Converting WMA to MP3 Using FFmpeg

Today I needed to convert a WMA file to MP3 format for use in Flash. I thought about downloading a converter, but then realized that trusty ole FFmpeg could do the trick. I’ve mainly worked with video files so wasn’t 100% certain how to work with audio only. I came to find out it’s pretty much the same and the command looks like:

ffmpeg -i input.wma -ab 32 output.mp3

As you can see you still specify an input file, bit rate (ie 32kb/s), and output file.  I’ve found 32 or 64kb to be of ample quality for streaming in Flash.   It’s obviously a trade-off between sound quality and file size.  Your results will vary and play around with it until you find something you like.