---
title: "Mass convert WMA to MP3 using ffmpeg and ruby"
kind: article
slug: mass-convert-wma-to-mp3-using-ffmpeg-and-ruby
created_at: 2010-09-11
tags:
  - audio
  - mp3
  - wma
  - music
  - ffmpeg
---
Today I found myself in a situation where I have a few (200+) WMA audio files. Due to personal preference I want MP3, not WMA. So, let's convert that lot.

What I want to do is convert all those WMA files to constant bitrate 192kbps, stereo mp3 files. (In my case, the WMA files have the required quality to use this settings).
~
The first tool you need is ffmpeg. If you're on Mac, simple run `brew install ffmpeg`. The second tool is `irb` or _Interactive Ruby.

With `ffmpeg` setup and in your path, create a directory and stuff you WMA's there. Then open `irb` and run the following Ruby command:

    :::ruby
    ext = ".wma"
    Dir.glob("*#{ext}").each {|f| m = f.gsub(ext, '.mp3'); `ffmpeg -i '#{f}' -ab 192k -ac 2 -ar 44100 '#{m}'` }

When done, you'll find the WMA files converted to MP3 (having the same filename, except for the extention).

Happy transcoding!

Note: If you need to add ID3 tags to your files, I can highly recommend [MusicBrainz Picard][picard]. It can fingerprint your music and find the proper data online. It's free!

_Update: Added a separte `ext` variable, this works great for converting FLAC to MP3 as well! Just use `ext = '.flac'`._

[picard]: http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard