Audio Convert API
Transcodes an audio file between WAV, MP3, FLAC, AAC and Opus, with an optional bit rate and sample rate.
- Endpoint
POST /v1/audio-convert- Price
- $0.003 per call
- Family
- Audio & video
01When to use it
- Re-encoding audio needs ffmpeg AND a hardened fetch: an agent that pulls the URL itself walks past every SSRF control, and carrying an ffmpeg per call is not something an agent does inline.
- Your source is AIFF, AVI, FLAC, MKV, MP3, MP4, Ogg or WAV and you need AAC, FLAC, MP3, Opus or WAV.
When not to use it
- The input is over 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes) or longer than 60 min (3,600 s): audio-convert answers too_large (413).
- The destination needs more than 94 s to answer: the call ends with upstream_timeout (424).
- The destination is on a private or local network: the network guard refuses it with blocked_target (403).
Input rules the schema does not show
- With to set to aac, bitrate_kbps is at most 192; a higher value is refused with invalid_input (400).
02Parameters
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| url | string | yes | Absolute http(s) URL of the source file, up to 2048 characters; the first audio stream of a recognised container (MP4/MOV, Matroska/WebM, AVI, Ogg, WAV, FLAC, AIFF or MP3) is converted, and it must last at most 3600 seconds. |
| to | string | no | Output format: wav (16-bit PCM), mp3 (LAME), flac, aac (ADTS stream) or opus (in an Ogg container); defaults to mp3. One of: "wav", "mp3", "flac", "aac", "opus". Default: "mp3". |
| bitrate_kbps | integer | no | Target bit rate in kbps, lossy formats only (mp3, aac, opus): 8 to 512, and at most 192 for aac. |
| sample_rate | integer | no | Output sample rate in Hz, one of 8000, 11025, 16000, 22050, 32000, 44100 or 48000; when omitted ffmpeg chooses the rate, normally the source rate. |
03Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Largest source file | 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes) |
| Longest input | 60 min (3,600 s) |
| Timeout | 94 s |
| Source formats | AIFF, AVI, FLAC, MKV, MP3, MP4, Ogg, WAV |
| Output formats | AAC, FLAC, MP3, Opus, WAV |
04Example
The published example of audio-convert, verbatim: the request body and the response it returns.
POST /v1/audio-convert
content-type: application/json
payment-signature: <base64 x402 payload>
{
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac",
"to": "wav"
}200 OK
payment-response: <base64 settlement receipt>
{
"source_url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac",
"bytes": 32086,
"source_container": "flac",
"format": "wav",
"bitrate_kbps": null,
"sample_rate": null,
"audio_bytes": 32044,
"audio_base64": "UklGRiR9AABXQVZFZm10IBAAAAABAAEAQB8AAIA+AAACABAAZGF0YQB9AAAA4ADo..."
}Sample file: av/convert-beeps.flac. Two-second mono 16-bit FLAC at 8 kHz holding the same three rising 500 Hz beeps as waveform-beeps.wav, written with uncompressed verbatim subframes by a TypeScript generator.
In the sample itself: its 34-byte STREAMINFO block, in its own field order, declares blocks of 4,096 samples, no largest frame size, 8,000 Hz, 1 channel, 16 bits per sample and 16,000 samples in total. In the returned file: the RIFF header counts 32,036 bytes after itself, and the fmt chunk, in its own field order, declares audio format 1 (integer PCM), 1 channel, 8,000 Hz, 16,000 bytes per second, a block align of 2 bytes and 16 bits per sample. The data chunk right after it holds 32,000 bytes of samples, 2 s at that rate.
| Response field | Type | In the example |
|---|---|---|
| source_url | string | "https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac" |
| bytes | number | 32086 |
| source_container | string | "flac" |
| format | string | "wav" |
| bitrate_kbps | null | null |
| sample_rate | null | null |
| audio_bytes | number | 32044 |
| audio_base64 | string | a string of 67 characters |
05Call it from code
// audio-convert: $0.003 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
// Install: npm install @x402/fetch@2 @x402/evm@2 viem@2
// Save as client.mjs (ES module, Node 18+), export EVM_PRIVATE_KEY with the paying wallet's key in your shell, then run: node client.mjs
// The wrapper reads the 402 (payment-required), signs and retries with payment-signature.
import { wrapFetchWithPayment, x402Client, decodePaymentResponseHeader } from '@x402/fetch'
import { ExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm/exact/client'
import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts'
const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY)
const client = new x402Client().register('eip155:8453', new ExactEvmScheme(account))
const fetchWithPayment = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client)
const body = {
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac",
"to": "wav"
}
const res = await fetchWithPayment('https://grist.tools/v1/audio-convert', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify(body),
})
console.log(res.status, await res.json())
const settle = res.headers.get('payment-response')
if (settle) console.log(decodePaymentResponseHeader(settle).transaction)# audio-convert: $0.003 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
# Install: pip install "x402[requests,evm]>=2.24,<3"
# The session reads the 402 (payment-required), signs and retries with payment-signature.
import os
from eth_account import Account
from x402 import x402ClientSync
from x402.http import decode_payment_response_header
from x402.http.clients.requests import x402_requests
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact import register_exact_evm_client
from x402.mechanisms.evm.signers import EthAccountSigner
account = Account.from_key(os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])
client = x402ClientSync()
register_exact_evm_client(client, EthAccountSigner(account), networks="eip155:8453")
session = x402_requests(client)
payload = {
"url": "https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac",
"to": "wav"
}
res = session.post("https://grist.tools/v1/audio-convert", json=payload)
print(res.status_code, res.json())
settle = res.headers.get("payment-response")
if settle:
print(decode_payment_response_header(settle).transaction)# audio-convert: $0.003 per call, paid in USD Coin on eip155:8453 via x402
