Comparison of audio coding formats


The following tables compare general and technical information for a variety of audio [coding format]s.
For listening tests comparing the perceived audio quality of audio formats and codecs, see the article Codec listening test.

General information



Operating system support


CodecWindowsmacOSLinuxBSDUnixPalm OSSymbian OSRockboxiOSAndroidChromiumHarmonyOSOpenHarmonyOniro OS
AAC
AC-3
ALAC
Lossless Coding|ALS]
aptX
CELT
E-AC3
FLAC
LC3
L2HC
Monkey's Audio
MP3
Musepack
Opus
RealAudio
Speex
True Audio
USAC
Vorbis
WavPack
WMA


Multimedia frameworks support


Audio compression formatACMDirectShowQuickTimeGStreamerFFmpegMedia Foundation
8SVX
AAC
AC3
AC4
ALS
AMR
ALAC
aptX
ATRAC3
ATRAC3plus
CELT
Cook Codec
DCA aka DTS
DTS-HD
E-AC-3
FLAC
L2HC
HE-AAC
Monkey's Audio
WavPack
Shorten
Sonic Audio
MP3
RealAudio
Speex
Vorbis
La ???
LPAC
Windows Media Audio v1
Windows Media Audio v2
Windows Media Audio Pro
Windows Media Audio Lossless
Windows Media Audio Voice
Musepack
Meridian Lossless Packing
Codec in Flash">Audio codec">Codec in Flash
OptimFROG
Truespeech
True Audio
QCELP
Audio compression formatACMDirectShowQuickTimeGStreamerFFmpegMedia Foundation


Technical details


Audio compression formatAlgorithmSample rateBit rateLatencyCBRVBRStereoMultichannel
AACMDCT, Hybrid Subband 8–192 kHz, also: 7.35 kHz, but used rarely.8–529 kbit/s
8–576 kbit/s 		20–405 ms: Dual, Mid/Side, Intensity, Parametric: Up to 48 channels
AC3MDCT32, 44.1, 48 kHz32–640 kbit/s32–48 ms: Up to 6 channels
AC4MDCT48 kHz24-1536 kbit/s?: Up to 24 channels
AMBE8 kHz2-9.6 kbit/s
AMRACELP8 kHz4.75, 5.15, 5.90, 6.70, 7.40, 7.95, 10.20, 12.20 kbit/s25 ms
AMR-WB
ACELP16 kHz6.60, 8.85, 12.65, 14.25, 15.85, 18.25, 19.85, 23.05, 23.85 kbit/s25 ms: only in MPEG-4 Part 12 container
AMR-WB+ACELP8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz6–36 kbit/s
7–48 kbit/s 		60–90 ms
aptXSubband ADPCM24–48 kHz 192–384 kbit/s 2 ms : Up to 8 channels
ATRAC1MDCT-Hybrid Subband44.1 kHz292 kbit/s>100 ms: Dual Only
ATRAC3MDCT-Hybrid Subband44.1 kHz66, 105, 132, 146, 176, 264, 352 kbit/s>100 ms: Dual, Mid/Side
ATRAC3plusMDCT-Hybrid Subband44.1, 48 kHz32–768 kbit/s>100 ms: Up to 8 channels
ATRAC9MDCT-Hybrid Subband12, 24, 48 kHz36-672 kbit/s>100 ms: Up to 8 channels
BroadVoice Two-Stage Noise Feedback Coding 8, 16 kHz16, 32 kbit/s5 ms
Codec2Speech8 kHz0.7, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.4, 3.2 kbit/s20–40 ms
E-AC3MDCT32, 44.1, 48 kHz32–6144 kbit/s5.33–48 ms: Up to 15 channels
E-aptXSubband ADPCM15–48 kHz60, 384, 767, 1024 kbit/s, 1.28 Mbit/s : Up to 8 channels
EncodecNeural networks24 kHz
48 kHz 		1.5, 3, 6, 12, 24 kbit/s?
EVSSpeech8, 16, 32, 48 kHz5.9, 7.2, 8, 9.6, 13.2, 16.4, 24.4, 32, 48, 64, 96, 128 kbit/s + AMR-WB bitrate modes20 ms
GSM-HRVSELP8 kHz5.6 kbit/s25 ms
GSM-FRRPE-LTP8 kHz13 kbit/s20–30 ms
GSM-EFRACELP8 kHz12.2 kbit/s20–30 ms
HE-AAC22 ~ 96 kHz 16 ~ 80 kbit/s ~130 ms: Dual, Mid/Side, Intensity, Parametric: Up to 48 channels
HVXCSpeech8 kHz2, 4 kbit/s36 ms
iLBCBlock Independent LPC8 kHz13.33, 15.20 kbit/s25, 40 ms
iSACTransform coding16, 32 kHz10–52 kbit/s33, 63 ms
LC3Speech8, 16, 24, 32, 48 kHz16-320 kbit/s7.5-10 ms
LDACSubband ADPCM44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz303, 606, 909 kbit/s
330, 660, 990 kbit/s 		?
LHDCSubband ADPCM44.1, 48, 96 kHz400, 560, 900 kbit/s?
L2HCSubband ADPCM44.1, 48, 96, 192 kHz400, 560, 960, 1920 kbit/s
LyraSpeech8, 16, 32, 48 kHz3.2, 6, 9.2 kbit/s20 ms
MP3 MDCT, Hybrid Subband8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160, 192, 224, 256, 288, 320 kbit/s>100 ms: Dual, Mid/Side, Intensity
MPEG-1 Audio Layer II Subband32, 44.1, 48 kHz32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320, 384 kbit/s: but decoders are not required to support it: Dual, Intensity
MPEG-2 Audio Layer II Subband16, 22.05, 24 kHz8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160 kbit/s: but decoders are not required to support it: up to 5 full range audio channels and an LFE-channel with MPEG Multichannel
MusepackSubband32, 37.8, 44.1, 48 kHz20–350 kbit/s: Up to 8 channels
OpusMDCT, LPC, LTP8–48 kHz6–510 kbit/s5–66.5 ms: Up to 255 channels
RealAudioMDCTVaries Varies Varies: Up to 6 channels
SatinSpeech8, 16, 32, 48 kHz6-36 kbit/s?
SILKLPC, LTP8, 12, 16, 24 kHz6–40 kbit/s25 ms
Siren 7Derived from PT716plus, MLT16 kHz16, 24, 32 kbit/s40 ms
Siren 14MLT32 kHz24, 32, 48 kbit/s
48, 64, 96 kbit/s 		40 ms
Siren 22MLT48 kHz32, 48, 64 kbit/s
64, 96, 128 kbit/s 		40 ms
Neural networks24, 32, 44.1 kHz0.98, 1.9, 2.6 kbit/s
SpeexCELP8, 16, 32, kHz2.15–24.6 kbit/s
4–44.2 kbit/s 		30 ms
34 ms 		: Intensity
Neural networks, modified version of Descript Audio Codec, extended for stereo with a transformer model to shrink even more while keeping the quality high.44.1 kHz. Other sample rates: Uncertain.~0.45-5.5 kbps
~0.6-7.5 kbps 		?
USAC?7.35, 8, 11.025, 12, 16, 19.2, 22.05, 24, 32, 38.4, 44.1, 48, 57.6, 64, 88.2, 96 kHz6-128 kbit/s
12-320 kbit/s
VMR-WBACELP16 kHz8.55, 4.0, 0.8, 13.3, 6.2, 2.7, 1.0 kbit/s33.75 ms
Vorbis MDCT8–192 kHz45-500 kbit/s >100 ms/ABR: Dual, Lossless, Phase, Point : Up to 255 channels
WavPack LossyPrediction, Quantization1 Hz to 16.777216 MHz196 kbit/s and up in lossy mode 3523.8 ms: Up to 256 channels
Windows Media Audio StandardMDCT8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz8–768 kbit/s>100 ms
Windows Media Audio ProMDCT8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz 4–768 kbit/s>100 ms: At least 8 channels, expandable
Windows Media Audio VoiceACELP?8, 11.025, 16, 22.05 kHz officially 4-20 kbit/s officially

