Converting WAV DTS to MP3

A WAV DTS file contains a multi-channel encoded digital format called DTS and has .wav as extention. Playing such a file in Zoomplayer or WinAmp typically produces a static sound. This is because a filter and/or decoder are not installed.

For Zoomplayer a filter can be installed (Gabest AC3), but a separate DTS decoder is still needed. Ffdshow contains such a decoder, but setting up this mapping in advanced options -> customized media playback -> source filters and splitters didn't help. Zoomplayer keeps displaying the "An ERROR has occured!" messagebox when trying to play the WAV DTS file.

Foobar2000 used to have an additional component, foo_dts.dll, that could be downloaded from the site, but it is no longer available. I was unable to find out why it is no longer supplied. After searching the internet I found a version of the library, but foobar2000 0.9.5 refused to load it, reporting that it was an outdated version.

A player that can play them out-of-the-box is VLC player. This player has a built-in filter and decoder to play WAV DTS files. It can also transcode files, e.g. to MP3 format, but when I use it on a WAV DTS file, the program terminates unexpectedly.

So, in the end, I was unable to find a "one-click" solution. Here is how I finally managed to convert a WAV DTS file into a MP3 file:

For the example, I use a WAV DTS file named c:\wavdts.wav

  1. Download BeSplit (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_software/audio_tools/besplit.cfm). I used version 0.9b6.2.
  2. Extract the zip file to c:\
  3. Start BeSliced.exe
  4. Drag and drop wavdts.wav onto the besliced canvas
  5. Select "DTS" when asked to select a format
    BeSplit is now ripping the DTS stream from the WAV DTS file.
    To use BeSplit without BeSliced, execute this command at the command prompt:
    BeSplit.exe -core( -input c:\wavdts.wav -fix -logfile C:\BeSliced.txt -type dtswav -output c:\wavdts_Fixed.dts ) -profile( BeSliced v0.3 )
    A file called c:\wavdts_Fixed.dts is created.
  6. Download DTSDec (http://www.rarewares.org/others.php). I used version 0.0.2.7.
  7. Extract the zip file to c:\
  8. Execute this command at the command prompt:
    dtsdec -o wav > regularwav.wav wavdts_Fixed.dts.
    DTSDec is now transcoding multi-channel DTS to a regular two-channel WAV file called regularwav.wav
  9. Use your favorite MP3 converting tools, e.g. AudioGrabber with LAME, to convert this WAV file to a MP3 file.

19 comments:

JerryKing said...

Your method for converting is too techie for me, so I played around and found that the program Audio/Video to Wav Converter, by 008software.com (not freeware, unfortunately) will convert DTS files to wav files, if you download and install the K-Lite Codec pack.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Frans, after a loooong search for converting DTSwav 2 2 channel wav I found your excellent solution. It's works perfect for me.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Hi Frans

Thanks a lot for the tips. They worked without any problems.

Michael

Anonymous said...

I've tried more than a few homegrown fixes to try and solve problems over the years with little if any success. I have to say though, THIS WORKS BRILLIANTLY. Many Thanks

Anonymous said...

hi
this one works.
Well i got some weird sound in the very beginning for a sec.Well its okei..
Thx for posting the soln in the blogs.

Anonymous said...

Thanks.

I've been searching for a such fixing tool for several weeks for now (wav->dts)

Anonymous said...

This works fantastic! Thanks for posting this link and info. I'm using it to convert my dts wave files into pure dts files to play on my media tank. Works great, thanks again.

Rob

Anonymous said...

Well said.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for pointing to dtsdec.exe. I've been searching and this solution works pefectly!

Anonymous said...

thanks,did the job nicely

Anonymous said...

Another way is using Winamp's Disk Writer plugin (can be found in the Output plugins list) which generates a wav file for you instead of playing the file.

Of course a DTS plugin for Winamp is needed, but that's not too hard to find..

Anonymous said...

Worked great for me. THANKS very much!!

Anonymous said...

With due respect to your solution, frans, here's an interesting "one-click solution" to what we all seek - converting WAV DTS to mp3 or to any playable format.

http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

And thank you for your informative blog. Keep it up.

Dindo

Mital said...

Works for me to.

Many thanks.
I converted excellent Love Songs with this.

You will definitely Love to listen of this Hindi Song. It was very hard for me to extract an MP3 to gift to my Love.

Thanks a lot.

Here is the link for the converted song...

http://www.esnips.com/nsdoc/1a1a212a-6983-449c-81a7-242a35493e5e/?action=forceDL

Anonymous said...

I've found that it works if you convert DTS to .flac and then to .mp3

Urhixidur said...

For the dts-to-wav part, you can create a .bat file (e.g. "dts_to_wav.bat") containing this line:

C:\Path_to\DTSdec\dtsdec.exe -o wav %~s1 1>"%~d1%~p1%~n1.wav"

Setting the path to dtsdec.exe properly, of course. Drop the .bat file somewhere in your path (I use C:\Windows\Batch for this kind of file) so you can invoke it from a command line, or just create a shortcut to it in a convenient spot.

This one-liner will convert any single DTS file dropped on it to a wav file in the same directory and with the same title.

Anonymous said...

I searched and searched and unless you wanted to pay $20 or more there was no solution that worked consistently - YOUR solution was simple and worked splendidly. Thank you!

Emily said...

The following will introduce a powerful DTS Converter as well as a step by step guide on how to convert DTS to other audio format at http://www.idealshare.net/dts-converter.html

This guide applies to:
Convert DTS audio to other audio formats like converting DTS to AC3, WAV, AAC, MP3, MP2, FLAC, AIFF, WMA, OGG, APE, M4A, AU and etc.
Convert video with DTS audio to video with AC3, AAC, MP2, PCM, or WMA audio like convert MKV DTS to MKV AC3/MP3/MP2/PCM, convert AVI DTS to AVI MP3, and etc.
Convert to DTS digital surround audio from WAV, AC3, FLAC, APE, PCM, AIFF, OGG, WMA, M4A, and Apple Lossless.
Convert video with non DTS audio codec to video with DTS codec files.

tanzir hossain said...

Thanks for the informative post. I was able to solve my problem. I could easily convert mp3 to wav. I learned a lot through this post, which was completely unknown. thank you