Convert WMA from Windows Media Player into MP3 files?

I'm definitely going crazy here. I have a ton of CDs that I've ripped with Windows Media Player 10, but they're all apparently in WMA format, not the MP3 format that my new Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) needs for me to listen to them. I checked and there's no "save as" capability in WMP, so how the heck do I fix this problem?

Dave's Answer:

This is an astonishingly common question for Sony PSP owners, a question sufficiently common that even Sony's heard your complaints: the latest version of the PSP firmware (version 2.6) includes the ability to play WMA (Windows Media, Audio) files directly on the PSP. I haven't tried it, and I have heard that some people are anxious that you have to be online when you accept the terms of the player upgrade, so your preference can be registered with The Man, but that's certainly one solution.

But there's another way to fix your audio files, a solution that works with all MP3-compatible players and will even let you then import your previously ripped CDs into Apple's iTunes. That's to use an audio conversion program, and whether you're a Mac or Windows person, there are oodles of 'em available.

For this article, I picked out the freeware application Switch for Windows, developed by a crack team of Australian programmers. (don't like that? Try the 24/7 supported application Smart Audio Converter instead)

The first thing I did was to rip a new music CD, Dave Grusin's The Gershwin Collection, with Windows Media Player. It looked like this as it was being ripped by WMP:

Windows Media Player ripping an audio CD

Click for fullsize image

Now, with that album ripped, I start up the Switch program and get, well, a blank window:

Switch Audio Conversion Utility for Windows

Click on "Add Folder" and I can select the newly ripped CD by looking in My Documents\My Music:

Almost ready to go. The last step, one that's not obvious when you first start working with Switch, is to pick the output format of your choice, as shown here:

I've chosen MP3, but you can see the program supports a wide range of options!

With the audio input files selected, the output format selected, and the destination disk specified, all that's left to do is select all the files to convert and click on the "Convert" button on the top right. You'll get a progress window like this:

When it indicates that the conversion is complete, voila, you now have MP3 audio files from your WMA format files. Quickly and easily done.

There are also Mac utilities for converting audio file formats, as I write about here: Converting WMA to MP3 on Mac OS X

Disclaimer: The Switch link is an affiliate link. You get the software at a discount and I get a few pennies commission on the sale. A win:win. FYI.

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Categorized: Windows PC Help , iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help (Article 4714, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: audio conversion, mp3, switch audio converter, windows, wma
Previous: How do I disable MusicMatch Jukebox?
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Reader Comments To Date: 448

Robert Darrah said, on June 15, 2011 11:44 AM:

Hi,

I am now trying to remove all the MALWARE and VIRUSES and whatever else I got from downloading this program from the link you provided. I am NOT happy :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

No, scratch that, I'm really effing pissed. How irresponsible that you don't even check for this or read the comments of your users that tell you it's infected. How many people have you screwed with your post? This thing corrupted my Kaspersky anti-virus.

People, you really DO NOT want to download this program!!! :(((((((((((((

Dave Taylor said, on June 15, 2011 2:52 PM:

Robert, I've downloaded and installed Switch on a variety of PCs over the years and never had a single issue nor ever had it flagged by my antivirus software. What are you talking about? Exactly *what* URL are you clicking on that you're finding malware?

miss kimios said, on June 16, 2011 8:34 PM:

I don't comment on many blogs but after reading a few of your posts I thought I would just say thanks and keep up the good work

Charles said, on June 23, 2011 5:17 PM:

That Switch program you recommend is a pain in the butt! It put heaps of spam on my pc, and its taken me about 2 hours to remove it all. I would not recommend that to anyone!

nel philippines said, on July 5, 2011 2:37 AM:

thanks a lot now i can play may wma music to my psp its cool men....
love you guys

Amal said, on August 4, 2011 5:38 AM:

Thanks a lot for this. It was just what I needed.

