ~256 kbps AAC (near-transparent), Medium targets ~128 kbps (the iTunes / Apple Music default), Lowest targets ~64 kbps (speech and low-bandwidth). Switch to Custom Bitrate to set Constant Bitrate (CBR, predictable size) or Variable Bitrate (VBR, better quality per byte) from 32 kbps up to 320 kbps.
3. Set Audio Channel, Sample Rate, and Trim (Optional): Leave Audio Channel and Audio Sample Rate at ORIGINAL to preserve the source, or pick Mono / Stereo and 8 kHz – 48 kHz manually. Use the Trim section with HH:MM:SS.sss start time and duration to extract a clip. The Specific file size option lets you target an exact MB output for upload caps.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files process in your browser session and download individually or as a ZIP — no sign-up, no watermark, no DRM re-injection.

Why Convert WMA to AAC?

WMA (Windows Media Audio) is Microsoft's lossy codec launched in 1999 as a Windows-Media-Player-era competitor to MP3 (Wikipedia: Windows Media Audio). Outside the Windows ecosystem it has always been a second-class citizen: iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, most car stereos, smart speakers, and Android stock players either refuse WMA or fall back to a clunky download-then-transcode. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) standardised as MPEG-4 Part 3 / ISO/IEC 14496-3 (Wikipedia: AAC) is the default audio codec for Apple (iTunes, Apple Music, FaceTime), YouTube, PlayStation, Nintendo, and almost every modern Bluetooth headset. Common reasons to convert WMA → AAC:

• iPhone, iPad, and Apple Music compatibility — iOS does not play .wma files at all in the stock Music or Files app. AAC (usually in an .m4a container) is Apple's native format and imports straight into the Music app or iTunes library with metadata intact.
• Better quality at the same bitrate — Independent listening tests since the early 2000s consistently rank AAC-LC ahead of WMA at 96-128 kbps. Microsoft's 1999 marketing claim that WMA matched MP3 at half the bitrate was later debunked by independent tests, while AAC's gains over MP3 are well-documented.
• YouTube, podcast, and streaming uploads — YouTube transcodes uploads to AAC anyway. Submitting WMA forces an extra lossy hop and often gets rejected by podcast hosts (Buzzsprout, Anchor, Libsyn) that accept only MP3 / M4A / AAC.
• Car stereos and Bluetooth headphones — AAC is in the A2DP Bluetooth profile and plays on AirPods, Sony WH-1000X, Beats, and most modern car head units. WMA-over-Bluetooth requires the receiver to decode WMA natively, which most non-Microsoft hardware never implemented.
• Escaping the deprecating Windows Media DRM stack — Microsoft replaced Windows Media DRM with PlayReady starting in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and protected WMA files from old stores often no longer play on modern Windows (Wikipedia: Windows Media DRM). DRM-free WMA files keep working, but the wider tooling is in long-term decline. AAC is on a stable, actively-maintained ISO standard.
• Cross-platform sharing — Sending a WMA to a Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, or Android friend usually needs VLC or a converter on their end. AAC plays in every modern browser (Chrome 12+, Firefox 22+ via OS decoder, Safari 4+, Edge) (caniuse: AAC) and every mobile OS.

WMA vs AAC — Format Comparison

AAC Bitrate Choice for WMA → AAC

Frequently Asked Questions

Will converting WMA to AAC lose audio quality?

It's a lossy-to-lossy transcode, so theoretically yes — but in practice the audible loss is minimal when you target the same or higher bitrate as the source. A 128 kbps WMA re-encoded to 192 kbps AAC is indistinguishable from the source on most equipment, since AAC at that bitrate is generally higher quality than WMA at 128 kbps. The original WMA is the limiting factor; AAC won't recover detail the WMA encoder already discarded. Keep the WMA as backup until you're satisfied with the AAC.

Why won't my iPhone play the original WMA file?

iOS has never shipped a WMA decoder. The stock Music app, Files app, and Apple Podcasts won't open .wma at all, and third-party apps like VLC for iOS only work if you sideload the file outside the Music library. Converting to AAC (typically wrapped in an .m4a container) lets the file import into the Apple Music library, sync via iCloud, and play on AirPods and HomePod through AirPlay. See also WMA to M4A if you specifically need the .m4a extension.

What's the difference between AAC and an M4A file?

AAC is the codec (the compression algorithm). M4A is a container — an MPEG-4 file that wraps AAC audio (and metadata, chapters, album art). A raw .aac file is the codec's ADTS bitstream with minimal headers; .m4a is the same audio inside an MP4 wrapper that Apple and most tagging software prefer. Both decode to the same audio. This page outputs .aac (ADTS); switch to WMA to M4A if you want the MP4 container.

Will artist, title, and album art transfer from WMA to AAC?

Usually yes for the basic ASF tags — title, artist, album, year, track number, and genre map cleanly into AAC's MP4/iTunes-style tags. Embedded album art also transfers when present in the source. Less common WMA-specific fields (custom Windows Media properties, WMP star ratings, play counts) don't have direct AAC equivalents and are dropped. Re-checking metadata in Apple Music or Mp3tag after conversion takes a minute and is worth it for large libraries.

My WMA file is DRM-protected — can xconvert convert it?

No. DRM-protected WMA files (originally from PlaysForSure stores, old MSN Music, Zune Marketplace, or some library audiobook services) require a valid Windows license to decode. xconvert's browser-side pipeline can't acquire that license, and Microsoft replaced WMDRM with PlayReady starting in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so many old protected WMAs no longer play even on Windows (Wikipedia: Windows Media DRM). If you legally own the content, decrypt it on a system that still has the license (e.g., using Microsoft's Digital Rights Update Tool on files you ripped yourself, or by burning to CD and re-ripping), then upload the DRM-free WMA here.

CBR or VBR for AAC output?

VBR (Variable Bitrate) is generally the better choice for music — the AAC encoder spends more bits on dense passages (full mix, transients) and fewer on simple ones (silence, sustained notes), producing better quality per byte at the same average bitrate. CBR (Constant Bitrate) has predictable file size and is required by some broadcast and streaming workflows that need a fixed bitrate budget. For music going into Apple Music or general listening, VBR around 192 kbps average is hard to beat. For podcasts and broadcast feeds, CBR at 128 kbps is the safe default.

Can I batch convert a whole Windows Media library to AAC?

Yes — drop in dozens of WMA files at once and they convert in parallel within your browser session. Settings apply uniformly (typical for moving an album or full library to Apple Music), or you can tune each file individually. The output downloads as a ZIP for easy import into iTunes / Apple Music via File → Add to Library.

Should I convert WMA to AAC or to MP3?

AAC is the better codec — it's more efficient and is the native format for Apple, YouTube, and most modern streaming. MP3 is the more universal format — it plays on absolutely everything including ancient hardware (early-2000s MP3 players, basic car stereos, dictation recorders). If the target is an iPhone, AirPods, modern car Bluetooth, or a streaming upload, choose AAC. If the target is unknown legacy hardware or you want zero compatibility risk, use WMA to MP3 instead.

Can I trim part of a WMA and save just that section as AAC?

Yes. Use the Trim section: enter a start time and duration in seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss (00:01:30.500). Useful for pulling a single track out of a long Windows-Media-Player-ripped audiobook, extracting a clip from a recorded meeting, or removing silence at the head and tail. For trim-only workflows on AAC sources, see compress AAC.