The ultimate goal of audio converter software is to transform a given audio file in "x" format into another one. Possibilities to convert an audio file to a different output are as varied as the music genres you can imagine, although not only music but also voice and any other audible recording are subject to conversion.

Audio converter programs often are multi-platform, which means that a single application will run under different operating systems accordingly. These programs can also handle multiple file formats both-ways, one-in-one format or one-way conversions.

As new audio applications are developed, the programs that handle singles files are every day fewer, like those older programs that only converted MIDI files to WAV, as an example.

Today, an audio converter program can convert a MIDI file into a large array of audio formats including WAV, AU, MP3, WMA, AIFF, SND, Real Audio, OGG, AC3 and many more. However, most applications support multiple formats that empower you with the ability to convert audio files from and to different formats altogether.

Some audio formats codecs for conversion include: AAC, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 ACELP ADPCM ADX AIFF AMBE AMR AMR-WB /AMR-WB+ Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ARDOR ATRAC CELP CVSD Dolby Digital (A/52, AC3) Dolby TrueHD DSS DST DTS Coherent Acoustics (Digital Theatre System Coherent Acoustics) DTS-HD Master Audio EVRC FLAC GSM codecs HD DVD HE-AAC HILN-MPEG-4 HVXC Internet Low Bit Rate Codec (iLBC) Internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC) LA layer-1 (MP1 Audio) layer-2 (MP2 - MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5) layer-3 (MP3 - MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5) LPAC LPCM LTAC MLP/PPCM Monkey's Audio (APE) MPEG-4 ALS MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 ALS) Musepack OptimFROG (OFR) PAM QCELP RCELP RealAudio RIFF RK Audio Shorten (SHN) SMV Speex True Audio (TTA) TwinVQ Vorbis VSELP WAV WavPack Windows Media Audio (WMA)

Some popular audio converter programs include: Audio Converter, including a command-line tool and support for a large number of audio sources, with CD ripping ability Switch Sound File Conversion Software, converts audio files either in Windows or Mac systems. Audio File Format Converter and CD Audio Grabber is a multipurpose application that handles 16 audio formats, batch conversion, and CD burning. Blaze Media Pro, all-in-one audio and video converter for multiple formats, with editing capability and burning features. River Past Audio Converter, extracts and converts audio files into almost any existing audio format.

Some of the newer audio converter applications include support for VoIP, iPod, and GSM mobile device formats either working within their same environment or converting these custom files into desktop computer readable files.