 | AAC | Apple's alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes). |  | 44.1kHz | 16 or 24 bit | Up to 96 kbps. | Lossless |  Apple Deezer |
 | AIFF | Apple's alternative to MP3 – stands for 'Advanced Audio Coding'. Lossy and compressed, but sounds generally better. Used for Apple Music streaming. | | from 8 kHz to 96 kHz | 16 bit | Audio quality of AIFF is determined by its sample rate and bit depth. | Lossy | Apple |
 | ALAC | Apple Lossless Audio Codec. Apple's lossless alternative to FLAC | | 44.1 kHz/192kHz. Maximum 384kHz | 16 or 24 bit | 1411 kbps (16/44) | Lossless | Apple |
 | Dolby Atmos | Dolby Atmos expands upon traditional surround sound by adding height channels and audio objects that can move in 3D space. Lossless (TrueHD), Lossy (Dolby Digital Plus / E-AC-3) | | Typically 48 kHz, up to 96 kHz (Blu-ray / TrueHD) | Up to 24-bit | Dolby TrueHD + Atmos: ~18 Mbps; Dolby Digital Plus + Atmos: ~768 kbps–1.5 Mbps | Lossless | |
 | DSD | The single-bit format originally used for Super Audio CDs. It comes in 2.8mHz, 5.6mHz and 11.2mHz varieties, but due to its high-quality codec, it’s (mostly) impractical for streaming. Uncompressed. DSD64 for this reason, with double and quadruple speed versions called DSD128 and DSD256 respectively. There's even a DSD512 spec. | | 2.8224 MHz-22.5792 MHz | 32 bit | 1,411 Kbps | Lossless |  PrimeSeat |
 | FLAC | This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata. It's royalty-free and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums. The downside is, it’s not upported by Apple (so not compatible with Apple Music). There is also HDflac. The bit rates may be twice or even four times as high as normal FLAC, but the files are enormous. | | Typically 96kHz. 192 kHz (typically 96 kHz / 24 bit) | 16bit and 24bit | 1,411 Kbps | Lossless |  Tidal Amazon-Music QobuzDeezer |
 | Monkey's Audio APE | Apple's alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes). | | 44.1kHz, 48 kHz, 96 kHz, and even 192 kHz | 16-bit and 24-bit | 600 kbps to 1,400 kbps | Lossless | |
 | MP3 | Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size but far from the best sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods. | | From 8 kHz to 96 kHz | | Around 96 to 320 kbs. Often 128 kbs | Lossy |  PandoraAmazon-Music |
 | MQA | Master Quality Authenticated. A lossless compression format that packages hi-res files for more efficient streaming. Used for Tidal Masters hi-res streaming Can be played in Roon. MQA requires licensing fees to use and is not open source. | | Typically 96kHz. 192 kHz (typically 96 kHz / 24 bit) | 24 bit | Up to 9216 kbps | Lossless | Tidal |
 | OGG Vorbis | OGG (not hi-res): Sometimes called by its full name, Ogg Vorbis. A lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. The file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming. | | 44.1kHz | Pertains to the underlying codec | 16 to 128 kbps. In Spotify in maximum 320kbps. | Lossy |  SpotifyTidal |
 | PCM | Used as the basis for formats like WAV and AIFF. Raw, pure digital form of audio, before any compression or encoding is applied. | | 44.1kHz | 16-32-bit | ~1,411+. | Lossless | |
 | WAV | The standard format in which all CDs are encoded. Great sound quality but it's uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information). Commonly used as a wrapper format to store PCM format audio. | | 44.1 kHz | 16 bit | 1,411 Kbps | Lossless | Qobuz Tidal |