Convert MP3 to OGG MPEG Audio Layer III ↔ Ogg Vorbis Free Online Secure
Your MP3 is decoded here in your browser and written out as OGG at the bitrate you pick. Nothing is uploaded, so there is nothing to delete afterwards.
Convert your file
Drop an MP3 here, or choose one.
Your file never leaves this device. Everything runs in your browser.
Nothing uploaded
Convert from MP3
Convert to MP3
Where these formats come from
MP3 came out of years of research at Fraunhofer and was standardised in 1993 as part of MPEG-1. Its trick is psychoacoustic: it throws away the sound a human ear is unlikely to notice, mostly quiet detail masked by louder sound nearby, and it was that trick which made music small enough to travel over a modem. AAC — the thing inside an .m4a file — was designed as its successor and does the same job better at the same size. Ogg Vorbis appeared in 2000 as the patent-free answer, at a time when MP3 still had to be licensed. FLAC compresses without discarding anything, giving back the identical recording at about half the size, and WAV stores the raw samples with no compression at all.
Where you meet them
MP3 is still the format that plays on anything with a speaker, which is why it is the safe choice for sending something to a stranger. M4A is what Apple devices and most phones record and buy in. OGG travels inside games and open-source software. FLAC is for archiving a collection or ripping a CD when the original quality must be kept. WAV is the working format of recording and editing, where the file is opened and saved repeatedly and compression artefacts would accumulate.
Questions people ask
Will converting my MP3 to FLAC restore the quality?
No. FLAC will preserve perfectly whatever it is given, but what it is given here is already an MP3 — the detail removed when the MP3 was made is gone, and no later format can invent it back. You end up with a file several times larger that sounds exactly like the MP3. Converting to a lossless format is worth doing only from a lossless source; from an MP3, the honest answer is to keep the MP3.
Each time I convert, does it sound worse?
Between lossy formats, yes — a little. MP3, AAC and Vorbis each decide separately what the ear will not miss, and each conversion decodes the previous guess and makes a fresh one on top of it, so the losses accumulate. Converting once rarely matters; converting back and forth repeatedly does. Lossless formats have no such problem: WAV to FLAC to WAV returns exactly the samples you started with.
Does the file lose quality?
It depends on what the two formats can hold. Converting between formats that store the same thing — a PNG to a BMP, a WAV to a FLAC — loses nothing. Converting into a format that throws information away to save space, such as JPEG or MP3, loses a little every time, and converting back does not bring it back. Where a choice exists, this page errs towards keeping the original quality rather than making the smallest file.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion happens inside your browser, on your own machine; the file never leaves it and there is no server here that could receive it. That is why a large file is limited by your own memory rather than by an upload, and why nothing you convert can appear in anybody's logs — including ours. The audio and video tools do fetch their conversion engine from this site the first time you use them, some thirty megabytes once; after that the work still happens entirely on your machine.
Why people convert MP3 to OGG
MP3 is the audio format that nearly everyone has met. It has carried music, lectures and voice notes for more than twenty years, and almost every device can play it. OGG is a quieter presence. It is an open format, free of licensing fees, built on a compression method called Vorbis, and it turns up wherever people prefer open standards: in video games, in many Linux and Android programs, in open-source players and in web projects that want to avoid patented formats. So when someone needs to convert MP3 to OGG, the reason is usually a program or a project that asks for OGG by name.
The situations are easy to picture. A game engine that loads its sound effects and music as OGG. A website or an app whose audio folder follows an open-format rule. An open-source media player set up to prefer OGG. A device that handles OGG more smoothly than MP3. In each case you have a good recording in one format and a program that wants another, and you want the change to be quick, private and without surprises.
This page converts MP3 to OGG in your browser. Your audio is not uploaded to a server, which matters for voices, interviews and unpublished work. Below you will find how it works, what is kept, what is lost, and when the conversion is worth the trouble.
How the conversion works
Decoded in your browser, written out as OGG
Your MP3 is opened inside your browser, decoded back into raw sound and written out again as OGG at the bitrate you pick. Nothing is sent anywhere, so there is nothing to delete afterwards. You drop the file, choose how much quality to spend on the new one, press the button and download the result.
Choosing the bitrate
The bitrate is the amount of data used for each second of sound. A higher bitrate keeps more detail and makes a larger file, while a lower one makes a smaller file with less detail. Speech is happy with a low or moderate setting. Music deserves a higher one. If the MP3 was made at a low bitrate, a very high setting for the OGG will not recover what was already discarded; it only makes the file bigger.
A simple rule of thumb
Choose a bitrate close to that of the original MP3, or slightly above it. Going far above gives a bigger file and no better sound; going far below gives a smaller file and plainly worse sound.
