Audio conversion software converts audio file formats from one form into another (for example, from FLAC

FLAC

FLAC is a codec which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed such that file size is reduced without any information being lost...

 into MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

). Many include the ability to select encoding parameters for each of the output file formats selected to obtain Voice, CD, Telephony and Radio quality sound.

A converter analyses the format information in the audio file and uses a decoder to decompress it to the raw audio. It then sends the raw audio to a coder executable which then applies the encoding information selected for the file format type. The tools that do this are often called codec

Codec

A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...

s (a portmanteau of 'compressor-decompressor').

Conversion software

Some popular software in this category include:

• Audio Converter Studio
  Audio Converter Studio
  AudioConverter Studio is a shareware program that supports 8 most popular audio formats and can freely convert sound from one of them to another. The supported formats are: MP3, OGG Vorbis, WAV, FLAC, APE, WMA, MPC, and CDA . AudioConverter Studio also offers Audio CD ripper, thus there are, in...
  
  
• fre:ac
• Brasero
  Brasero (software)
  Brasero is a free disc-burning program for Unix-like systems, which serves as a graphical front-end to cdrtools, growisofs, and libburn.Brasero is the default CD/DVD application in the GNOME desktop....
  
  
• CDex
  CDex
  CDex is a CD ripper for Microsoft Windows. It convert tracks on a CD to standard computer sound files, such as WAV, MP3, or Ogg Vorbis. Released under the GNU General Public License, CDex is free software. , it is the 14th most popular download on SourceForge.net, with over 41 million downloads. It...
  
  
• Exact Audio Copy
  Exact Audio Copy
  Exact Audio Copy is a proprietary CD ripping program for Microsoft Windows. It has also been tested to work under newer versions of Wine on Linux...
  
  
• Foobar2000
  Foobar2000
  foobar2000 is a freeware audio player for Windows developed by Peter Pawlowski, a former freelance contractor for Nullsoft. It is known for its highly modular design and extensive SDK which allows third-party developers to do such things as completely replace the interface...
  
  
• FormatFactory
  FormatFactory
  - External links :* and on CNet on Stern's web site in netzwelt in Computerra...
  
  
• Freemake Audio Converter
  Freemake Audio Converter
  Freemake Audio Converter is a free audio conversion utility developed by Ellora Assets Corporation. The program is used to convert across different audio formats, merge audio files, extract audio from video files...
  
  
• iTunes
  ITunes
  iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
  
  
• k3b
  K3b
  K3b is a CD and DVD authoring application by KDE for Unix-like computer operating systems. It provides a graphical user interface to perform most CD/DVD burning tasks like creating an Audio CD from a set of audio files or copying a CD/DVD, as well as more advanced tasks such as burning eMoviX...
  
  
• MediaCoder
  MediaCoder
  MediaCoder is a transcoding program for Microsoft Windows. It has been developed by Stanley Huang since 2005.MediaCoder uses various open source audio and video codecs, among several proprietary codecs and tools to transcode different audio/video formats and has many extra features...
  
  
• MediaMonkey
  MediaMonkey
  MediaMonkey is a proprietary digital media player and media library application developed by Ventis Media Inc., for organizing and playing audio on Microsoft Windows operating systems. By using plugins, it can be extended to handle video and other media formats as well.MediaMonkey is available in a...
  
  
• SoX
  SoX
  Sound eXchange, abbreviated SoX, is a free cross-platform digital audio editor, licensed under the GNU General Public License, and distributed by Chris Bagwell through SourceForge.net...
  
  
• Switch Audio Converter from NCH Software
  NCH Software
  NCH Software is a software development company founded in 1993 in Canberra, Australia. The Denver office was started in April 2008 due to the large U.S. customer base...
  
  
• VLC Media Player
  VLC media player
  VLC media player is a free and open source media player and multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to...
  
  
• Winamp
  Winamp
  Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
  
  
• winLAME
  WinLAME
  winLAME is a Windows front-end for LAME, a program which can transcode digital audio files between several formats.- Supported file formats :*AAC, with plugin*FLAC*MP3*OGG Vorbis*WAV*WMA...
  
  
• XMedia Recode
  XMedia Recode
  XMedia Recode is a donationware video and audio transcoding program for Microsoft Windows developed by Sebastian Dörfler. It can import and export many types of files such as WMV, MP4, MP3, 3GP, Matroska and more. XMedia Recode can convert unprotected DVDs or DVD files to any supported output file...