What differentiates MP3 from AAC? Part 2
How MP3 works with Apple Music and iTunes
MP3 is probably the most popular digital audio format on the web, but it’s not available on Apple Music’s iTunes store or in this format (more on that in the next section). Still, mp3 is compatible with Apple Music, iTunes, and all iOS devices like iPhone and iPad. You can get MP3 files from:
Digital download store.
Rip songs from CDs, depending on the music conversion settings.
Many music file sharing services.
All about AAC audio files
AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. It is a type of digital audio file that has been promoted as the successor to MP3. AAC generally provides higher quality sound than MP3 while using the same amount of disk space (or less).
Many people think that AAC is Apple’s proprietary format, but this is incorrect. AAC was developed by a group of companies that includes AT&T Bell Labs, Dolby, Nokia, and Sony. While Apple has embraced AAC music, AAC files can actually be played on many non-Apple devices, including phones running Google’s Android operating system, game consoles, and more.
How does the CAA work?
AAC is a lossy file format, just like MP3. To compress CD-quality audio into a file that takes up less storage space, data that will no longer affect the listening experience is typically removed at the high and low end. So AAC files don’t sound exactly the same as CD-quality files, but they generally sound good enough that most people won’t know the difference.
Like MP3, the quality of AAC files is measured by their bit rate. Common AAC bit rates include 128 kbps, 192 kbps, and 256 kbps.
How AAC works with Apple Music and iTunes
Apple has adopted AAC as its preferred audio file format. All songs streamed or downloaded from Apple Music, or sold on the iTunes store, are in AAC format. All AAC files provided by Apple are encoded at 256 kbps.
Other types of audio files supported by iPhone, iPad and Mac
While MP3 and AAC are the most popular audio files on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple products, they’re not the only ones that work. Let’s take a look at other widely used Apple supported audio formats.
