WMA Lossless (hi-res): A lossless incarnation of Windows Media Audio, but no longer well-supported by smartphones or tablets. It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information). Great sound quality but it's uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). WAV (hi-res): The standard format in which all CDs are encoded. The file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming.
A lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. OGG (not hi-res): Sometimes called by its full name, Ogg Vorbis. MQA (hi-res): A lossless compression format that packages hi-res files for more efficient streaming. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods. MP3 (not hi-res): Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size, but far from the best sound quality. The downside is, it’s not supported by Apple (so not compatible with Apple Music). It's royalty-free and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums. FLAC (hi-res): This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata.