What is kept
Length, sample rate and channels
The full length of the recording is kept, together with its sample rate and both channels. A stereo MP3 comes out as a stereo OGG, and the sound is not shortened, sped up or folded into one speaker.
A file that opens in anything current
The OGG file opens in anything current: the usual desktop players, Android, game engines, browsers and open-source tools. A few very old pieces of equipment and some Apple software do not read OGG, so check the destination if it is unusual.
What you should know before you convert MP3 to OGG
It is a second round of loss
This is the main thing to remember. Both MP3 and OGG are lossy formats: they save space by discarding the parts of the sound the ear is least likely to miss. When you convert MP3 to OGG, the audio is decompressed and then compressed a second time, and the second compression takes away a little more. The result is a little worse than the MP3 was, at any bitrate. The difference is often small, but it is real and cannot be reversed.
That is why this conversion is worth doing when something cannot read MP3, and not otherwise. If your player is happy with MP3, leave the file alone. If you still have the original recording in a lossless form such as WAV or FLAC, make the OGG from that and you avoid the double loss.
Titles, artist names and cover art
Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over. The new file holds the sound and little else. If the tags matter, add them again in a music program afterwards, or keep the MP3 beside the OGG so that the information is not lost.
The converter is fetched the first time
The converter is not part of the page. It is fetched the first time you use one of these audio pages, about nine megabytes, once. After that it stays in your browser, and later conversions start straight away. On a slow connection the first use takes longer.
How to convert MP3 to OGG here
Add your recording
Drop the MP3 onto the page or pick it from your device. It is read inside your browser and is not uploaded.
Pick the bitrate
Choose the bitrate that suits the purpose: higher for music you care about, lower for speech or for a small file.
Convert and download
Press the button, wait until it finishes and download the OGG. Play it from the beginning, check a passage in the middle and the end, and make sure the length is the same as the original.
A closer look at MP3 and OGG
Where the two formats come from
MP3 was standardised in the early nineties, and for years its technology was covered by patents, which meant that software makers had to pay to include it. OGG Vorbis was developed as a free alternative, with no fees and no restrictions on its use. That is why it spread through open-source projects and games, where licensing costs and legal clarity matter. At many bitrates Vorbis sounds a little cleaner than MP3, though the gap is modest.
Why the improvement does not reach you here
Since OGG can sound slightly better than MP3, one might hope that converting would improve an old file. It cannot. The detail the MP3 discarded is gone for good, and the new file can only store what is left. The advantage of OGG appears when you encode from a clean source, not when you re-encode something already compressed. Treat this conversion as a compatibility step, and not as an upgrade.
Lossy and lossless in a sentence
A lossy format throws information away to save space and cannot get it back. A lossless format, such as FLAC or WAV, keeps everything. Moving from one lossy format to another always costs something.
Common situations in detail
Game audio
Many games and game engines load music and sound effects as OGG, partly because the format is free to use and partly because it streams well. If you have a track as an MP3, convert MP3 to OGG, drop the result into the project folder and test it in the game. Keep effects short, and remember that the original MP3 should stay in your source files.
Websites and apps with an open-format policy
Some projects require open formats only, either by principle or by licence. An OGG satisfies the rule, and most browsers play it. For safety, many sites offer both an OGG and an MP3 version of the same sound and let the browser pick.
Open-source players and Linux systems
OGG is at home on Linux. If your player or your system sound theme prefers it, a converted file will fit in without any extra codec. Still, most Linux players also read MP3 today, so the conversion matters mostly for projects that insist on OGG.
Podcasts and voice recordings
Speech holds up well at low and moderate bitrates, so an OGG made from a spoken MP3 can be quite small and still perfectly clear. Check that your hosting service accepts OGG before you commit, as some prefer MP3 or M4A.
Questions people ask before converting
Will the sound get worse?
A little, yes. It is a second round of lossy compression, so the OGG is a little worse than the MP3 was, at any bitrate. For most listening the difference is small.
Should I convert my whole library?
No, unless something needs it. This conversion is worth doing when a device or program cannot read MP3. Otherwise leave your files as they are.
Will my iPhone play OGG?
Not necessarily. Apple software has traditionally not supported OGG well. If your target is an iPhone or a Mac program, MP3 to M4A is often the better choice.
Will the titles and artist names remain?
No. Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over.
Is my recording uploaded?
No. The conversion runs in your browser and the recording never leaves your device.
Choosing wisely when you convert MP3 to OGG
Think about the source first
Before you convert MP3 to OGG, ask where the MP3 came from. A file ripped long ago from a disc at a high bitrate has plenty left in it. A file saved from a low-quality stream, or already converted once, has little. The OGG can only be as good as what the MP3 still holds.
