WMA to AU Converter

Decode WMA into Sun Microsystems AU audio format

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Cross-Platform Bridge

Move audio from Windows WMA to Unix-native AU format for cross-platform use.

Any Platform

Convert WMA to AU from any browser — no Unix workstation needed for conversion.

Fast Conversion

AU encoding from WMA is quick — files ready in moments.

How to convert WMA to AU

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

Choose au or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

Let the file convert and you can download your au file right afterwards

About formats

WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a family of proprietary audio codecs developed by Microsoft and first released in 1999 as part of the Windows Media framework. Created to compete with MP3 and AAC, WMA Standard uses perceptual coding to deliver what Microsoft claimed was near-CD quality at bitrates as low as 64 kbps — roughly half the data rate MP3 typically needed for comparable results. The codec family grew to include WMA Professional for surround sound and high-resolution audio, WMA Lossless for bit-perfect archival compression, and WMA Voice optimized for spoken content at very low bitrates. Deep integration with Windows, Windows Media Player, and the Zune ecosystem gave WMA a strong distribution advantage throughout the 2000s, and digital rights management (DRM) support made it attractive to online music stores of that era. Encoding and decoding are handled natively by Windows, requiring no third-party software for playback on any Windows machine. Cross-platform support has improved through libraries like FFmpeg and GStreamer, though WMA remains less universally compatible than MP3 or AAC on non-Microsoft devices. The format still appears in legacy media libraries, though newer codecs have largely taken its place for streaming and portable use.

Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Initial release: 1999

AU is an audio file format introduced by Sun Microsystems for its Unix workstations and the NeXT platform. It features a minimal 24-byte header specifying data offset, size, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count, followed by the audio payload. AU supports numerous encodings, including uncompressed linear PCM at various bit depths, mu-law and A-law companding (logarithmic compression used in telephone systems), and several ADPCM variants. This versatility made AU a workhorse across early Unix environments, web audio (Java applets defaulted to AU), and telephony applications. One advantage is simplicity: the compact header and straightforward structure make it trivial to parse, generate, and stream programmatically. The built-in mu-law option provides another benefit, delivering reasonable voice quality at just 8 KB per second — half the rate of 16-bit uncompressed audio — invaluable when storage and bandwidth were scarce. Although modern formats have largely supplanted AU in consumer applications, it retains a foothold in scientific computing and audio processing pipelines where minimal overhead and reliable cross-platform behavior are valued.

Developer: Sun Microsystems

Initial release: 1992

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert WMA to AU?

WMA relies on Microsoft codecs that Unix and Sun systems do not ship. AU is the native audio container for these platforms, making it essential for Java apps and Unix workflows.

Which applications can open AU files?

VLC, Audacity, and SoX handle AU on any OS. Java media frameworks read AU natively, and most Unix desktop environments include built-in AU playback support.

Does converting WMA to AU affect sound quality?

AU supports uncompressed PCM as well as mu-law and A-law encoding. With PCM output the decoded WMA content is preserved losslessly, so no additional quality loss occurs.

Is the AU format still widely used today?

AU remains a standard in Java audio programming and Unix shell scripting. It is also popular in telephony test environments where its simple header makes parsing trivial.

Can I convert a batch of WMA files to AU at once?

Yes — upload multiple WMA files and Convertio encodes each one to AU in parallel. Grab them individually or download everything as a single compressed archive.

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WMA to AU Quality Rating

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