Turn a voice note into an MP3

When you need this

WhatsApp voice notes are saved as OPUS files. Phones play them, but a great many computers, office systems, car stereos and upload forms refuse them outright. If you need to keep a voice note, send it to somebody who is not on WhatsApp, or attach it to anything official, it has to become an MP3 first.

This matters for recorded instructions, evidence of an agreement, interviews, and sermons passed around in chats.

How to use it

1. Add the voice notes — one, or a whole batch.
2. Choose the quality. Voice at the lower setting is the right choice almost always and makes much smaller files; the higher setting is for music or a recording you want to keep properly.
3. Leave "make a quiet recording louder" on if the voice note was recorded far from the phone.
4. Save them one by one, or all together as a ZIP.

Finding WhatsApp voice notes on the phone

On Android they sit in Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Voice Notes, which most file managers can reach. The easier route on any phone: open the chat, press and hold the voice note, share it, and save it to your Files app. Then pick it up here.

What it does and does not do

• Everything happens on your phone. Voice notes are private by nature and this one matters — most online converters upload your recording to a server you know nothing about.
• It makes the volume even, not perfect. A recording made in a noisy trotro stays a recording made in a noisy trotro.
• AMR files cannot be read. Older phones and some call recorders produce these and no browser can decode them.
• Converting is not transcription. It does not turn speech into text.

If something goes wrong

• "The sound could not be read." Try Chrome or Firefox on Android or a computer; some built-in phone browsers cannot decode OPUS.
• It is a video, not a voice note. Use get the audio out of a video.
• The MP3 is still too big to send. Choose the lower quality setting, which roughly halves it.