Match the bitrate to the content
Speech needs far less than music. A lecture is clear at a modest bitrate, and a bigger setting only inflates the file. Music with many instruments rewards a higher one. When you convert MP3 to OGG for a collection, you can pick one setting for speech and another for songs.
Test one file first
Convert one recording, copy it to the device or project that needs it and listen. If it works, repeat for the others. This saves a lot of effort when you are dealing with a whole folder.
Keep the originals
Whenever you convert MP3 to OGG, keep the MP3 in a folder of its own. A second round of loss cannot be undone, and you may later find a device that prefers the original after all.
More about working with OGG files
OGG is a container, Vorbis is the sound
The name causes some confusion. OGG is the container, and the sound inside is usually compressed with Vorbis, so people speak of the two together as OGG Vorbis. The same container can hold other kinds of audio too, which is why you may meet files with the same extension that behave differently. The files made here are ordinary OGG Vorbis audio, the kind that games, browsers and open-source players expect.
Playing the result
Most desktop players, Android phones and current browsers open OGG without any extra step. On a Mac or an iPhone you may need a player that adds support, or you can choose another format. If you only want to check that the conversion worked, open the file in a player on your computer before you copy it anywhere else.
Looping and gaps
Game developers often worry about a small silence at the start or end of a looped track. MP3 adds a little padding at both ends, which is one reason some people convert MP3 to OGG for loops. Be aware that if the padding is already in the MP3 you start from, it is decoded along with the sound, so a perfectly seamless loop is best made from a lossless source.
File names and folders
Give the converted file a name that says what it is and where it belongs, for example the level or the scene. Projects with hundreds of sounds become hard to manage when everything is called track, and a good name saves time later on when you convert MP3 to OGG in bulk, one file after the other.
Privacy and handling
Why local conversion matters for audio
Audio files often hold voices, and voices are personal: an interview, a meeting, a message from a relative, a lesson. Many online converters upload your file to a server, process it and send it back, and for a while a copy lives on a machine you do not control. Here your own browser does the work, and the recording stays on your device.
What happens when you leave
When you close the page, the converted file disappears from the browser, so download it first. The converter, about nine megabytes, stays in your browser storage so the next conversion starts faster. Your recordings are never kept.
If something goes wrong
The page freezes with a very long recording
Everything happens on your device, and a recording of several hours may be too large for a phone to handle. Try again on a computer, or split the recording into shorter parts first.
The OGG does not play on a device
Try another player first. Some devices and programs do not read OGG, and in that case the MP3 or an M4A is the safer choice. Keep the MP3 in any case.
The sound has a different character
That is the second round of compression at work. Try a higher bitrate, and if possible convert from a lossless original.
Related audio conversions
The audio tools of this site cover the other common pairings. To go the opposite way, use OGG to MP3. For Apple-friendly files, MP3 to M4A does the job, and for lossless storage there is MP3 to FLAC, which keeps what the MP3 still holds without losing any more. For editing programs that want uncompressed sound, MP3 to WAV is the right step, while WAV to MP3, FLAC to MP3 and M4A to MP3 make small, widely playable files from other sources.
A worked example
Say you are making a small game and have a music loop saved as an MP3 of 4 megabytes. The engine you use asks for OGG. You drop the file here, choose a bitrate close to the original and press the button. A few seconds later you download an OGG of about the same size with the same length and both channels. You place it in the project, it loops, and the MP3 stays in your source folder as the master.
A short checklist
Before converting
Check that the program really needs OGG. Find the original recording if you still have it. Decide on the bitrate.
While converting
Stay on the page until the file is ready. Do not start other heavy tasks on a phone.
After converting
Download the OGG, listen to the beginning and the end, and keep the MP3 until you are sure the new file works where you need it.
Common mistakes
Converting to improve the sound
Do not convert MP3 to OGG hoping for better quality. It cannot give it to you, and it takes a little away.
Converting back and forth
Each lossy conversion costs something. Choose the format you need and keep it.
Throwing away the MP3
Keep it. It holds the tags and plays everywhere.
Your recording stays on your device
The conversion happens locally. Your recording is read by your own browser, converted there and handed back. Nothing is uploaded, so no copy ends up on a server and nobody else can listen to it. For voices and private recordings, that is the safe way to convert MP3 to OGG.
Summary
To convert MP3 to OGG here, drop the file, choose a bitrate and press the button. Your MP3 is decoded in your browser and written out as OGG. The full length, the sample rate and both channels are kept, and the file opens in anything current. Because both formats are lossy, this is a second round of loss: the result is a little worse than the MP3 was, at any bitrate, so it is worth doing when something cannot read MP3 and not otherwise. Titles, artist names and cover art are not carried over. The converter is fetched the first time, about nine megabytes, once. Nothing leaves your device.