Convert WMA to AAC - online and free - this page also contains information on the WMA and AAC file extensions.
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How to convert a WMA to a AAC file?
- Choose the WMA file that you want to convert.
- Select AAC as the the format you want to convert your WMA file to.
- Click "Convert" to convert your WMA file.
Zamzar Pro Tip: Should you wish to open WMA files then you can use the Microsoft Windows Media Player.
You're in good company:
Zamzar has converted over 510 million files since 2006
Zamzar has converted over 510 million files since 2006
| File extension | .wma |
| Category | Music File |
| Description | Developed by the Signal Processing Group at Microsoft, the WMA file format is part of the Windows Media framework and was first released commercially in 1999, with support for playback of WMA encoded files as part of Windows Media Player. Creation of WMA files did not come until Windows Media Player version 7. The original codec was targeted as a direct competitor to the MP3 and RealAudio formats, and has achieved a broad level of adoption thanks to support for playback on numerous DVD players, Nokia mobile handsets and Playstation portable devices. |
| Actions | WMA to AAC - Convert file now View other music file formats |
| Technical Details | In almost all circumstances WMA files are part of the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container, a proprietary container format developed by Microsoft for both digital video and digital audio. Every WMA file contains an audio track encoded in one of four mutually distinct codecs - WMA, WMA Voice, WMA Lossless or WMA Pro - WMA is the most commonly found of the four, but is a lossy codec, with the ability to encode audio signals sampled at up to 48 kHz. WMA Pro is an improved version, allowing sampling up to 96 kHz, but has achieved little hardware and software support. WMA Lossless is designed to compress audio signals with no loss of quality from the original source (up to 96 kHz) and is used in some Windows Mobile devices as well as the Logitech Squeezebox Touch. Finally, WMA Voice is a lossy codec optimized for low-bandwith voice playback applications, with mono sampling support up to 22.05 kHz - it is perhaps most well known for being used by the BBC World service for streaming Internet radio. |
| Associated programs | MPlayer Realplayer VLC Media Player Windows Media Player Windows Movie Maker |
| Developed by | Microsoft |
| MIME type | audio/x-ms-wma |
| Useful links | Encoding Audio and Video with Windows Media Codecs Microsoft overview of ASF Format Differences between ASF and WMV/WMA files WMA format information from the Library of Congress Convert WMA file |
| File extension | .aac |
| Category | Music File |
| Description | AAC is similar to MP3. It essentially cuts out, or compresses, information that the human ear cannot pick up thereby making digital files smaller and more easily managed and therefore quicker to download. AAC is about half the size of MP3 but with better quality. It is at least one tenth the size of CD digital data. Apple are the biggest users of this format and if you have an iPod or iPhone then you will have come across this format as it is iTunes default audio format. |
| Actions | Convert AAC file View other music file formats |
| Technical Details | AAC is similar in concept to MP3 but goes further. It too compresses digital audio files but to a bigger degree. It is also part of the MPEG-4 standard, it is most widely used to create small digital audio files. The current variant is specified in ISO/IEC standard 14496-3. Like MP3, AAC is a lossy algorithm. The human hearing system cannot hear quiet sounds in the presence of loud sounds of a similar frequency; for example, a voice conversation cannot be heard while an aeroplane flies low overhead. This is known as auditory masking, this allows the discarding of data with minimal loss of quality. |
| Associated programs | KMPlayer RealPlayer VideoLAN VLC Media Player Windows Media Player iTunes |
| Developed by | A combination of Fraunhofer IIS, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Dolby and Sony Corporation |
| MIME type | audio/aac |
| Useful links | More detail about the AAC file format How to play AAC files Convert AAC file |
Convert WMA file
Using Zamzar it is possible to convert WMA files to a variety of other formats
- wma to aac (Advanced Audio Coding File)
- wma to m4a (Compressed video file)
- wma to m4r (iPhone Ringtone File)
- wma to mp3 (Compressed audio file)
- wma to mp4 (MPEG-4 Video File)
- wma to ogg (Ogg Vorbis Compressed Audio File)
- wma to wav (Windows audio file)