Convert FSB to OGG

Game sound banks often need to be converted when an audio editor, modding tool, player, or game engine accepts Ogg Vorbis but cannot open the original bank. Decoding the bank produces individual tracks that can be edited, shared, or imported in a standard audio format.

What FSB stores

FSB usually means FMOD Sample Bank, a container format created for FMOD-based games and interactive applications. One .fsb file can hold one or many sound streams, such as music, voice lines, and effects.

FSB originated in older FMOD and FSBank workflows; current FMOD Studio projects normally deploy .bank files instead. FSB3, FSB4, and FSB5 banks can contain PCM, ADPCM, MP3, Vorbis, CELT, or platform-specific codecs, so an FSB file is not necessarily directly playable as ordinary audio.

Some banks are encrypted, use an unsupported codec, or require related game files to decode correctly. Keep the original .fsb file, especially when extracting assets from a game installation or modding project.

What OGG usually means

OGG is an open multimedia container maintained by Xiph.Org. In audio workflows, an .ogg file usually contains Ogg Vorbis audio, although Ogg can also carry codecs such as Opus or FLAC.

Vorbis is lossy compression: it produces much smaller files than WAV while retaining good quality at moderate settings. Select Ogg Vorbis when the receiving application explicitly requests OGG or Vorbis; an application that accepts .ogg files does not necessarily support Ogg Opus or multichannel Vorbis.

Decode an FSB bank and encode Ogg Vorbis

vgmstream is the preferred decoder for game-audio FSB files because it supports many FMOD versions and embedded codecs. Decode to WAV first, then encode the WAV with FFmpeg or the vorbis-tools encoder.

1. Install vgmstream-cli and FFmpeg from their official project releases or a trusted package manager.
2. Inspect the bank with vgmstream-cli -m game_audio.fsb. Check the detected codec, sample rate, channel count, and stream count.
3. Decode the first stream as one non-looping pass:
   vgmstream-cli -L -o track_01.wav game_audio.fsb
4. For a bank with multiple streams, decode each subsong separately. Subsong numbering is normally one-based:
   vgmstream-cli -s 2 -L -o track_02.wav game_audio.fsb
5. Encode each WAV as Ogg Vorbis:
   ffmpeg -i track_01.wav -c:a libvorbis -q:a 6 track_01.ogg
6. Open the resulting .ogg file in the destination application before deleting any extracted files.

FFmpeg quality -q:a 6 is a reasonable general-purpose Vorbis setting. Lower values reduce file size; higher values increase bitrate and file size. If the installed FFmpeg build lacks libvorbis, use oggenc -q 6 -o track_01.ogg track_01.wav from vorbis-tools instead.

The vgmstream component for foobar2000 can be useful for browsing and playing supported FSB streams on Windows, but command-line decoding gives explicit control over subsongs and loop rendering.

General online converters are not recommended for FSB files. Reputable conversion services rarely document support for the required FSB version and embedded codec, and uploading game assets can expose copyrighted or confidential files.

Quality and compatibility limits

If the bank already contains MP3, Vorbis, or other lossy audio, encoding the decoded result as Vorbis adds another lossy generation. Retain the original FSB and keep WAV or FLAC copies for editing or archival; create OGG copies only where Vorbis is required.

Do not change sample rate, channel count, or bit depth unless the destination specifies a requirement. Downmixing surround audio to stereo permanently changes the mix, and older devices or engines may accept only mono or stereo Vorbis.

Games often apply loop points outside the audio stream. The -L option prevents vgmstream from rendering repeated loops, but the resulting OGG will not automatically reproduce FMOD loop behavior in ordinary players. Test the exported duration and add trimming, looping metadata, or fades only if the target application supports them.