Why WAV files are so large
The exact arithmetic behind 10MB a minute, why that is the point rather than a flaw, and what to convert to when you no longer need it.
In short
WAV stores every sample uncompressed. CD-quality stereo is about 10MB per minute, and that is fixed by the sample rate, bit depth and channel count rather than by the content. Convert to FLAC to halve it losslessly, or to MP3 or AAC when you only need to listen.
A WAV file applies no compression at all. It writes down every measurement the converter took, in order, and that is the whole format. Its size follows directly from three numbers.
The arithmetic
Bytes per second = sample rate × (bit depth ÷ 8) × channels. At CD quality — 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits, two channels — that is 44100 × 2 × 2 = 176,400 bytes per second, about 10.1MB per minute or 605MB per hour.
| Configuration | Per minute | Per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo (CD) | ~10.1 MB | ~605 MB |
| 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, mono | ~5.0 MB | ~303 MB |
| 48 kHz, 24-bit, stereo (video/production) | ~16.5 MB | ~989 MB |
| 22.05 kHz, 16-bit, mono (speech) | ~2.5 MB | ~151 MB |
Nothing about the content changes any of this. A minute of silence is exactly the same size as a minute of a full orchestra, because the format stores measurements rather than sound.
Why it exists anyway
That predictability is the point. WAV is the working format: no quality has been discarded, so editing, mixing and re-exporting cost nothing. It also decodes instantly, which matters when software is scrubbing through a timeline.
Dexta writes WAV with pcm_s16le — 16-bit signed samples — which is why the bitrate setting is ignored for WAV output. There is no setting; the format is defined by what it stores.
What to convert to, and when
- 01
Still working on it? Keep the WAV.
Every edit and re-export from a lossy file costs quality. Stay lossless until you are finished.
- 02
Archiving it? Use FLAC.
Identical audio, typically 40–60% of the size. There is no reason to archive as WAV if FLAC is an option.
- 03
Sending or listening? Use MP3 or AAC.
128 kbps for general use, 64–96 kbps for speech. That is roughly a tenth to a twentieth of the WAV.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Converting an MP3 to WAV. It does not restore quality, and it multiplies the file size by roughly ten.
- Archiving masters as WAV when FLAC would store the same audio in half the space.
- Recording speech at 48 kHz 24-bit stereo. It is a production setting; for a voice memo it is roughly six times the size it needs to be.