WMA to TAR.XZ Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
Windows Media Audio and XZ-compressed Tar exist for different jobs: WMA is Microsoft’s Windows Media audio format, still found in old music collections and voice recorders. Produce a TAR.XZ for the smallest possible release artifact, or to match the format a build system expects.
This converter runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly — your files never leave your device, nothing is uploaded, and there are no watermarks, sign-ups or queues. Drop in several files at once to convert them as a batch.
How WMA compares to TAR.XZ
| WMA | TAR.XZ | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy + Lossless variants | XZ / LZMA2 |
| Quality | Respectable for its era | Lossless, deterministic |
| Best for | Legacy Windows libraries | Source releases, Linux packages |
How to convert WMA to TAR.XZ
- 1
Select your files
Select your WMA file — it never leaves your device.
- 2
Convert instantly
The engine packs the file, byte for byte, into a TAR.XZ container — no re-encoding, no quality change.
- 3
Download results
Download the finished TAR.XZ archive.
About the WMA format
WMA (Windows Media Audio) is Microsoft's MP3 competitor from 1999, best known for DRM-protected download stores in the 2000s. The family spans standard lossy WMA, WMA Pro (up to 24-bit/96 kHz) and WMA Lossless. On Windows it integrated seamlessly; everywhere else it required goodwill.
With Microsoft's own services having moved to AAC, WMA today is a conversion source: old music libraries and ripped CDs get converted to MP3/M4A/FLAC and the format is retired. WMA Lossless files should go to FLAC to preserve their losslessness.
+Strengths
- ✓Native Windows playback and tagging
- ✓WMA Lossless preserves bit-perfect audio
!Limitations
- −Non-Windows support is poor
- −Ecosystem abandoned by its creator
- −DRM-legacy files may be unplayable
About the TAR.XZ format
TAR.XZ pairs the tar container with XZ (LZMA2) compression — the highest-ratio member of the tar family and the de-facto release format of modern Linux distributions. The same source tree that lands 5% smaller than TAR.BZ2 and 20% smaller than TAR.GZ is why kernel.org and GNU mirrors standardised on it.
The trade is CPU time: XZ compresses slow (dictionary sizes up to 64 MB) but decompresses fast, which makes it ideal for one-time releases that get downloaded millions of times. When you need speed instead, TAR.GZ or TAR.ZSTD are the neighbouring picks.
+Strengths
- ✓Best compression ratio of the tar family
- ✓Standard release artifact of Linux distros
- ✓Fast decompression despite slow compression
!Limitations
- −Compression is CPU-heavy and single-threaded by default
- −Larger toolchain footprint than gzip on tiny systems
Why convert WMA to TAR.XZ?
Think of it as moving your file to the container that fits the job. Non-Windows support is poor TAR.XZ works differently: Best compression ratio of the tar family If any of that sounds like your task, run the conversion — it takes seconds and nothing leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this WMA to TAR.XZ 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 WMA to TAR.XZ?
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.
Will converting WMA to TAR.XZ reduce audio quality?
If TAR.XZ is lossless, the output contains everything the WMA file contains — no further loss is added. If TAR.XZ 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.
Can I convert a whole folder of WMA 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.