APE to WAV Converter

When you need APE to WAV

APE is the lossless audio format of Monkey's Audio. In the 2000s it was popular among music collectors: CDs were often ripped as one big .ape file with a .cue sheet next to it describing the track layout. If you still have such a collection, today it almost certainly runs into compatibility problems: most modern players, audio editors, and disc burning applications simply do not open APE.

WAV is uncompressed audio that practically every application understands: from the default system player to a professional audio editor or CD burning software. Converting APE to WAV gives an old rip its full compatibility back.

What changes after conversion

Sound quality does not change. APE stores audio losslessly and WAV is uncompressed, so the data is carried over completely, with no degradation of any kind. This is a genuinely lossless conversion: the output is exactly the audio that was ripped from the disc.

What changes is the size: WAV does not compress audio at all, so the file grows noticeably - usually one and a half to two times compared to APE. For a one-off task that is fine, but for long-term storage WAV is wasteful. If your goal is a compact lossless archive, it is smarter to move the collection to APE to FLAC: FLAC compresses without losses and is supported almost everywhere.

One important note about album images: if a whole disc is stored as a single .ape file with a .cue sheet next to it, the conversion will not cut the recording into separate tracks. The file is converted as a whole - you get one continuous WAV with the entire album. The track layout from the .cue can then be used in an audio editor that opens WAV.

When this is especially useful

• You need to open an old rip in an audio editor to cut a fragment, clean up the recording, or make a ringtone.
• Your disc burning software does not accept APE, but you need an audio CD for the car or a CD player.
• A music library or cataloguing application does not import APE.
• An old archive from an external drive is being moved to a new computer and the files no longer open.
• You need the audio uncompressed for further processing or editing.

Common tasks and search situations

• ape file won't open on a computer;
• how to open monkey's audio without installing software;
• convert an old disc rip to a normal format;
• ape to wav for an audio editor;
• burn ape to an audio cd;
• convert a collection of 2000s cd rips;
• open an ape file that has a cue sheet;
• ape to wav online without programs.

What to check before converting

1. Make sure the source APE plays in at least one player. A damaged file cannot be converted.
2. Check your free disk space: WAV is noticeably larger than APE, and a full album can take up a substantial amount.
3. Do not delete the .cue file if it sits next to the .ape: the track layout will be useful when you work with the recording later.

Format and conversion limits

The conversion carries the audio over completely, but WAV has one quirk: its tag support is limited. The album title, artist, and cover art stored in the APE may not transfer - the audio itself is not affected. If metadata matters to you, FLAC is the better archive format.

A whole-album image with a .cue is converted as a single file and is not split into tracks.

Related tasks

If you want to store the collection compactly and losslessly, use APE to FLAC: the same audio, smaller than WAV, with tags preserved.

If the recordings are for a phone or for sending, where size matters more than fidelity, use APE to MP3.

If you need to losslessly compress uncompressed recordings from a Mac, see AIFF to FLAC.