Audio Formats Guide: Use Cases, Pros/Cons & Tips

MP3: best compatibility for general distribution and online playback

AAC / M4A: higher quality at smaller size; great for mobile/streaming

OGG: open and royalty‑free; good for web and FOSS ecosystems

FLAC: lossless compression; ideal for music archiving and hi‑fi

WAV: uncompressed lossless; ideal for production/editing, large size

MP3: widely supported, size controllable

AAC / M4A: better quality at the same bitrate; excellent in Apple ecosystem

OGG: open, royalty‑free, good quality/size balance

FLAC: lossless; preserves all audio info; smaller than WAV

WAV: uncompressed; perfect for editing; fits pro workflows

MP3: at equal size, quality trails AAC/OGG; may have artifacts

AAC / M4A: slightly less supported in some open/legacy contexts

OGG: support weaker on Apple and some commercial platforms

FLAC: larger files; not ideal for ultra‑low bandwidth scenarios

WAV: very large; unsuitable for distribution/streaming

Universal distribution: MP3 (192–320kbps)

Mobile/streaming with quality: AAC or M4A (128–256kbps)

Open web/FOSS: OGG (~160kbps)

Archiving/hi‑fi: FLAC (lossless)

Production/editing: WAV (lossless, edit‑friendly)

MP3: Most compatible, good quality

WAV: Lossless, large file size

AAC: High quality, smaller size

FLAC: Lossless compression

OGG: Open format, good quality

M4A: Apple format, high quality