WAV vs MP3: What Is the Difference and Which Should You Use?
WAV and MP3 are the two audio formats people meet most. They look similar when you play them, but they work very differently. The short answer: record and deliver in WAV, share and store in MP3.
What is WAV?
WAV stores the sound without compression. Nothing is thrown away, so the quality is the same as the original recording. The price is size.
What is MP3?
MP3 compresses the sound. It removes details that are hard to hear, so the file becomes much smaller. This is lossy compression: the removed detail cannot be brought back.
File size for one minute
- WAV, 44.1 kHz, stereo: about 10.6 MB
- WAV, 16 kHz, mono: about 1.9 MB
- MP3, 128 kbps: about 0.96 MB
So a CD-quality WAV is about eleven times larger than a 128 kbps MP3. To see how size follows length, read audio file size vs duration.
Which one should you choose?
- Recording voice data for a project: WAV. Clients usually ask for it, and it keeps full quality for training and checking.
- Editing: WAV, so you do not lose quality each time you save.
- Sharing by chat or email: MP3, because it is small.
- Storing many files: MP3, if you do not need perfect quality.
An important rule
Converting MP3 to WAV makes the file bigger but does not bring back lost quality. Always record in WAV if you may need it later, and make an MP3 copy only when you need a small file.
You can convert between the two for free in your browser, without uploading your files, with the Sayvoi converter below. To record straight to WAV, see how to record your voice online as WAV.
Convert your audio files for free in your browser, without uploading them to any server.
Open the converter