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What are the advantages of WAV vs. MP3?

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What are the advantages of WAV vs. MP3?

Wave is an uncompressed or lossless format, while MP3 is compressed or lossy. Technically .wav is just a container format and can contain various types of compressed or uncompressed audio, but normally you will see that it contains uncompressed LPCM audio (same as on audio CDs). With .wav files, you essentially get a raw bitstream representation of the audio signal in digital form. An analog sound produced in the real world essentially contains an infinite amount of information because it is a constantly changing wave (see below). To bring these sounds into the digital domain, you need to sample the signal at various intervals to approximate the sound. For .wav, the audio signal is generally sampled at 44,100 times per second or more, and each sampled value is recorded so that the sound wave can be played:

MP3 files are compressed to compress the same audio information into a smaller file size. The .wav format is ideal for very faithful representations of the analog signal, but as you probably know, that usually costs larger files. Compressed audio (and video in a similar way) is designed to reduce file size while maintaining a respectable level of fidelity. In simple terms, compression tries to remove unnecessary data from the stream and reduce the signal to its most necessary components. With MP3, compression and encoding algorithms use a model of how we listen to analyze audio in the frequency domain and remove any unnecessary information. For example, due to auditory masking if there are two sounds at close frequencies, we will often only hear the loudest if the volume difference between the two is significant. So for MP3, the lower volume sound could be ruled out and the audio would sound essentially the same to our ears. Learn more about the technical side of MP3 encoding here.

In practice, both .wav and MP3 have their uses. For production, .wav is the standard because it will almost always be a 100% accurate, bit-by-bit reproduction of the source material. MP3s can be a decent alternative at high enough bit rates. Bitrate is a measure of how many bits per second MP3 encoding will use, which means that the higher the bitrate, the closer the MP3 will be to the original uncompressed stream. Bit rate is generally measured in kilobits per second (kbps). I like the high audio quality for my digital music collection, so when I have a choice, I generally encode MP3 at constant 256 or 320 kbps. That’s the upper end of what MP3s are capable of, and unfortunately a lot of digital music isn’t encoded that high. When the bit rate drops, it can generally be heard first at the high frequencies, for example, the cymbals of a drum kit will sound. 160kbps is tolerable, but somewhat lower than that and you will really start to notice it. But then again, with a high enough bitrate, the differences between MP3 and .wav are barely distinguishable, especially for an untrained listener (most listeners).

For .wav files, we mainly look at the bit depth and the sample rate. Bit depth is the number of bits used to encode each sampled value. The sampling rate indicates how many times per second the audio is sampled. CD (.wav) and MP3 are encoded at a sampling rate of 44,100 Hz (Hertz means “cycles per second”). Newer computers and audio hardware / software are now accommodating higher sample rates, including 48kHz or 96kHz. For .wav, the bit depth is usually 16 bit or 24 bit on newer systems. For most purposes, when using .wav, 16-bit, and 44.1kHz is sufficient, but if you have the capabilities, it’s generally worth upgrading to 24-bit, 48kHz.

Some sample file sizes for a five-minute stereo recording:

.wav, 16 bit, 44.1kHz: 50 MB
.wav, 24 bit, 48 kHz: 82 MB
.wav, 24 bit, 96 kHz: 164 MB
MP3, 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz: 4.5 MB
MP3, 192 kbps, 44.1 kHz: 7 MB
MP3, 320 kbps, 44.1 kHz: 11 MB
FLAC, 24-bit, 44.1 kHz: 28 MB
FLAC, 24 bit, 48 kHz: 31 MB
FLAC, 24 bit, 96 kHz: 61 MB

There is also a variable bit rate option for MP3 encoding, which should offer slightly smaller file sizes for the same quality. It uses a coding scheme that changes (varies) the bit rate for different parts of the song depending on the complexity and how many samples would be needed to faithfully recreate a given section.

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Importance of MP3 (digital music)

Music has always been present in societies around the world, and with the passage of time and technological advances it has been enclosed in very diverse reproduction formats: cassette, LP, CD or Mini-Disc have been some of the means Most popular in which people have brought their favorite music.

