Exporting a Furnace Tracker song to WAV takes about 30 seconds once you know where to look. Open the File menu, pick Export Audio, and Furnace renders your song as a standard uncompressed .wav file you can drop into a game engine, share online, or import into a DAW.
I’ve been exporting tracks from Furnace since version 0.5, and the workflow has stayed almost identical across every release. This guide walks through the exact process I use, breaks down every export setting, and covers the most common questions beginners run into when they first try to export their chiptune songs.
IN THIS ENTRYTable of Contents
- 1How to Export a Furnace Tracker Song to WAV: Step-by-Step
- 2Understanding WAV Export Settings in Furnace
- 3Furnace WAV Export Format Options: One File vs Per-Chip vs Per-Channel
- 4Why WAV and Not MP3?
- 5Converting Your Exported WAV to MP3 or Other Formats
- 6Troubleshooting Common Furnace WAV Export Issues
- 7Frequently Asked Questions
- 8Is it better to export as a WAV or MP3?
- 9How do I export individual tracks as WAV files in Furnace?
- 10Should I export stems as WAV or AIFF?
- 11What is the difference between per-chip and per-channel export?
- 12Conclusion
How to Export a Furnace Tracker Song to WAV: Step-by-Step
The export furnace tracker song to wav process runs through the main File menu. Follow these steps and you’ll have a finished audio file in under a minute.
Step 1: Finish or pause your song. Stop playback at any position. Furnace renders audio from your current play position to the end of the song by default.
Step 2: Open the File menu. Click File in the top menu bar of the Furnace window.
Step 3: Hover over “Export”. A submenu opens with the available export options: Export Audio, Export VGM, Export Text, Export ZSM, and Export Command Stream.
Step 4: Click “Export Audio”. This opens the WAV export dialog, which is the option that produces .wav files.
Step 5: Pick your loop and fade out settings. The dialog box shows loops, fade out, direct stream mode, and pattern change hints. Default values work fine for most songs.
Step 6: Choose your output structure. Select one file, multiple files (per chip), or multiple files (per channel) depending on what you need.
Step 7: Save the file. A standard save dialog opens. Pick a folder, name your file, and click Save. Furnace renders the WAV and writes it to disk.
That’s the whole export process. Furnace handles the audio rendering in real time on your CPU, so a 3-minute song takes roughly 3 minutes to export on a modern machine.
Understanding WAV Export Settings in Furnace
The Export Audio dialog shows four settings that control how Furnace renders your song. Each one changes the output, so it helps to know what they do before you click save.
Loops controls how many times Furnace repeats the loop section of your song before stopping. A value of 1 plays the loop region once, 2 plays it twice, and so on. Set this to 0 if your song has no loop and Furnace will stop at the song end. Forum users regularly ask what this field does because the official docs describe it without explaining when to change it.
Fade out adds a smooth volume tail at the end of the rendered audio, measured in seconds. A value of 2.0 gives a gentle 2-second fade. Use this when you need a clean ending for streaming or video work. Set to 0 if you want a hard cut at the song end.
Direct stream mode bypasses Furnace’s normal mixer path. Turn it on when you need a bit-accurate dump of how a chip sounds without Furnace’s effects or panning applied. Most users leave this off.
Pattern change hints inserts tiny silence gaps between patterns so external tools can detect pattern boundaries. Leave it on if you plan to load the WAV into a visualizer like corrscope.
Furnace WAV Export Format Options: One File vs Per-Chip vs Per-Channel
Furnace lets you export WAV files in three structures. The right pick depends on what you plan to do with the audio after exporting.
One file renders your full song as a single mixed WAV. This is the option most people want when they’re exporting for YouTube, a podcast, or sharing the track with friends. Everything is already summed to stereo and ready to use.
Multiple files (per chip) creates one WAV for each sound chip in your song. If your track uses three chips, you get three files. This is the standard format for game developers who need to control chip playback individually or hand files off to hardware players.
Multiple files (per channel) splits the audio even further, one WAV per channel across all chips. Chiptune artists use this mode for corrscope waveform visualizations, isolating a single channel for analysis, or building custom mixing chains in a DAW.
If you only need to share your song, one file is fastest and simplest. Pick per-chip when you want chip-level separation, and per-channel when you need full stem-level control.
Why WAV and Not MP3?
