Audacity Forum

Hi all,
I have m4a music files I would like to convert to wav, to play off an SD card on a TASCAM media player.
The m4a files are at 44.1mHz and 16bit. Is my best bet to keep those settings for the wav file, or is there any advantage or consequence to increasing either or both to 48mHz or 24bit when creating the wav? I understand I can't really improve the m4a, but what would make the best copy? File size is not a concern, jst the sound quality.
Greatly appreciate you thoughts...thank you!

pelikanyo wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 4:41 pm

Is my best bet to keep those settings for the wav file

Yes.
If you use Audacity to do the conversion, leave everything at default settings and then it's simply:

1. Import the M4A file
2. "File menu > Export as WAv"

The m4a files are at 44.1mHz and 16bit.

That's kHz. And M4A (and MP3, etc.) doesn't have a bit-depth.

"CD quality" (16-bits/44.1kHz) is better than human hearing, and potentially better than M4A which is lossy compression (although M4A can often be better than human hearing too) so 16-bits should be good enough.

So the most obvious difference with 24-bits is a file that's 50% bigger (when you're dealing with uncompressed files). Upscaling to 48kHz also won't gain anything except again a proportionally larger file.