How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (2024)

Last Updated on November 15, 2021 by Jane Joe

CDA is a file extension of CD shortcut, which is used by Microsoft Windows to track the time and length of CDs. But CDA is not a real audio file as nothing is contained in the CDA file at all. If you insist on copying CDA files to media players to listen to music offline, you will fail doubtlessly.

Then is there any way to let you enjoy an audio CD on portable devices? The best way is to convert CDA to MP3 by extracting audio tracks from CDs. Here you can find the best CDA to MP3 converter to help you accomplish the mission easily.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (1)

  • Part 1. How to Convert CDA to MP3 with Best CDA to MP3 Converter
  • Part 2. How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 by Windows Media Player
  • Part 3. How to Convert CDA Files to MP3 on macOS with iTunes
  • Part 4. How to Convert a CDA File to MP3 for Free with FreeRIP MP3 Converter
  • Part 5. Small Tips about CDA File Type
  • Recommendation: Musify Music Downloader

Wondershare UniConverter is the best solution for converting CDA to MP3 with lossless conversion at 30 times faster speed than other software. It allows you to convert CD to MP3, M4A, and WAV files on Windows and Mac.

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How to Convert .cda to .mp3 in High Speed with Wondershare UniConverter

Step 1. Download and launch the program. Choose CD Ripper from the Toolbox option in the main interface.

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Step 2. Insert a CD into your device. Soon all the audio files would be presented in the interface. You can preview the .cda files by clicking on the Play icon before choosing the files to convert to MP3.

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Step 3. Select the MP3 from Output Format at the bottom of the window. Then determine the output folder and click the Rip CD button to start the conversion process.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (4)

Wondershare UniConverter is the ultimate video converter that can not only help you to convert .cda files to mp3 files but also convert to WMA, WAV, FLAC, OGG, and more formats. It would be the best and most professional way to deal with your CDA files.

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Part 2. How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 by Windows Media Player

If you try to turn the CDA file to mp3 on Windows 10, you can choose the default program Windows Media Player, which can do a similar CD ripping job. And if you tick Rip CD automatically in Rip settings during CDA file conversion, all your CDs will be detected and converted into the MP3 audio format for free. Besides, Windows Media Player has an audio quality adjustable slider, with which to change bitrate customizable.

How to convert CDA files to MP3 using Windows Media Player

Step 1: Run Windows Media Player, and click Tools in the toolbar on the top.

Step 2: Choose Options, to turn to Rip Music menu within Options window.

Step 3: Open the Rip music tab and the converted audio discs will be saved on Rip music to this location. Select MP3 and move the Audio quality slider under Rip settings. Tap Apply and OK in order.

Step 4: Insert the audio CD, and then find the Rip CD option on the top. Select Do not copyright protection to your music and tick the terms. Click OK to start the process.

Wait few seconds to convert CDA to MP3 with Windows Media Player automatically. Also, do not forget to tick Eject CD after ripping under Rip settings as soon as CDs extraction is finished.

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The Windows Media Player conversion process would be a little complicated. If you do not want to get any messy operation and get lots of CD for extraction, this would not be the best option.

Part 3. How to Convert CDA Files to MP3 on macOS with iTunes

iTunes is the free audio converter and media player, developed by Apple, to satisfy the demands of music management. No additional charges for audio file transform, and you can transfer converted CDA to MP3 audio file to portable devices by the way. So it is a nice idea to convert CDA to MP3 free with iTunes, especially on the Mac computer.

How to rip CDA to MP3 audio in iTunes on macOS

Step 1: Insert an audio CD into the computer’s disc drive, and run iTunes, which will detect CD automatically. If you are using Mac, you may need an external CD reader.

Step 2: When you see the dialog to verify whether to import the CD, tap Yes to move on.

Step 3: Choose songs you want to convert to MP3, right-click to select Create MP3 Version. If you do not see this option, you need to follow this instruction: Edit (Windows) or iTunes (Mac) > Preference > Import Settings... > Import Using in drop-down box > MP3 Encoder > Click OK > Click OK to return to the page.

Later, your converted MP3 songs can be seen in Music Library. And no matter you transfer the music to iPhone, iPad, or iPod or listen in iTunes directly, it would be easy to operate after .cda to .mp3 conversion.

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Part 4. How to Convert a CDA File to MP3 for Free with FreeRIP MP3 Converter

If you want to extract audio tracks from an Audio CD and convert CDA files to MP3, then FreeRIP would be your good choice. This FreeRIP can be a CD Burner and audio converter which has a basic version and pro version. For simple conversion, you can just use its basic version to help you extract audio tracks from CD to MP3 or other audio formats like WAV, WMA, FLAC, and OGG Vorbis.

How to convert .cda to .mp3 via FreeRIP Free CDA to MP3 Converter

Step 1: Put an audio CD into your computer and start FreeRIP. Here the FreeRIP can show your CD information including artist, album, titles, year, etc. which can be edited.

Step 2: Check the tracks you want to rip and click Rip Selected Tracks To Default Format button. Then you can see a new window pop up to show you the progress. When it is finished, you see the Done message.

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You can find your new MP3 files on the desktop in a folder named after the band or artist. If you want to convert a format, like MP3 frequently, you can set it as default, and then you can easily convert .cda to.mp3 for free by choosing Rip to... in the Rip menu.

Part 5. Small Tips about CDA File Type

What Type of Files is a CDA?

A CD Audio Track or .cda file is a small virtual file generated by Microsoft Windows for each audio track on a standard "Red Book" CD-DA format audio CD as defined by the Table of Contents.

The .cda files do not contain the actual PCM sound wave data to tell where on the disc each track starts and stops. Some audio editing and CD creation programs will load .cda file as though they are actual audio data files.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (8)

How to play .cda files on Windows 10?

If you are using Windows 10 computer, you can click on the CDA file when you are in the disc file area. Then the CDA file will be played in WMP (Windows Media Player). Or you can convert from CDA to mp3, WAV, or other file formats which can be compatible with most of the player software and portable devices by using Windows Media Player or the best CDA to MP3 converter mentioned above.

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Recommendation: Musify Music Downloader

WidsMob Converter is a powerful program that can convert video or audio to any format like MP3, FLV, AVI, MKV, OGG, AAC, MP4, WMV, FLAC, WAV, MOV, etc. You can use this program to edit video and audio, such as crop video, convert the video from 2D to 3D, rotate video, clip video, adjust video effect, add watermark to video, etc. before converting to MP3.

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Step 1. Install Musify Music Downloader on your computer by clicking the above downloading button. Then launch it and click Add Files to upload video files to this program.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (9)

Step 2. Click Profile to select MP3 as the output format. You can also choose any other popular format you like as the output format since this program supports nearly 300 formats.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (10)

Step 3. After choosing the output format, you can click Convert to start converting downloaded videos to MP3. You may need to wait a few seconds for the conversion from videos to MP3.

How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (11) Win Download Mac Download

Conclusion

In this article, we introduce 4 easy ways for you to convert CDA to MP3 Easily and Freely on Windows and Mac. If you have lots of CD to rip and want the best solution, Wondershare UniConvert would be your best choice to convert a .cda file to .mp3. If you just want to rip a few CDs, you can use the default software on Windows and Mac. Hope you can find a suitable way to help you extract the .cda file to MP3 audio according to your need from this article.

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How to Convert CDA to MP3 on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS for Free (2024)
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