We continue the series of articles about converting audio compressed by voice codecs. We have already considered converting AMR, GSM and QCP files, now it is the turn of the AWB format, also known as G.722.2. The AWB compression format was developed as an improvement on the earlier AMR codec, providing significantly better sound quality and support for stereo mode. Its full name stands for Adaptive Multi-Rate WideBand (AMR-WB). In addition to transmitting voice in mobile networks, this format is used in dictaphones, audio books, voice mail and ringtones on old mobile phones.
1 Reasons to convert
The main problem with AWB was its late introduction. Despite the fact that it appeared two years later than AMR, its real use started when the first iPhone was already on the market. Until then, it was common only on dying Nokia platforms.
On iOS platform support of AMR and AWB formats is discontinued since version 4.3. According to Android developer documentation, the AWV codec is used in 3GP format files, or raw files with the .amr extension. Other plaftorms use the .awb file extension. My article about playing AMR files in Windows was published a long time ago, but I received some feedback that not all AMR files are correctly recognized. The reason is exactly that, because AMR-NB and AMR-WB formats are not backward compatible, and the file extension is the same.
2 Optimal way to Convert AWB to MP3
Audio Converter Plus is a fast and reliable tool for converting AWB to MP3 on Windows platform. It supports most speech codecs used in IP telephony and allows you to export audio recordings to more familiar formats such as MP3 or WAV. Since we mentioned MP3 format at the beginning of this article, this guide will show you the detailed steps to convert AWB to this format using this converter.
Step 1: Download and install the program for free
You can download the trial version of the converter for free from the link above from the official website. After the installation is complete, launch the program to see the main window. Before you get started, I recommend opening the program settings and adjusting the performance. Never choose the number of conversion threads more than the number of cores in your processor. It's best to leave two cores free for system processes.
Step 2: Add AWB audio fileAfter opening the main interface of this AWB to MP3 Converter program, you will see the "Add Files" button on the toolbar. You can add the AWB audio files you want to convert one by one to the program, or choose the "Add Folder" option to load multiple audio files into the program at the same time. Apart from that, you can simply drag and drop audio files to the main window of the program.
Step 3: Select the output formatThen you can click the "Output Format" arrow to open the drop-down menu , which will show all the supported formats, and you can select "MP3" as the output format.
Step 4: Customize the format settingsTo customize the output format, you can open the "Codec Options" window and start customizing audio parameters such as sample rate, channels and audio bitrate. Don't choose too high parameters, as the bitrate of the AWB file is less than 13kbs and the sampling rate is 16000Hz. If you are not sure what version of the file you have, select "Auto" in the codec settings.
Step 5: Convert AWB to MP3After adding all the audio files and adjusting all the parameters, you can click the "Convert" button. This will start batch converting all AWB to MP3 with the same settings. The progress window displays all possible errors that occur during the conversion, but you can examine them when everything is ready.
3 Online method to convert AMR-WB to MP3
We have already mentioned the Convertio online service many times. Its free access level is enough for one-time conversion. If you have more than ten files, you will need a paid subscription. Don't be scared that AWB format is not in the list of supported formats, here it is located under the more general name AMR.
Step 1: Go to Convertio's AMR to MP3 Converter website.
Step 2: Click Choose Files and select the desired AMR files to download. You can upload multiple files as long as their total size does not exceed the limit.
Step 3: Click the Convert button and wait for the conversion to complete.
Step 4: Click Download button to save the converted file on your device.
4 Final words
Converting AMR to MP3 format is the most convenient way to export audio from telecom software. In this form, the audio can be listened to on all modern platforms. With the methods presented here, you will find that the conversion is easy and free of charge. Of course, there are other tools you can try, and if you find a better way, please feel free to share it with me. I hope this guide will be useful for you. Thanks for reading.