Audio file formats come in two types: lossless (WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC), which keep every sample, and lossy (MP3, AAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis), which discard detail to shrink the file. Work and master in lossless; use lossy only where size matters. Veena, a free AI DAW with a personal music producer built in, opens 13 audio formats and exports 24-bit WAV, 320 kbps MP3 and MIDI.
Format choice matters at two points: while you work (always lossless) and when you deliver (depends on where).
Lossless formats store every sample exactly. WAV and AIFF store them uncompressed; FLAC and ALAC compress them the way a ZIP file does — smaller, with nothing lost.
Lossy formats — MP3, AAC, Opus, Ogg Vorbis — permanently discard audio information using psychoacoustic models that predict what you won't notice. The savings are enormous (roughly 10:1) and the loss is genuinely subtle at high bitrates. But it is permanent.
| Format | Type | Use for |
|---|
| WAV | Lossless, uncompressed | Working files, mastering, delivery to distributors |
| AIFF | Lossless, uncompressed | Same as WAV; more common in Apple workflows |
| FLAC | Lossless, compressed | Archiving, distribution to audiophiles, ~50% smaller than WAV |
| ALAC | Lossless, compressed | Same as FLAC, Apple ecosystem (usually inside an .m4a file) |
| MP3 | Lossy | Universal compatibility, references, demos |
| AAC | Lossy | Better than MP3 at the same bitrate; Apple and YouTube default (usually .m4a) |
| Opus | Lossy | Best quality at low bitrates; streaming and voice |
| Ogg Vorbis | Lossy | Open-source alternative to MP3; common in games |
One trap worth knowing: .m4a is a container, not a codec. An .m4a file can hold lossy AAC or lossless ALAC, so check which before you treat it as a master.
For MP3: 320kbps is transparent for almost all listeners. 192kbps is fine for references. 128kbps is audibly degraded on cymbals and reverb.
For AAC: quality at a given bitrate is better than MP3, so 256kbps AAC roughly matches 320kbps MP3.
When a download page offers "high quality MP3, 320 kbps, 44.1 kHz" or "high quality FLAC, 44.1 kHz", the FLAC is the better file: it is lossless, so it holds exactly what was mastered, while the 320 kbps MP3 has been through a lossy encode. On most speakers most listeners cannot hear the difference, but it shows up the moment you process the file — pitch it, stretch it, separate it into stems or encode it again. Take the FLAC for anything you will produce with; take the MP3 when space matters and the file is only for listening.
AAC vs WAV: WAV is uncompressed and lossless; AAC is lossy and roughly a fifth of the size of a CD-quality WAV at 256 kbps. WAV is the working and mastering format. AAC is a delivery format for phones and streaming.
AAC vs FLAC: both shrink the file, but FLAC does it without losing anything, so a FLAC is about half the size of the WAV while an AAC is far smaller and permanently lossy. Archive in FLAC; listen in AAC.
1. Never work from lossy files. Importing an MP3 and processing it compounds artifacts. If you separate stems from an MP3, the model is working from already-damaged audio and the stems will be worse.
2. Never master to lossy. Master to 24-bit WAV. Let the distributor or platform encode.
3. Avoid re-encoding. Every lossy encode discards more. MP3 → edit → MP3 is measurably worse than the original.
4. Deliver lossless to distributors. They re-encode for each platform. Give them the best source.
5. Keep your masters. Archive a 24-bit WAV of every finished track. Platforms and formats change; your master shouldn't have to be recreated.
Deliver at the sample rate you worked at (44.1kHz or 48kHz is fine — higher is rarely audible) and at 24-bit for masters, 16-bit only for final CD-format delivery.
Import: Veena opens 13 audio formats — .wav, .wave, .mp3, .m4a, .aac, .ogg, .oga, .opus, .flac, .aif, .aiff, .aifc and .caf — plus MIDI files and six video formats, whose audio it can separate onto its own track. Drag a file onto the timeline or press Upload in the transport bar; it appears straight away, uploads to your account, and the first clip you import sets the project tempo.
Export: open the account menu in the sidebar and choose Export. You get WAV at 24-bit/48 kHz, MP3 at 320 kbps, MIDI, and MP4 when the project contains video — the full mix, or every track as its own file in one zip. Before you export, Veena shows the file count, names, quality and size. There is no cap on exports and no watermark, on every plan, free included.
The rule from above applies here too: import the best version of your recording you have — the WAV or FLAC rather than the MP3 — because every step after it, from CoProducer building a beat around your vocal to splitting a demo into stems, starts from that file.
Related reading: free DAW · sample rate and bit depth · audio codecs for musicians · how to export for streaming