Convert MPG to WMA — Free Online Tool
Convert MPG video files to WMA audio by extracting the MP2 or AAC audio stream and re-encoding it to Windows Media Audio v2 (wmav2) — Microsoft's proprietary lossy audio format. This is ideal for pulling audio from MPEG-1/2 broadcast or VCD/DVD source files for use in Windows-centric media workflows.
to
FFmpeg Command
Copy this command to run the same conversion locally with FFmpeg on your desktop. Download FFmpeg
Drop your MPG file here
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Settings
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
MPG files carry video encoded as MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 alongside audio typically encoded as MP2 (MPEG Audio Layer II), though AAC or MP3 are also possible. During this conversion, FFmpeg discards the video stream entirely — no video re-encoding occurs — and focuses solely on the audio. The MP2 audio is decoded to raw PCM internally, then re-encoded using the wmav2 codec (Windows Media Audio version 2) at a target bitrate of 128k by default. Because both MP2 and wmav2 are lossy codecs, this is a lossy-to-lossy transcode, meaning some audio generation loss is unavoidable. The output is a .wma container, a proprietary Microsoft ASF-based format carrying only the wmav2 audio stream.
What Each Flag Does
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
ffmpeg
|
Invokes the FFmpeg binary — the open-source multimedia processing engine that powers this conversion both in the browser via WebAssembly and locally on your desktop. |
-i input.mpg
|
Specifies the input file — an MPG container holding MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video alongside MP2, AAC, or MP3 audio. FFmpeg will demux both streams but only the audio will be used in this conversion. |
-c:a wmav2
|
Sets the audio codec to wmav2 (Windows Media Audio version 2), Microsoft's proprietary lossy audio codec. This encoder re-compresses the decoded MP2 audio from the MPG source into the WMA format. |
-b:a 128k
|
Sets the audio bitrate to 128 kilobits per second for the wmav2 encoder. This is a reasonable default for speech-heavy broadcast MPG content; for music-heavy sources, increasing to 192k or 256k will reduce audible artifacts from the lossy-to-lossy transcode. |
output.wma
|
Defines the output filename and triggers FFmpeg to write an ASF/WMA container. The .wma extension signals FFmpeg to wrap the wmav2 audio stream in Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format, which is what Windows Media Player and compatible applications expect. |
Common Use Cases
- Extracting the audio commentary or soundtrack from MPG broadcast recordings for use in Windows Media Player playlists or Windows-based digital signage systems
- Converting VCD or DVD-ripped MPG files to WMA for distribution through older Windows Media-based streaming infrastructure or Silverlight applications
- Preparing audio from MPEG-2 broadcast captures for upload to SharePoint or legacy Microsoft media portals that prefer WMA over MP2 or AAC
- Stripping audio from archival MPEG-1 training or educational videos to create standalone WMA audio guides compatible with older Windows CE or Windows Mobile devices
- Converting MPG news broadcast segments to WMA for ingestion into Windows-based podcast or radio station management software that requires ASF/WMA input
- Producing WMA audio files from MPG source material for DRM-wrapping workflows, since the WMA container natively supports Microsoft's PlayReady and legacy DRM schemes
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, some quality loss is unavoidable. The source MPG file typically contains MP2 audio, which is already a lossy format. Converting to wmav2 requires decoding the MP2 to raw PCM and then re-encoding to WMA — a second lossy compression stage. At the default 128k bitrate, wmav2 performs reasonably well and the difference is often subtle for speech or dialogue, but critical listeners may detect artifacts on music, especially if the source MP2 was already compressed at a low bitrate like 128k or below.
The video stream is completely dropped. FFmpeg reads the MPG container, selects only the audio stream for processing, and writes a .wma output file that contains no video at all. No video decoding or encoding occurs, which makes the conversion fast regardless of the MPG file's video resolution or length. The resulting WMA file is a pure audio file.
Replace the value after -b:a in the command. For example, to encode at 192k instead of the default 128k, use: ffmpeg -i input.mpg -c:a wmav2 -b:a 192k output.wma. Supported bitrate options for wmav2 include 64k, 96k, 128k, 160k, 192k, 256k, and 320k. Higher bitrates preserve more audio detail but produce larger files — for speech from broadcast MPG sources, 128k is usually sufficient, while music benefits from 192k or higher.
Yes, by replacing -c:a wmav2 with -c:a wmav1 in the command. wmav1 is an older codec with lower compression efficiency and is generally considered inferior to wmav2 at equivalent bitrates. Unless you have a specific compatibility requirement for very old Windows Media Player versions or legacy hardware that only supports wmav1, wmav2 is the better choice for all modern use cases.
MPG files have very limited metadata support — MPEG-1/2 containers typically carry little to no embedded tag information. WMA (ASF container) does support rich metadata tags including title, artist, album, and genre. FFmpeg will attempt to copy any metadata it finds in the MPG source, but in practice you will likely end up with a WMA file with empty or minimal tags. You can add metadata manually by appending flags like -metadata title='My Title' to the FFmpeg command.
The single-file command shown here processes one file at a time, but you can batch process on the command line using a shell loop. On Linux or macOS: for f in *.mpg; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "${f%.mpg}.wma"; done. On Windows Command Prompt: for %f in (*.mpg) do ffmpeg -i "%f" -c:a wmav2 -b:a 128k "%~nf.wma". This is particularly useful for processing large collections of VCD or broadcast MPEG recordings. The browser-based tool processes files one at a time.
Technical Notes
The MPG container uses the MPEG program stream or transport stream structure defined by MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards, with audio most commonly encoded as MP2 (MPEG Audio Layer II) at bitrates between 128k and 384k in broadcast and VCD/DVD contexts. Converting to WMA means transcoding into Microsoft's proprietary wmav2 codec wrapped in an ASF (Advanced Systems Format) container. Because wmav2 uses psychoacoustic models different from MPEG audio, the re-encoding introduces generation loss even at high bitrates — this is fundamentally different from a lossless remux. The WMA format supports DRM via Microsoft's PlayReady system, which the FFmpeg command alone cannot apply but which downstream Microsoft tools can add to the output file. Channel layouts from stereo MPG sources are preserved through the transcode. Note that WMA does not support multi-channel audio beyond stereo in the basic wmav2 profile, so if your MPG source contains 5.1 surround (uncommon but possible in MPEG-2 DVD sources), the output will be downmixed to stereo. Subtitle and chapter data from MPG are not applicable here as WMA supports neither.