# 1. Unpaid call: HTTP 402, the requirements in the payment-required header (base64 JSON) and in the body.
curl -i -X POST 'https://grist.tools/v1/audio-convert' -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"url":"https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac","to":"wav"}'
# 2. Same call with the signed payment (an EIP-3009 authorization, EIP-712 signed: it cannot be
# typed by hand). x-payment is accepted as the v1 alternative. HTTP 200 carries payment-response.
curl -i -X POST 'https://grist.tools/v1/audio-convert' -H 'content-type: application/json' -H 'payment-signature: <base64 x402 payload>' -d '{"url":"https://grist.tools/samples/av/convert-beeps.flac","to":"wav"}'06Errors
| Code | HTTP | For this service |
|---|---|---|
| invalid_input | 400 | The body does not match the schema; its fields are url, to, bitrate_kbps and sample_rate. |
| blocked_target | 403 | |
| unreachable_target | 424 | |
| upstream_timeout | 424 | |
| unsupported_content_type | 415 | The source is not a type audio-convert reads; it reads AIFF, AVI, FLAC, MKV, MP3, MP4, Ogg and WAV. |
| too_large | 413 | |
| unprocessable | 422 | |
| internal | 500 |
Input that is rejected before the tool runs (malformed JSON, schema mismatch, body over the size limit) is never charged.
When each code is raised, and what it means for payment: /docs/audio-convert.
07Conversions
| Conversion | Recorded sample | Source size | Output size |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIFF to AAC | av/pair-tone.aiff | 46.9 KB | 6.7 KB |
| AIFF to FLAC | av/pair-tone.aiff | 46.9 KB | 15.3 KB |
| AIFF to MP3 | av/pair-tone.aiff | 46.9 KB | 3.1 KB |
| AIFF to Opus | av/pair-tone.aiff | 46.9 KB | 20 KB |
| AIFF to WAV | av/pair-tone.aiff | 46.9 KB | 46.9 KB |
| AVI to AAC | av/pair-clip.avi | 74.5 KB | 10.9 KB |
| AVI to FLAC | av/pair-clip.avi | 74.5 KB | 16.2 KB |
| AVI to MP3 | av/pair-clip.avi | 74.5 KB | 4.1 KB |
| AVI to Opus | av/pair-clip.avi | 74.5 KB | 33 KB |
| AVI to WAV | av/pair-clip.avi | 74.5 KB | 62.5 KB |
| FLAC to AAC | av/convert-beeps.flac | 31.3 KB | 5.1 KB |
| FLAC to MP3 | av/convert-beeps.flac | 31.3 KB | 2.1 KB |
| FLAC to Opus | av/convert-beeps.flac | 31.3 KB | 16.7 KB |
| FLAC to WAV | av/convert-beeps.flac | 31.3 KB | 31.3 KB |
| MKV to AAC | av/pair-clip.mkv | 10.3 KB | 10.9 KB |
| MKV to FLAC | av/pair-clip.mkv | 10.3 KB | 16.2 KB |
| MKV to MP3 | av/pair-clip.mkv | 10.3 KB | 4.1 KB |
| MKV to Opus | av/pair-clip.mkv | 10.3 KB | 33 KB |
| MKV to WAV | av/pair-clip.mkv | 10.3 KB | 62.5 KB |
| MP3 to AAC | av/pair-tone.mp3 | 12.7 KB | 10 KB |
| MP3 to FLAC | av/pair-tone.mp3 | 12.7 KB | 42 KB |
| MP3 to Opus | av/pair-tone.mp3 | 12.7 KB | 26.5 KB |
| MP3 to WAV | av/pair-tone.mp3 | 12.7 KB | 46.9 KB |
| MP4 to AAC | av/pair-clip.mp4 | 11 KB | 10.9 KB |
| MP4 to FLAC | av/pair-clip.mp4 | 11 KB | 16.2 KB |
| MP4 to MP3 | av/pair-clip.mp4 | 11 KB | 4.1 KB |
| MP4 to Opus | av/pair-clip.mp4 | 11 KB | 33 KB |
| MP4 to WAV | av/pair-clip.mp4 | 11 KB | 62.5 KB |
| Ogg to AAC | av/pair-clip.ogg | 12.3 KB | 10.9 KB |
| Ogg to FLAC | av/pair-clip.ogg | 12.3 KB | 16.2 KB |
| Ogg to MP3 | av/pair-clip.ogg | 12.3 KB | 4.1 KB |
| Ogg to Opus | av/pair-clip.ogg | 12.3 KB | 33 KB |
| Ogg to WAV | av/pair-clip.ogg | 12.3 KB | 62.5 KB |
| WAV to AAC | av/waveform-beeps.wav | 31.3 KB | 5.1 KB |
| WAV to FLAC | av/waveform-beeps.wav | 31.3 KB | 13.8 KB |
| WAV to MP3 | av/waveform-beeps.wav | 31.3 KB | 2.1 KB |
| WAV to Opus | av/waveform-beeps.wav | 31.3 KB | 16.7 KB |
08Questions
- How much does a audio-convert call cost?
- $0.003 per call, paid in USDC on Base via x402, with no account and no API key.
- What does audio-convert return?
- A JSON object with 8 top-level fields: source_url, bytes, source_container, format, bitrate_kbps, sample_rate, audio_bytes and audio_base64. The example on this page is a real call over av/convert-beeps.flac.
- What happens when a audio-convert call fails?
- The tool answers with a typed JSON error from the errors table. Payment is settled only after the tool has produced its result; a call that fails inside the tool is never settled. A 503 upstream_unavailable can follow a settled call; the x402 payments guide covers it, 429, 402 and an uncertain 500.