Mike said, on August 27, 2011 2:10 AM:

I have an audio file copied to my pc with Windows Movie Maker in wma format. It is a lecture and is about 2 hours long. I want to segment it every 10 minutes and burn it to a CD in mp3 format so when I replay it on a CD player I can move forward and backward easily like I replay songs on a music CD. I followed your instruction and downloaded Audioconverter but it doesn't recognize the file format. Can you help please?

tyrone said, on September 7, 2011 10:11 PM:

im downloading songs from imesh and they r downloading as wma files and im savinging them on my external hard drive cause i dj and there not playing cause they need to be mp3 format...how can i convert from wma to mp3

ante said, on September 8, 2011 12:12 AM:

hi mate
will this switch software convert all my original wma format music on my pc to mp3 format without having to do any ripping then reburning to cd.?ie can i just install it then begin to convert to mp3 and then play it in wmp? i got a new computer and had all my music from the oldhard drive copied to my desktop.wmp then hasles me with licensing issues .its windows 7 OS and it wont even play all my original wma ripped music

Tonya said, on September 17, 2011 7:50 PM:

thanks for the help i really appreciate it.

Vivian said, on September 26, 2011 1:56 AM:

Thank you so much for the info. I spent over two hours trying to convert wma to mp3. Your page had me up and running in 5 minutes!

Anis HOAYEK said, on September 30, 2011 1:37 AM:

when I add a wma file to convert it, the pc give me an alert message "Your wma file is DRM protected ?"
kindly if you have any idea of the solution send it to me as soon as possible...many thanks

Leng said, on October 25, 2011 9:05 AM:

Thank you so much. You've really helped!

Yolanda V. said, on October 25, 2011 11:52 AM:

Thank you Dave!! You're a lifesaver - I've been looking for a free converter for a while now - Switch was easy to use and quick too.

Thank you again for the information!!

john said, on October 31, 2011 10:10 PM:

Thanks BUT big BUT. I downloaded Switch but it does not allow me to convert my entire music directory wma files to mp33. It will only allow one folder at a time. With over 180 folders that's pretty much like a career. What software will allow me to convert them all at once?

pheonix said, on November 2, 2011 7:48 PM:

Hi Dave, sorry i am not very "tech savvy" i have music that i have burned from CD's to the desktop "now in file's"
i don't have the music CD's i burned from, with me where i am now, can i take/copy the music from the desktop files, & create a new file in MP3 ?

as i want to leave the original file's in WMA & create new file with MP3 playback.

I also have the same music files on a memory stick, if that is a better way to do things, rather than the ones on the desk top.

Sorry if you have already answer'ed this question
regards pheonix !

dean pappas said, on November 16, 2011 12:44 PM:

I downloaded the Switch program & every conversion attempt fails. I am attemting to convert some music I ripped myself. I do not see any replies to questions that are asked. How do we see answers to questions?
Thanks,
Dean.

Mellany said, on December 16, 2011 2:36 PM:

Dave, I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Your detailed help in answering this question was literally an answer to prayer.
Thank you!
Mellany

ginger said, on December 16, 2011 2:46 PM:

I Love you Dave..it worked GREAT for me...I put the ripped CD files on my computer, converted them easily to MP3 and them put the MP3 on my MP3 player and on my Blackberry. BRAVO and Thanks
Ginger

Christen said, on December 18, 2011 9:15 AM:

GREAT ARTICLE!
And Switch is exactly what I was looking for!! :)
(Your page needs a like button)

William said, on December 29, 2011 11:41 AM:

When using Switch to encode WMAs into MP3, what encoding settings should be used, i.e. CBR, variable, etc.

Soma said, on December 31, 2011 7:53 AM:

Thank you so much, Dave

Cedi said, on January 4, 2012 11:46 PM:

Switch worked like the charm you said it was--I agree that your page needs a "like" button.

nurseychic said, on January 10, 2012 8:59 PM:

Hi Dave.. I haven't read thru all the comments.. but I wanted to ask a question - I have both a PC and a MAC.. I'm a PC girl and I have a huge dislike for itunes.. but was wondering how I can transfer my ripped music from my external hard drive and convert it to mp3s so itunes will recognize and play it? Will the above directions do the trick?? Not sure if all my music have the 'rights attached' as some were ripped off CDs and some off some sites like amazon mp3.. and some are old so who knows where they came from.. but they are all PC based.. not MAC. Thanks for any input! :)

keith said, on February 7, 2012 1:05 PM:

when I add a wma file to convert it, the pc give me an alert message "Your wma file is DRM protected ?"
kindly if you have any idea of the solution send it to me as soon as possible...many thanks

Pam said, on February 11, 2012 6:57 PM:

Works great and very easy to use. Thank you!

