A modern delivery option

Opus can be useful for speech and music when your destination supports it. This export is lossy, so keep the WAV master. Check compatibility before converting a collection for a player that may only accept MP3 or AAC.

The resolved quality settings

The qualified path uses 128 kbps mono or 256 kbps stereo VBR, complexity 10 and 20 ms packets. It accepts admitted integer16/24 and float32 WAV. A 32-bit integer WAV is refused for this encoder instead of silently reducing its precision.

The 48 kHz policy is explicit

Opus output is 48 kHz. A matching-rate source bypasses resampling; a different admitted rate uses SoXR precision 28. That changes the sample grid, not the historical quality of the original recording. For example, a 44.1 kHz WAV needs a disclosed rate conversion; a 48 kHz WAV does not.

Check the actual output

The writer verifies Opus headers, packet granules, pre-skip, terminal padding and decoded frame count. The final file is compared with an equivalent native quality path in desktop tests. This is not a universal listening-quality guarantee. Read sample rate explained and the test evidence.