Furnace exports WAV files only. There is no built-in MP3 or OGG option, and this trips up almost every new user who asks about it on the Furnace Discord and r/chiptunes.
WAV is uncompressed audio, which means it keeps the exact output of Furnace’s sound engine. MP3 uses lossy compression that throws away audio data to shrink the file. For chiptune music, lossy compression can add artifacts that change the character of the sound, especially on FM synthesis chips.
WAV is also the format game engines, hardware players, and DAWs expect. GB Studio, VGMPlay, and most retro development tools all read WAV natively. Exporting as WAV from Furnace keeps your options open.
The downside is file size. A 3-minute 16-bit stereo WAV runs about 30 MB, while an MP3 of the same song might be 3 MB. That’s why many users convert to MP3 after exporting, which I’ll cover in the next section.
Converting Your Exported WAV to MP3 or Other Formats
Since Furnace exports WAV only, you’ll need a converter for streaming and sharing. These three free tools handle WAV to MP3 conversion without quality loss in the original file.
Audacity (free, open source) opens your WAV, then use File > Export > Export as MP3. Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
FFmpeg (command line) converts WAV to MP3 with one command: ffmpeg -i input.wav -codec:a libmp3lame -qscale:a 2 output.mp3. Fastest option for batch converting a folder of exports.
Online converters like CloudConvert work if you only need to convert a single file and don’t want to install software. Keep in mind that uploading your track means sending it to a third party.
For OGG, FLAC, or AIFF conversions, Audacity and FFmpeg both handle those formats out of the box.
Troubleshooting Common Furnace WAV Export Issues
Even with a clean install, you can hit a few common problems during WAV export. Here are the fixes for the issues users post about most often.
Export creates a silent or empty file. Check that your song has actual notes and isn’t stuck on an empty pattern. Stop playback before exporting if Furnace is mid-playback at an unexpected position.
File plays at the wrong speed or pitch. This usually means your tick rate or tempo settings are off. Verify your song’s tempo in the speed/tempo row before re-exporting.
The loop section keeps repeating. Set the loops field in the export dialog to 0 if you don’t want the loop region to repeat, or to a higher number if you need it to repeat a specific count.
Can’t find the exported file. Furnace exports to the folder you select in the save dialog. If you skipped the dialog, the file lands in your last-used export folder or the Furnace working directory.
Most export problems trace back to settings in the dialog rather than bugs in Furnace itself. Double-check loops, fade out, and direct stream mode if the output sounds wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to export as a WAV or MP3?
WAV is better for archiving, editing, and game engine use because it is uncompressed and lossless. MP3 is smaller and easier to stream or upload, but uses lossy compression. The Furnace Tracker song to WAV export gives you the highest quality output. Convert to MP3 only after exporting if you need the smaller file size.
How do I export individual tracks as WAV files in Furnace?
Choose multiple files (per channel) in the Export Audio dialog. Furnace creates one WAV file for each channel in your song. Use this when you need stems for mixing in a DAW or for corrscope waveform visualization.
Should I export stems as WAV or AIFF?
WAV and AIFF are both lossless and store the same audio quality. WAV is more widely supported across game engines, Windows tools, and most DAWs. AIFF works well on macOS and some pro audio software. For Furnace chiptune work, WAV is the standard choice and is what Furnace exports natively.
What is the difference between per-chip and per-channel export?
Per-chip export creates one WAV per sound chip, which gives you chip-level separation. Per-channel export creates one WAV per individual channel across all chips, giving you full stem-level control. Use per-chip when you want each chip isolated. Use per-channel when you need every channel as its own file for mixing or analysis.
Conclusion
Exporting a Furnace Tracker song to WAV comes down to seven clicks through the File menu, and you end up with a lossless audio file ready for any workflow.
Start by opening File > Export > Export Audio, set your loops and fade out values, pick the export structure that fits your project, and save. Most users only need the default settings and a single-file output.
If you hit a snag, the settings in the export dialog are the usual culprit. Loops, fade out, and direct stream mode cover about 90 percent of the export questions I see in the Furnace community. Adjust those first before troubleshooting further.
Once you’ve exported your first WAV, you can drop it into GB Studio, convert to MP3 for streaming, or pull stems into a DAW for further mixing. The Furnace export pipeline handles all three without extra plugins or add-ons.