Difference between MP3 and WAV

The MP3 and WAV file formats are among the most popular for digital audio recording. How similar are they to each other?

Facts about MP3

MP3 is a multimedia audio file format. It is characterized by great versatility: it is supported by almost all modern operating systems of PCs, mobile devices, many traditional devices for playing music - MP3 and CD players, players, stereos.

MP3 is a format for recording audio data with compression — the intentional reduction in sound quality in order to reduce file size. But if you carry out the appropriate optimization of the audio data correctly, the decrease in sound quality will be hardly noticeable to humans in most cases.

The MP3 format is arguably the most popular in the online space. But even before the Internet became widespread, audio files of this type were quite in demand: they were located, due to their small size, on flash memory of MP3 players or on disks in large quantities, often forming thematic collections of audio recordings.

Facts about WAV

The WAV format is also used for digital audio recording. In versatility, it is not inferior to MP3 and is supported by the main types of modern devices.

This format is intended, in turn, to record audio data without compression. Thus, WAV files are almost always much larger than MP3s with similar content. In terms of quality, WAV sound is close to the original - provided that it is reproduced on high-tech equipment.

The WAV format is in demand mainly in the field of professional audio processing services: for films, studio albums, in the game industry - wherever it is supposed to work with high-quality sound. Also, WAV files are popular among music lovers, who, by the way, in most cases, very easily determine by ear the difference between melodies recorded in MP3 and WAV.

Comparison

So, the main difference between MP3 and WAV is that the first file format involves recording sound with compression. Moreover, it can have a different degree and "bit rate" (the intensity of the audio stream reproduction). Which, in turn, are the same in all cases for WAV files.

Uncompressed audio in WAV format is considered to have a bit rate of about 1400 Kbps. In terms of quality, it roughly matches the audio recorded on a CD. In turn, the bitrate of MP3 files can vary: the maximum rate is 320 Kbps, the minimum is about 8-16 Kbps. Those values ​​that are lower, as a rule, provide an unacceptable level of sound quality - a person is hardly able to distinguish notes in melodies that are recorded in such a bitrate.

How different are the file sizes of MP3 and WAV files?

Audio recording in MP3 with a duration of 1 minute at the maximum quality - 320 Kbps - has a volume of about 2 megabytes. Accordingly, 1 minute of audio stream in WAV format will form a file of about 9 megabytes.

Table

So now we know what is the difference between MP3 and WAV. Let us fix the main criteria that predetermine the corresponding differences in a small table.

MP3 WAV
What do they have in common
Purpose: Both are used to digitize sound.
Versatility: Supported by most modern operating systems and digital hardware platforms
What is the difference between formats
Used to record compressed audioUsed to record uncompressed audio
Bit rate varies between 320 and 8-16 KbpsBit rate fixed - about 1400 Kbps
Generates sound files of a relatively small sizeGenerates files of a relatively large size
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