MP3, AAC, OGG, WAV, or FLAC: Which Audio Format Should You Use?

Lossy, lossless, and uncompressed

Audio formats fall into three groups:

• Lossy (MP3, AAC, OGG/Opus): Discard parts of the sound that most people can barely hear. Files are small, with very good quality when encoded properly.
• Lossless (FLAC, ALAC): Compress audio like a ZIP file compresses documents: the file gets smaller, but playback sounds identical to the original.
• Uncompressed (WAV, AIFF): Store sound exactly as it was recorded, with no compression. Files are large.

A closer look at each format

• MP3: The most widely compatible format. It plays on virtually any phone, car stereo, speaker, or software. At 192 to 320 kbps, most people can’t tell it apart from the original music.
• AAC (usually in .m4a files): MP3’s successor, with slightly better quality at the same bitrate. It’s the standard for Apple devices and many streaming services.
• OGG / Opus: Efficient, open formats. Opus is excellent for voice at low bitrates and is used for WhatsApp voice messages. Compatibility is more limited on older devices and car stereos.
• WAV: Uncompressed audio used for professional recording and editing. One minute of CD-quality music takes up about 10 MB.
• FLAC: Lossless audio in files much smaller than WAV. A favorite among listeners who collect high-quality music.

Which format to use and when

• Listening to music on your phone or in the car, or sending it to someone: MP3 (or AAC). It works almost everywhere.
• Voice recordings, classes, and podcasts: MP3 or AAC at a moderate bitrate. Voice doesn’t need a high bitrate.
• Editing audio (trimming, mixing, processing): Work in WAV or FLAC, then export to MP3 at the end to avoid adding quality loss with each edit.
• Archiving a music collection at the highest quality: FLAC.
• Audio for a website or app: AAC or Opus for efficiency.

Converting between formats

Audio Converter converts between MP3, WAV, OGG (Opus), FLAC, and M4A (AAC) right in your browser. For common conversions, try our dedicated tools: WAV to MP3 to shrink large recordings, or FLAC to MP3 to play music on devices that don’t support FLAC.

Here’s an important rule: converting a lossy file to a lossless format won’t restore its quality. Converting an MP3 to WAV or FLAC makes the file larger, but it still sounds exactly like the MP3. Converting from one lossy format to another (such as MP3 to AAC) adds another round of quality loss. Whenever possible, convert from the highest-quality original.

What is kbps, and what should you choose?

Bitrate (kbps, or kilobits per second) measures how much data is used per second of audio. A higher bitrate means better sound quality and a larger file. Here are some practical MP3 guidelines:

• 64 to 96 kbps: Voice, classes, and audiobooks.
• 128 kbps: Everyday listening, with acceptable sound quality.
• 192 to 320 kbps: High-quality music.

Newer formats like AAC and Opus can deliver similar quality at lower bitrates.

Formats you might encounter

• .opus or .ogg from WhatsApp: Voice messages. Convert OGG to MP3 if you need to play them somewhere else.
• .m4a from an iPhone: Recordings from the Voice Memos app. It’s AAC audio in an MP4 container.
• .webm: Browser recordings, which may contain audio only.
• .aac: AAC audio without a container, commonly used by some voice recorders.

Not sure which format to send someone? MP3 is almost always a safe choice.

Frequently asked questions