Every now and then you’ll bump up against music in some “strange” format. These formats will definitely have their advantages (lossless / high quality / multiple channel / …) but they don’t fit in your music collection or your favourite player isn’t even able to play the files! I keep my music library in the MP3 format but sometimes get music in .flac, .m4a, .aac, .ogg or something else. The web is full of cheap software which can convert these files for you. But now I finally found a program which does it all for free (freeware, no GPL). It works on Windows (Windows Vista/2008 2000/XP/2003 and Windows 7) and there even is a Mac version (Mac OS X 10.2 or above). It’s called “Switch Sound File Converter” and it’s created by a company called NCH Software which hopes you’ll be some of their other products.
I used it several times and it’s simple but of high quality and effective.
You can download Switch Sound File Converter V2.01
here.
Typical Applications
- Convert wav to mp3 files to save hard drive space.
- Convert mp3 to amr to load your own ringtones on your cell phone.
- To open or convert strange or audio file formats not supported by other audio software you use.
- Extract audio from video files (favorite sound bites) for your phone or other audio player.
- Convert multiple format audio files to mp3 for your iPod, PSP or phone.
- In professional audio studios to open formats not supported by your sound editor.
- As a command line plugin for other software to convert or compress audio files.
What file formats does Switch for Windows support?
Switch can open files in the following formats for Windows:
NOTE
* copy protected files are not decoded
^ playlists
.wav (PCM, ADPCM+, aLaw, uLaw, and others)
.mp3 (MPEG Layer 3)
.mp2 (MPEG Layer 2)
.mpga (MPEG Audio)
.au
.aif/aiff
.gsm
.dct
.vox
.raw
.ogg
.flac
.amr
.wma*
.wmv*
.aac* (not aacPlus)
.m4a*
.mid (General MIDI only)
.act/rcd/rec (newer version of format not supported)
.rm / ra / ram
.dvf (Not all dvf recorders are supported)
.msv (Not all msv recorders are supported)
.dss (SP Mode only)
.sri
.shn
.cda
.avi
.mpg/mpeg
.m3u^
.pls^
Switch on a Windows computer can open most other formats which can be decoded by Windows Media Player.
Switch can also save files to the following formats in Windows:
.wav (PCM, ADPCM+, aLaw, uLaw, and others, see here)
.mp3
.au
.aif/aiff
.gsm
.vox
.raw
.ogg
.flac
.rss
.m3u^
.pls^
.wpl
.amr
.aac
.m4a
.wma
