Verified local conversion

ALAC to WMA

Re-encoding .alac audio as .wma changes how the sound is compressed and which players will accept it. Free, private, and validated — the file never leaves your browser.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

Convert supported files

Runs on your device

Drop ALAC files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

About converting Apple Lossless audio to Windows Media audio

Re-encoding .alac audio as .wma changes how the sound is compressed and which players will accept it. ALAC, the Apple Lossless Audio Codec, compresses music with zero quality sacrifice, and the .alac extension is occasionally used to label such files explicitly even though the codec normally travels inside an .m4a container. Decoding reproduces the original samples exactly, making it Apple's counterpart to FLAC.

A .wma file contains Windows Media Audio, Microsoft's proprietary compressed format, wrapped in the same ASF container as WMV video. It shipped with every copy of Windows for a decade, so ripped CDs and store purchases from that era survive as .wma libraries. For this route the practical draw is respectable quality at mid bitrates for its era and still opens on any Windows PC without extra software — balanced against proprietary and effectively abandoned, which is worth knowing before you commit a large batch.

Why convert ALAC to WMA?

The practical trigger for this conversion is usually a mismatch: with .alac, compresses slightly worse than FLAC on average. Switching to .wma buys you respectable quality at mid bitrates for its era, which is why it is the better fit for converting old ripped-CD libraries to MP3 or FLAC. Because the conversion runs locally, trying it costs nothing but a few seconds of compute on your own machine.

ALAC vs WMA at a glance

AspectApple Lossless audio (.alac)Windows Media audio (.wma)
Format typeLossless — every pixel or sample is preserved exactlyLossy — discards detail it judges invisible to shrink files
How it stores datalinear-prediction compression conceptually similar to FLAC, typically reaching 40 to 60 percent of PCM sizethe standard codec is a lossy transform coder supporting up to 48 kHz stereo
Strongest atbuilding a lossless library that syncs cleanly to iPhones and the Music appconverting old ripped-CD libraries to MP3 or FLAC
Weak spotcompresses slightly worse than FLAC on averageproprietary and effectively abandoned
Metadatainherits the full iTunes metadata atom set from its MPEG-4 container, including artwork, composer, and grouping fieldsaSF attributes mirror ID3 basics such as title, artist, album, and artwork, and Windows Media Player wrote extended library fields on top
01

Add your ALAC file

Drop one or more .alac files onto the converter above, or browse for them. They load into browser memory only — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size-based pricing and no server queue.

02

Pick WMA as the output

Select .wma in the output menu next to each file. The menu only offers targets this engine can genuinely produce, so if WMA is selectable, the route is real and validated.

03

Convert on your device

Press Convert. The transcode runs on an FFmpeg engine compiled to WebAssembly, so the audio never leaves your device.

04

Verify and download

Each result is signature-checked before the download unlocks, so a failed encode can never masquerade as a valid WMA file. Outputs keep the original filename with the .wma extension.

ALAC to WMA questions, answered

Will converting ALAC to WMA lose quality?

Some. Since alac is lossless-oriented and wma is lossy-oriented, the encoder will discard detail it judges least visible; the quality slider controls how aggressive that is. Keep the original .alac if you may need a pristine master later.

Is it private to convert ALAC files here?

Yes — the .alac file is processed inside your browser tab and never uploaded. The transcode runs on an FFmpeg engine compiled to WebAssembly, so the audio never leaves your device. Close the tab and the file is gone from memory.

Where will the WMA file work?

Windows continues to play .wma through its bundled apps, but macOS, iOS, Android, and all web browsers lack native support. Files protected by Windows Media DRM will not play anywhere now that their license servers are gone.

Will the WMA file be bigger or smaller than my ALAC?

Smaller, usually dramatically so — that is the main reason this route exists. The quality slider trades size against fidelity; the default sits at the point where most people cannot spot the difference.

What happens to the metadata in my ALAC file?

This converter strips container metadata deliberately (the FFmpeg command runs with metadata mapping disabled) so exported files do not leak recording details. In the source, inherits the full iTunes metadata atom set from its MPEG-4 container, including artwork, composer, and grouping fields; none of it is transmitted anywhere because the file never leaves your browser.

Can I convert WMA back to ALAC?

Yes — the reverse route exists as a separate tool. Bear in mind that round-tripping .alac → .wma → .alac is not a perfect undo when any lossy step is involved; keep your original if fidelity matters.