Convert M2TS to WMA — Free Online Tool
Convert M2TS Blu-ray and AVCHD video files to WMA audio by extracting and transcoding the audio stream using the WMA v2 codec. This is ideal for pulling high-definition audio content from Blu-ray rips or camcorder footage into a lightweight Windows Media Audio file for playback on Windows-centric devices and media players.
to
FFmpeg Command
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Note: Browser-based encoding uses approximate quality targets. For precise CRF compression, copy the FFmpeg command above and run it on your desktop.
Estimated output:
Conversion Complete!
DownloadHow It Works
M2TS is a MPEG-2 Transport Stream container that typically carries video (H.264 or VC-1) alongside audio encoded in formats like AC-3, DTS, or AAC. During this conversion, FFmpeg discards the video stream entirely and transcodes the audio track — regardless of its original codec — into WMA v2 (Windows Media Audio version 2), a lossy proprietary format developed by Microsoft. The resulting .wma file contains only the audio, re-encoded at the specified bitrate (default 128k). Because the source audio codec (AC-3, DTS, etc.) is almost never natively compatible with the WMA container, a full decode-and-re-encode is required, which means some generational quality loss is inherent to this conversion.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg tool, which handles all the demuxing of the M2TS transport stream, audio decoding, and re-encoding to WMA v2 in a single pass. |
-i input.m2ts
|
Specifies the input M2TS file — a Blu-ray or AVCHD container that may hold H.264/VC-1 video, multi-channel AC-3/DTS audio, and subtitle streams. FFmpeg reads and demuxes all available streams from this file. |
-c:a wmav2
|
Sets the audio encoder to WMA version 2, Microsoft's proprietary lossy audio codec. This is what produces the .wma output — wmav2 is preferred over wmav1 for better compression efficiency and broader compatibility with modern Windows Media Player versions. |
-b:a 128k
|
Sets the audio bitrate to 128 kilobits per second for the WMA v2 output. This is the default balance point between file size and audio quality; for Blu-ray source material that originally carried high-bitrate AC-3 or DTS audio, increasing this to 256k or 320k is advisable to reduce generational quality loss. |
output.wma
|
Defines the output filename and triggers FFmpeg to use the WMA container format based on the .wma extension. The video, subtitle, and chapter data from the M2TS source are all implicitly discarded since WMA supports only a single audio stream. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting the audio commentary track from a Blu-ray rip (.m2ts) to listen to on a Windows Media Player-compatible portable device
- Pulling the audio from AVCHD camcorder footage (.m2ts) to create a voice memo or interview recording in WMA format for Windows-based workflows
- Converting Blu-ray concert or live performance recordings to WMA for use in older Windows Media Center or Windows Phone setups that expect the WMA format
- Stripping audio from broadcast or satellite-captured M2TS recordings to archive dialogue or narration as a small WMA file without retaining the large video stream
- Preparing audio from HD home video recordings stored in M2TS for compatibility with Windows-only media kiosks or presentation systems that only support WMA playback
Frequently Asked Questions
Both the video stream and any subtitle tracks present in the M2TS file are completely dropped during this conversion. WMA is a pure audio-only container format — it has no capacity to store video, chapters, or subtitle data. Only the first (default) audio track from the M2TS is transcoded into the output WMA file.
No — the audio is fully decoded and re-encoded into WMA v2, which means quality loss is unavoidable. Blu-ray M2TS files often carry high-quality AC-3 (Dolby Digital) or DTS audio, sometimes at 640kbps or higher. Re-encoding to WMA at 128kbps will significantly reduce audio fidelity, so if preserving maximum quality is the priority, consider using a higher bitrate like 256k or 320k in the conversion settings.
Replace the value after '-b:a' in the command with a higher bitrate, such as '-b:a 256k' or '-b:a 320k'. For example: 'ffmpeg -i input.m2ts -c:a wmav2 -b:a 256k output.wma'. Higher bitrates produce larger files but closer-to-source audio quality. The WMA v2 codec supports bitrates from 64k up to 320k, so you have a wide range to choose from depending on your quality and file size needs.
Yes — M2TS files from Blu-ray discs often contain multiple audio tracks for different languages or commentary. To select a specific track, add '-map 0:a:1' (for the second audio track, zero-indexed) to the FFmpeg command before the output filename, like so: 'ffmpeg -i input.m2ts -map 0:a:1 -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k output.wma'. You can first run 'ffmpeg -i input.m2ts' with no output to list all available audio streams and identify the index of the one you want.
Metadata transfer from M2TS to WMA is unreliable and often incomplete. M2TS files derived from Blu-ray or AVCHD sources rarely carry conventional audio metadata like artist or title tags, and even when present, FFmpeg may not map them correctly into the WMA container's tag structure. WMA does support metadata tags, so you can manually add them by appending flags like '-metadata title="My Title"' to the FFmpeg command.
Yes — on Linux or macOS you can use a shell loop: 'for f in *.m2ts; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "${f%.m2ts}.wma"; done'. On Windows Command Prompt, use: 'for %f in (*.m2ts) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "%~nf.wma"'. This is particularly useful when you have a folder of AVCHD clips or Blu-ray chapter files you want to convert all at once, and it works best on your local desktop where file size limits don't apply.
Technical Notes
M2TS files sourced from Blu-ray discs commonly use H.264 (AVC) or VC-1 video paired with AC-3, DTS, or TrueHD audio — none of which can be placed directly into a WMA container. FFmpeg must fully decode the source audio to PCM and then re-encode it as WMA v2 (wmav2), which is the more modern and widely supported of the two available WMA codecs (wmav1 being the legacy option). WMA v2 is a lossy, frequency-domain codec loosely comparable to MP3 or AAC in approach, though it is proprietary to Microsoft. One important limitation: WMA does not support multi-channel surround sound beyond stereo in standard WMA v2 mode — if your M2TS source contains 5.1 or 7.1 audio, FFmpeg will automatically downmix it to stereo during encoding. There is no lossless output option with this format; WMA Lossless is a separate, unrelated codec not covered here. File sizes will be dramatically smaller than the source M2TS since the video stream (often the vast majority of the file's size) is discarded entirely.