How to Convert SHN Files to MP3 in macOS

July 26, 2020 / By

You’ve downloaded some .shn files and realized that they won’t play on your MP3 player or phone – or that they’re really big and take up too much space. This guide will walk you through the steps to convert SHN to MP3 in macOS so that the files will play on any device, and the file sizes are much more manageable.

First things first, make sure you’ve downloaded and installed the latest version of XLD, which is completely free (open source), has been around forever and is still updated regularly (it works perfectly with macOS Catalina).

  1. Launch XLD from your Applications folder. If the Preferences don’t open automatically, select XLD from the Menu Bar and then Preferences… from the list. Click the Output format: menu to bring up all of the options.

    2. output formats in XLD

  2. Select LAME MP3

    3. selecting MP3 as the output format in XLD

  3. Now with the Output format: set to LAME MP3, click the Option button.

    4. the Options button in XLD

  4. From here you can change the quality settings for the resulting MP3s. The default settings are completely fine, but if you want to increase the quality (which will also increase the file size of the MP3s) – drag the ‘slider’ in the Target Quality area to the right. Click OK when you’re happy with the settings.

    5. encoding options to convert shn to mp3 in macOS

  5. Now select File and then Open…

    6. the Open menu in XLD

  6. Navigate to the .SNH files you want to convert to MP3, select them and then click the Open button.

    7. selecting SHN files to convert to MP3 in macOS

  7. XLD will immediately start to convert them. The process doesn’t take very long but will depend on the overall speed of your Mac (processor speed, amount of memory etc).

    8. the process of converting SHN to MP3 in macOS

  8. Once completed, the MP3 files will be in the same folder as the source SHN files.

    9. a Finder window with SHN and MP3 files

  9. That’s it! You have now completed the process to convert SHN to MP3 in macOS!

The Windows version of this guide can be found here – and if you have any questions about lossless audio, a good place to start is our Beginners Guide to Lossless Audio. Cheers!

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9 thoughts on “How to Convert SHN Files to MP3 in macOS”

  3. John Gerring

    Thanks for explaining how to get them pesky .shn files converted.Much appreciated.
    Cheers,John.

  6. lola

    This has been super helpful…there was an especially great show I attended years ago in college that I grabbed from archive.org and was clueless as to how to listen.

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