Audio File Formats
Uncompressed, lossless and lossy formats trade file size against compatibility and fidelity.
Related
The question
The same music can be stored as uncompressed WAV or AIFF, lossless FLAC, or lossy MP3, AAC and Opus. The choice trades file size against compatibility and fidelity.
How it works
WAV and AIFF are containers holding PCM samples, one little-endian and one big-endian. FLAC uses linear prediction and entropy coding, so it decompresses bit-for-bit and roughly halves the size. MP3 discards masked content; AAC holds up better at low rates, and Opus suits low latency and speech. Container and codec are separate things.
Settings and practice
Archive as WAV or FLAC, deliver 24-bit WAV, and upload in the platform's requested format. Audition at 256 kbps AAC or above. Do not transcode lossy files repeatedly. Work out the size before choosing.
What to listen for
On a twenty-six-minute organ toccata, compare uncompressed and lossless size. On a thirty-seven-second drum loop, hear how little format matters. On a four-minute piano piece, hear the trade at a typical single length. For lossy files, listen to cymbals and high overtones.
Common misconceptions
WAV is not better than FLAC, since both decode identically. MP3 at 320 kbps is not lossless. A file extension does not set quality; the codec does. Converting a lossy file to FLAC restores nothing.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- WAV、AIFF、FLAC 的容器与编码结构，依格式公开规范核查，未抄文本
- 有损编码在低码率下的表现，依公开听测资料核查，未抄文本
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.