Software engineering made it possible for Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) to design a specific audio format with a .MP3 file extension, a name given by the Fraunhofer Society in July 1995. The MP3 digital audio format would become popular from the second half of the last decade of the 90s thanks to the Internet, P2P networks and the commercialization of the first MP3 players (MPMan and Rio PMP300).

The digital audio format MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) is the most important of all time, even ahead of WMA, FLAC, OGG or AAC, readable by any electronic media player device: televisions, CD / Blu-ray / DVD players, car radios, portable MP4 and MP3 players, PCs, Tablets, mobile phones, compact audio systems, compact music systems….

MP3 music has had a huge impact on modern, hyper-connected society, and has made it possible for people to carry vast music libraries in as little space as on a micro SD memory card.

MP3 quickly moved to CD-Audio, a format that is only capable of storing music with a standardized maximum of 80 minutes of playback and about 20 tracks per CD: the data CD, with MP3 tracks, is capable of storing about 150 tracks per disk (at the rate of 5MB per track).

MP3, with a maximum audio quality of 320KBps and an acceptable minimum of 128Kbps, would conquer digital music lovers and facilitate the “physical” compaction of music libraries: going from individual 80-minute (700MB) discs to discs hard laptops between 250 and 500GB or 8GB / 16GB USB sticks… managing to store thousands of albums in devices smaller than the size of an Apple iPhone.

MP3 would also change the style of music players, in addition to changing to smaller, more versatile and manageable formats. From rough and large portable CD players to tiny devices like iPod Shuffle.

The change from a CD-Audio unit to integrated physical memories or micro SD would also favor the use of music players in sports activities, thus avoiding skipping between tracks due to movement: the new storage medium would solve the typical deterioration of the units optical, with a tendency to scratch in more or less careless use.

MP3 music would dramatically reduce file size, going from around 50MB on CD-Audio tracks (.wav files on PCs) to 5MB or less on MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (depending on encoding quality): It would favor sending tracks by email, sharing them through P2P networks (.torrent), bluetooth or their storage in the cloud (DropBox, BOX…).

The MP3 music format is preferred by the general public, ahead of others such as OGG, FLAC, WMA or AAC: greater diffusion, and better compatibility of the format with consumer electronics devices.

MP3 has also contributed to greater accessibility of music content, its organization on digital devices, management and copying of tracks on computers and mobile devices, and editing of the information attached to each track.

MP3 and its full compatibility in devices commonly used by users has favored legal downloading (online stores, such as iTunes or Amazon) and illegal downloading (download pages and P2P networks).

Thanks to the success of MP3, listening to music on any device with speakers, or to which headphones can be connected, is a simple activity: conventional digital music players (MP4 and / or MP3) are being defeated by Smartphones, with accessible memory of at least 16GB).

MP3 has become the most important and widespread digital audio format of all time.

Audio Formats: Everything musicians should know to choose the right file

What is the best audio format? It is a very frequent question. Surely you’ve already raised it.

The answer is simple. It all depends on your needs. Whether you’re sending demos, building your digital music distribution, or archiving your songs, the file format is very important.

So, to help you choose the best file format for your music, we have collected all the essential information about the audio formats.

And even more important, which one is better in each situation.

Compression: the first impression

Audio formats depend on compression.

I don’t mean the compression you apply to a song in your DAW software. I am talking about file compression.

Compression makes a file smaller, to save space when streaming, downloading or storing.

But what happens when you compress?

There are 3 types of file compression:

Uncompressed (I know that “uncompressed” is not a type of compression, but I add it to make everything clearer), without loss and loss.

Uncompressed and lossless files retain the original data intact. But files with loss delete certain data from the original file to reduce the file size.

So the more compressed a file is lost, the more information is lost.

Compressing with loss does not mean that all your drums are going to be deleted. It simply removes the audio that the human ear is not able to hear. Maybe only dogs notice the difference …?

In any case, if you really want to hear what disappears when you compress a file, watch this MP3 conversion experiment.

About compression types
Here is a simple way to understand each type of compression:

An uncompressed file is an exact copy of the original. No information is lost. Uncompressed files are like an original picture.
Lossless files are slightly smaller files, but they keep the original information intact. A lossless file is like an original painting, but it is folded in two until you look directly at it.
Files with loss are the most compressed. Some of the original information is lost during compression. Files with loss are smaller versions than the original — the photo is still there, but some details have disappeared.

