Turn AVI files into WAV
Pull the sound out of your AVI and keep it as a WAV, leaving the picture behind. WAV is the usual choice for recording and multitrack editing masters. The practical difference is that the result opens anywhere, which AVI files do not. Your file never leaves your computer.
How to convert AVI to WAV
- 1 Drop your AVI .avi file onto the page, or click to browse for it.
- 2 Choose the sound quality, or lift the existing track out untouched where that is possible.
- 3 Convert. The work happens on your own machine, so how long it takes depends on your computer and the file.
- 4 Download the WAV, or add more files and do the whole set in one go.
Why convert AVI to WAV
- An AVI will not open in a browser, so anything going onto a web page, into a document or into a message has to become a WAV first.
- You only want the sound: a lecture, an interview, a podcast that was filmed, or a track to listen to with the screen off.
- Exactly as recorded, with nothing to unpack before it plays.
- Universally readable by audio software.
- Any step where further processing will happen.
AVI compared with WAV
How the two formats differ on the things that decide whether a conversion is worth making.
| Property | AVI | WAV |
|---|---|---|
| File extension | .avi | .wav |
| Compression | Lossy or lossless | Uncompressed |
| Typical file size | Depends on mode | Largest |
| Browser support | No browser support | Every browser |
| Introduced | 1992 | 1991 |
| Developed by | Microsoft | Microsoft and IBM |
| Standard | Proprietary | Open |
Quality and what changes
Whether anything is lost depends on the codec. If the track already matches the target, it can be copied out untouched and the audio is bit for bit what was in the AVI. Choosing a different codec means decoding and re-encoding, which is a second generation of lossy compression on top of whatever the video already applied. Encoding at 192 kbps or above keeps that second generation inaudible for most material.
- One WAV limitation to keep in mind: the classic format caps out at 4 GB per file.
Questions about AVI to WAV
Does extracting the audio re-encode it?
Only when the target codec differs from the one in the AVI. Where they match, the track is copied and the result is identical to the audio inside the video. Converting to a different codec means one extra generation of lossy compression.
Is my AVI file uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole thing runs inside the browser tab you already have open. Your AVI is read straight from your own disk, converted on your machine and handed back as a WAV. Nothing is sent anywhere, nothing is stored and there is no account.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no server-side limit because no server sees the file. The real ceiling is your device memory, since the input and the output both have to fit in the tab. A few hundred megabytes is usually fine on a desktop machine and considerably less on a phone.
Can I convert several AVI files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are processed one after another, then offered as separate WAV downloads or as a single ZIP. Speed depends on your own processor rather than on a queue.
Does the converter work offline?
Yes, after the page has loaded once. The engine is cached by the browser, so you can disconnect, reload and keep converting. That falls out of doing the work locally rather than being a separate mode you switch on.