Now, we suggest you listen to the same music piece in the MP3 and WAV formats. Even though a lot of quality got lost, it didn’t lose 2/3rds of its data, so you can definitely see why MP3 files have such widespread usage. The flipside, as you would expect, is the fact that the MP3 file, even at its highest possible quality, was 1/3rd of the size. If you were to test with a lower quality file then you may find even more data gets lost. This was testing with a 320 kbps MP3, too. It felt like the songs we tested lost a little brightness, and some of the instruments felt a little flat as a result. Converting the file format using an MP3 encoder noticeably lost some detail, especially in the high-end frequencies. Is MP3 or WAV better? Well, there are no surprises there. We tested a 24-bit WAV file and also ran it through a quick MP3 encoder to get a proper WAV versus MP3 test. Of course, the more the audio has in terms of harmonic frequencies, the more likely it is that there is going to be a difference.

We performed a side-by-side test of a lossless WAV file and a lossy MP3 to test out the sound firsthand. If you are recording sound at home such as creating a podcast or recording yourself playing an instrument, you should record directly to WAV to ensure the most possible detail. While this is less of an issue than it used to be due to cloud storage and the increase in hard drive size, it is not as much of a problem, but sending big WAV files can also be tough. Perfect for editing projects such as adding to a video, or using in music production and editing such as within your DAW. Some other video and audio hosting sites have the same policy.

For example, you can’t upload WAV files directly to YouTube. While the majority of computers and audio editing software recognizes WAV files, you may find that there are some options that don’t. The lossless nature of the files retains more of the original audio and this means they tend to sound much better and keep all of the data intended upon recording.Ĭompatibility.

Wav to dsp