How to Decide on a WMA Vs. MP3 Format

WMA and MP3 both have advantages as a file format.

How you listen to your music should determine whether you choose Windows Media Audio (WMA) or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) as a file format. Neither format is superior to the other in all aspects: each has some advantages. The MP3 format is supported by almost every computer, portable music player, and music cellphone. WMA tends to retain better sound quality at the same bit-rate as an MP3 file, is capable of loss-less recording, and supports more than two channels of audio.

Instructions

1. 

   More devices support MP3.

   Determine if you're going to use multiple music playing devices that support different audio formats. MP3 will likely play on all of them, whereas there is a chance WMA will not. Almost every audio device supports MP3 files. MP3 is the default or standard file format for lossy audio files. MP3 players and music cellphones might support WMA, m4a, or another type of audio format, but they will almost always play MP3. Additionally, WMA supports Digital Rights Management (DRM), which may prevent you from copying the music files to another device or computer. However, you can disable DRM when ripping your own music to WMA. MP3 does not support DRM, so you will never encounter problems transferring MP3 files to different devices due to the file type.

2. 

   Modern hard drives are usually big enough to hold all your music, but space might be an issue for a device that has less space.

   Determine if file size is an issue. WMA files tend to have better sound quality than MP3s when recorded at the same bitrate. WMA files take up less space than MP3 files for identical sound quality, but you may not be able to hear the difference between the two depending on your sensitivity and the particular recording.

3. 

   WMA can record CD Audio with out sacrificing quality.

   Decide whether you want sound quality that is identical to that of the CDs you are ripping. WMA supports loss-less recording, but MP3 does not. Loss-less recording reduces the size of the CD Audio files with no loss to sound quality.

4. 

   CDs only support two-channel audio.

   Determine whether you will be listening to audio that uses more than two channels of audio. MP3 is limited to two channels when recording, but WMA supports more. CD Audio has two-channels of audio while the DVD Audio format has five.

Tips & Warnings

• Archiving songs in MP3 may be less problematic in the long run. You may want to transfer the audio files to a computer, a videogame console or another device that may not be compatible with WMA.

• WMA and MP3 also support"Variable Bit-Rate" (VBR) technology, which means the file will record at different quality levels throughout the song. VBR can help address space issues, but not all recording programs support VBR in WMA and MP3. Different parts of an audio file may have more complex sound than other parts, so the recording device will adjust how much data is used to store particular parts of the file. VBR files can have better sound quality compared to constant bit-rate files.

References

• Microsoft: About WMA
• MP3 Licensing: About MP3
• Music Banter: About Lossy Audio Formats

Resources

• Music Banter: About Lossy Audio Formats