Instead, on Windows and Linux, install the optional FFmpeg library.

You cannot export directly to Apple Lossless from the Export Audio dialog. Typically an Apple Lossless file is around half the size of an equivalent WAV file and more than three times the size of an equivalent AAC 256 kbps file. Like AAC it also uses files with the M4A extension.Īpple Lossless Encoder is quite similar to FLAC, producing larger files than AAC or MP3 but smaller than WAV. Apple Lossless is, as the name suggests, Apple's size-compressed lossless codec. For speech 128 kbps or even 64 kbps can be used as the bitrate if preferred.Īpple Lossless (Apple proprietary, lossless, smaller than WAV/AIFF)Īpple Lossless Encoding (sometimes referred to as ALAC - Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is also an Apple proprietary format. If you choose lossy formats (MP3 or AAC) the minimum bitrate setting you should use for music is 160 kbps, though 256 kbps is probably to be preferred - and in use on an iPod is unlikely to be distinguishable from WAV or AIFF (or Apple Lossless). The two main benefits are that you can fit many more songs into the device (for 256 kbps files you can fit about 10 times as many songs) and compressed files improve battery life, because disk reads are relatively heavy on battery power. There are several advantages to using a compressed format on iPods and iPhones. If you have plenty of storage space on your device or a relatively small music library you may wish to consider the larger lossless WAV or AIFF formats.

MP3 should be considered if you think that in the future you may wish to switch to an alternative portable music player or phone. AAC is the default format set in Apple Music/iTunes and the format Apple uses for audio files sold from the Apple Music/iTunes Store, so is the most obvious choice if you solely use Apple products.

Import wav files to itunes