Rob said, on March 10, 2012 10:41 AM:

Even though I check Option/wma Support it always says "WMA Support" is off when I try to run this. So I'm having no luck with it.

YONGKI said, on March 24, 2012 7:59 PM:

I LIKE

Pramod said, on March 31, 2012 12:15 PM:

thanks dave. 'switch' is a very small file which downloaded and worked easily ....exactly as you have shown here. thanks !

theresa said, on April 15, 2012 10:14 AM:

i am so grateful for the inofrmation on this site!! i am completely clueless when it somes to computers but thanks to u i was able to convert the files!!! thank you thank you thank you!!!

Mama P. said, on May 7, 2012 2:34 PM:

Hi Dave,

I searched and searched for a converter. There are too many options out there! I saw your face on Google and thought...Hmmm, he looks like a trustworthy guy and he likes jazz. You sold me. Thanks for the tip. Switch works great! :-)
Thanks again.

Dave Taylor said, on May 7, 2012 3:25 PM:

I know the jazz connection would pay off eventually. :-)

Deborah said, on May 25, 2012 10:29 AM:

Thanks for this info!! It works great!

Andrea said, on August 30, 2012 12:23 PM:

Thank you for the info on SwitchCoverter! Super Easy and in less than 10 mins I had over 150 songs converted and onto my phone!

Jake said, on October 4, 2012 2:09 AM:

A good mp3 converter alternative are these 2 as well

http://download.cnet.com/MP3-Converter/3000-2140_4-75747802.html

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/149416

I noticed sometimes this program crashes So I had to find a alternative. I'm using windows xp.

Paula said, on October 22, 2012 11:42 AM:

Just confirming what I gather from posts:
If a wma file is DRM then there is no way to convert to mp3? Correct?
I listen to downloadable books from library and 90% are in wma format and can't be listened to on an iPod. Boo.
Paula

Dylan said, on October 28, 2012 4:31 PM:

So this Switch program will allow me to put all of my songs from Windows Media Player onto an iPod?

Edwin Del Cid said, on November 8, 2012 8:06 AM:

Thank you very much for the link and the information.
It was very useful.

al3ab said, on November 13, 2012 4:42 AM:

Thank you for this nice post

Caro said, on November 14, 2012 9:15 PM:

Thanks so much for this really helpful page Dave. Such an easy fix for a really annoying problem. I just wish I'd bothered to ask this question a year ago when I first bought my phone!

Chris McGrath said, on November 24, 2012 11:03 AM:

Hi there ~ You really helped me with this information!! Thank you so much! I had to use mp3 format for a PowerPoint presentation, so this freeware info was excellent. Going to bookmark your website!
Thanks again!

Chris :)

jose lopez said, on December 14, 2012 6:41 PM:

The solution is simple. I just upgraded to the new windows player after seeing the popup on my screen about a thousand times. I've always thought those upgrades were useless and only benefited those offering the upgrade in some way. My suspicion was correct. After I did the download, my File "save" was no longer an option. That function had been taken from me! Imagine that! Get your system disks that came with the computer and reload the old windows media player. You can first corrupt the player by deleting some of its components. Then the system disks (windows xp in my case) will correct the player by reloading the old one. Or, you can wipe (erase and reload) your hard drive and do a complete reinstall. If you do that make sure you save your files first or they will be gone! Or, you can do a system restore to an earlier date prior to when you did the upgrade. This is the easiest way. Go to control panel>performance and maintenance>system restore. This solves it!

Cmill said, on January 5, 2013 8:14 PM:

How about deleting the files from windows media player and then ripping them again in mp3 format?

sarah said, on February 3, 2013 6:30 AM:

Many thanks. Using Switch worked perfectly and I now have a consoled child with his audio books on his Kindle.

KnotHeather said, on February 19, 2013 3:45 PM:

OR you can just change the Rip settings from wma to MP3 in the options. you know, use the original program to do what it's programmed to do without an outside app that can kill your pc/mac. you think?!

Finy said, on April 5, 2013 1:13 AM:

Thanks for good tips. I'll try your metod.
Finy

Donna said, on April 16, 2013 2:16 PM:

Thank you, thank you, thank you - this really helps me! :-)

nachwaal3ab said, on April 24, 2013 1:20 PM:

thanks for this nice post ,this is very important work

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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Convert WMA from Windows Media Player into MP3 files?

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