SHN to W64 Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
Shorten and Sony Wave64 exist for different jobs: SHN (Shorten) is the granddaddy of lossless audio — the format of every live-concert trade archive from the 1990s. Convert W64 recordings to WAV or FLAC for standard editors.
Because the whole conversion happens on your device, it is instant, unlimited and genuinely private — no accounts, no watermarks, no files on anyone's server. Multiple files are converted in one go.
How SHN compares to W64
| SHN | W64 | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Fixed 32KB frames, minimal header | RIFF64 (sony w64 header) |
| Types / schema | Lossless, 16-bit PCM | PCM, any bit depth WAV supports |
| Compatibility | ffmpeg, shorten, etree tooling | Sony Vegas, ffmpeg, Sound Forge |
| Best for | Concert trade archives | Long-duration uncompressed sessions |
How to convert SHN to W64
- 1
Select your files
Drag & drop your SHN files onto the area above, or click to browse. You can add multiple files at once for batch conversion.
- 2
Convert instantly
Click "Convert to W64". The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly — no upload, no queue, no waiting.
- 3
Download results
Download each converted W64 file individually, or grab everything at once as a ZIP archive.
About the SHN format
Shorten (SHN) is the 1993 lossless codec that made live-music trading possible: etree.org and the tape-trading community distributed entire concert recordings as SHN before FLAC existed. Its 32KB fixed frames and minimal header made it robust on FTP, its native habitat.
Converting SHN to FLAC is the standard modernization — sample-identical output, proper tags finally possible, and seeking that does not require decoding from the start of the file.
+ Strengths
- ✓Foundational live-music archive format
- ✓Extremely simple and stable
- ✓Decodes losslessly via ffmpeg
! Limitations
- −No seeking support
- −No tagging
- −16-bit PCM only
About the W64 format
W64 is Sony's Wave64 — what happens when WAV's 32-bit size fields run out of road. A RIFF variant with 64-bit offsets, it shrugs off the 4 GB ceiling that makes plain WAV choke, which is why long field-recording sessions and Sony Vegas projects land in W64.
Inside, it is the same uncompressed PCM as WAV — ffmpeg hands W64 to WAV, FLAC or MP3 without touching a single sample, so conversion is purely about container compatibility.
+ Strengths
- ✓No 4 GB size ceiling — hours-long recordings
- ✓Bit-exact PCM, same as WAV inside
- ✓Standard in Sony Vegas workflows
! Limitations
- −Almost nothing outside Sony tools opens it
- −Uncompressed — very large files
- −Legacy niche — new tools prefer RF64
Why convert SHN to W64?
There is a concrete reason this conversion exists: No seeking support W64 sidesteps that — No 4 GB size ceiling — hours-long recordings If that is your situation, the tool above settles it in seconds, entirely on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this SHN to W64 converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Is there a file size limit for SHN to W64?
The only limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded. Files up to a few hundred megabytes work fine on a modern desktop browser; very large files simply take a little longer.
Can I convert a whole folder of SHN files?
You can select many files at once and they are processed in a single batch. Output files land in one ZIP download when there is more than one result.
Will converting SHN to W64 reduce audio quality?
If W64 is lossless, the output contains everything the SHN file contains — no further loss is added. If W64 is lossy, one recompression pass is unavoidable; the quality slider controls how much. Loss that already happened in the source file can never be undone by converting.