Convert WAV to MP3
Drop a WAV and download an MP3 encoded at 192 kbps. Sample rate and channel count carry through, so the only change is how the audio is stored.
This is the conversion for sending a recording somewhere size-constrained: an email attachment, a podcast host, a CMS upload field, or a phone with limited storage.
What 192 kbps costs
MP3 spends its bit budget on the parts of the signal the model expects you to notice and discards the rest. At 192 kbps most listeners cannot pick the MP3 out against the WAV on ordinary playback gear, and the file shrinks by roughly a factor of 7.
Cymbals, applause, and dense reverb are where the losses show first. If a specific passage sounds smeared, raise the bitrate in the full Audio Converter rather than converting twice.
Keep the WAV
Encode from the WAV every time you need a new MP3. Editing an MP3 and re-exporting it stacks a second round of losses on the first, and the damage accumulates with each pass.