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Now that you know what compression is, you may be wondering how each type of file is compressed.

Do not worry. Here we go.

How each type of file is compressed

Uncompressed Formats

Uncompressed formats are not compressed (obviously). The most common uncompressed formats are WAV and AIFF.

These are the formats that you usually export from your DAW. If you duplicate a song to WAV, it is an exact and uncompressed copy of the original.

Lossless Formats
LANDR: A space to create. More details
Lossless files are compressed. But although they are compressed, they retain all the original information as a WAV. They simply unfold at the time of opening.

The most common lossless format is FLAC. Apple also has its own lossless format, called ALAC, used in iTunes.

The FLAC format makes the files lighter than WAVs, but they retain all the original information. Although the size of these files is usually very large.

Formats with loss

Lossy files are the most common audio format. The most used is the MP3. But there are other types, such as OGG, WMA and AAC.

The drawback of files with lossy compression is that it deletes some data from the original file.

But the benefit is that they are smaller, open faster and take up less space.

Files with loss can be high and low resolution, depending on the amount of compression. The higher the quality, the less information will be lost.

The truth about bitrates

The quality of an audio file is determined by its bitrate (bit rate).

The bitrate corresponds to the information processed per second. And that is what 320 or 192 means in MP3 files.

Thus, an MP3 with a bitrate of 320 has 320 kilobits per second — or kbps.

WAV and AIFF usually have 1411kbps.

A higher bitrate means more information per second. And more information per second means better sound. Simple, right? Now you understand the basic points of compression, file types and bitrate, right?

Perfect. Let’s continue.

Now comes the million dollar question …

In what situation do I use each format?
If I talked about each of the audio formats, we would be here for days. Surely you have other responsibilities, and a lot of music to produce. So I will be brief and concise. These are the best uses for each of these formats. We talk about WAV, MP3 320 and MP · 192.

WAV
The WAV is at the top of the podium. It is the Ferrari of audio formats. The WAV offers a cleaner and sharper sound than the other compressed formats. If you share demos with a record label, show your work for a possible audiovisual project or send your music to a blog, you need a mastered WAV.

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The WAV is a guarantee that your best sound represents you.

When you master your music, always use the WAV as the delivery format.

WAVs can also be converted to other formats later, so it is the right format for conversion later.

The only drawback of WAVs is the large size of the files. They take up a lot of hard disk space. So your computer, your phone, your iPod or your Dropbox will fill up very quickly if you only use WAV.

But when it comes to your own music, it is important to always have a WAV copy of each of your tracks.

Most platforms require WAV to upload your music for distribution. For example: iTunes and Amazon ask for high-quality WAV to upload music to their services.

The 320 MP3
The MP3 of 320 is the most frequent type of file. For one simple reason: It has the best of both worlds.

They are compressed, so they are easy to handle in regards to their size. But they also offer a pleasant and rich sound.

If you listen to music in streaming, it is very likely that it is 320. For example: everything you hear in high quality on Spotify is at 320kbps.

The MP3 of 320 is a good way to share your best sound saving space on the hard drive and avoiding long waits during the upload and upload.

MP3 192
The 192kbps MP3 is the draft horse. They are fast and dirty MP3, for when you have to share something easily and quickly. They are useful when transferring a handful of files at once, check your entire catalog or share and reference tracks quickly.

A lower bitrate causes more degradation than an MP3 of 320 with loss, but sometimes it is difficult to feel the difference. Take the test and judge for yourself.

The MP3s of 192 are the perfect tool for musicians who need an efficient and fast way to share or listen to their music in streaming.

Useful tip: if you use your own streaming player on your web page, an MP3 of 192 will make your page load faster.

Don’t forget any format by the way
Each format has its uses. Choosing the right format depends on each context.

So think about what sound you share and where you do it. Are you using the right format?

Mastering in WAV format is the best bet to share your music. Once you have the mastered WAV, you can convert it in any other format into a periquete.

Formats are important in the era of streaming. So make a smart choice and use the right format.