When converting Niconico to WAV, you will be asked to choose parameters. Here is the cheat sheet:
| Parameter | Niconico Source | Recommended WAV Export | | --- | --- | --- | | Sample Rate | 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz | 44.1 kHz (CD standard) | | Bit Depth | 16-bit (lossy encoded) | 16-bit (no benefit to 24-bit) | | Channels | Stereo or Mono | Stereo (original mix) | niconico to wav
Do not upscale. Setting your WAV to 96 kHz / 24-bit does nothing but waste hard drive space. The source is already compressed. Your WAV should match the source's original sample rate. When converting Niconico to WAV, you will be
Unlike YouTube, Niconico Douga (2006–present) historically limited video quality and used aggressive CBR (Constant Bitrate) encoding as low as 64kbps AAC-LC for comments-synced streaming. This created unique sonic artifacts: A standard WAV conversion preserves these flaws faithfully
A standard WAV conversion preserves these flaws faithfully, turning them into forensic evidence of Niconico’s server load at 3 AM in 2012.
Some Niconico content is encrypted or requires a premium account. Downloaders fail. In these rare cases, you can record the audio in real-time as it plays.
Many Vocaloid songs are flagged as "adult" due to suggestive lyrics or thumbnails. You must be logged into a verified Japanese account (or use yt-dlp’s cookie import) to access them.
