Free online HES to WAV converter

HES files contain game music that ordinary audio editors and many media players cannot open directly. Converting one to WAV renders the music as audio for editing, playback, or use in software that accepts WAV.

What the HES format is

HES is a chiptune music format associated with PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 games. It stores music data for emulation rather than a recording of the sound; HES files are commonly extracted from game data and played by compatible game-music players such as those using Game Music Emu.

What the WAV format is

WAV is a container commonly used for uncompressed PCM audio. It is widely supported by audio editors and playback software, making it useful when you need to edit or exchange a rendered soundtrack; its uncompressed audio generally takes more space than compressed formats.

How to convert HES to WAV

Online on 101convert.com

1. Upload the HES file on the converter page. You can add several files for batch conversion; the per-file size limit is shown on the page.
2. Choose the sample rate and channel count before converting.
3. Start the conversion, then download the WAV file or files. The conversion runs on the site’s server with FFmpeg.

Offline with desktop software

FFmpeg is a free, cross-platform option if your build includes the libgme library and HES input support. Run:

ffmpeg -i input.hes -t 180 -c:a pcm_s16le -ar 44100 -ac 2 output.wav

This renders up to 180 seconds as 44.1 kHz, 16-bit PCM stereo. Change 180 to the desired duration in seconds and adjust the sample rate or channel count as needed. FFmpeg builds without libgme support cannot read HES files.

On Windows, foobar2000 can open HES files with the Game Emu Player component. Install the component, open the file, select the track, then use Convert → … and choose WAV as the output format.

Quality and limitations

WAV conversion captures the sound produced by the emulator; it does not turn the original game-music data into a studio recording. A higher WAV sample rate does not add detail absent from the emulated source. HES music may have multiple tracks or no clearly defined ending, so select the intended track and set a suitable render duration when needed.