Audio compression formatAlgorithmSample rateBits per sampleLatencyStereoMultichannel
ALACLossless1–384 kHz16, 20, 24, 32: Up to 8 channels
ALSLossless0–4 GHz8, 16, 24, 32 : Up to 65536 channels
ATRAC Advanced LosslessLossless44.1 kHz16
Dolby TrueHDLossless48, 96, 192 kHz16, 20, 24: 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos object-based audio
DTS-HD Master AudioLossless48, 96, 192 kHz16, 24: Up to 7.1
FLACLossless1–1.048575 MHz 4–324.3–92 ms : Up to 8 channels
HD-AAC
Lossless0–4 GiHz16?
L2HCLossless44.1kHz16
Monkey's AudioLossless1–655.350 kHz8, 16, 24, 32 and 32-bit float1670 to 26,749 ms : Up to 32 channels since version 5.50
OptimFROGLossless0–4 GiHz8, 16, 24, 32
OSQLossless6, 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48, 64, 88.2, 96 kHz8, 16, 20, 24
RealAudio LosslessLossless8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1 kHz16Varies
Lossless1–48 kHz1-16?
Lossless8–192 kHz8, 16, 24?: Up to 6 channels
True Audio Lossless0–4 GiHz8, 16, 24approx. 1045 ms: Up to 16, but no channel allocation
WavPack LosslessLossless, Hybrid1 Hz to 1 GiHzUp to 32, and 1-bit DSD.: Up to 256 channels
Windows Media Audio LosslessLossless8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz16, 24>100 ms: Up to 6 channels

Audio compression formatAlgorithmSample rateBit rateBits per sampleLatencyCBRVBRStereoMultichannel
G.711companding A-law or μ-law, PCM8 kHz64 kbit/s8 bit 125 μs
G.711.0Lossless compression of G.7118 kHz0.2–65.6 kbit/s8 bit 5–40 ms
G.711.1MDCT, A-law, μ-law8, 16 kHz64, 80, 96 kbit/s16 bit11.875 ms
G.718CELP, MDCT, Lossy8, 16 kHz8, 12, 12.65, 16, 24, 32 kbit/s16 bit42.875–43.875 ms
G.718BCELP, MDCT, Lossy, Sinusoidal Coding32 kHz36, 40, 48 kbit/s16 bit49.625 ms
G.719MDCT, Lossy 48 kHz32–88 kbit/s in 4 kbit/s steps, 88–128 kbit/s in 8 kbit/s steps16 bit40 ms: only in MPEG-4 Part 12 container: only in MPEG-4 Part 12 container
G.721ADPCM, Lossy8 kHz32 kbit/s13 bit
G.722sub-band ADPCM, Lossy16 kHz64 kbit/s
14 bit4 ms
G.722.1Modulated Lapped Transform, Lossy 16 kHz24, 32 kbit/s16 bit40 ms
G.722.1CModulated Lapped Transform, Lossy 32 kHz24, 32, 48 kbit/s16 bit40 ms
G.722.2 multi-rate wideband ACELP, Lossy16 kHz6.60, 8.85, 12.65, 14.25, 15.85, 18.25, 19.85, 23.05, 23.85 kbit/s14 bit25 ms: only in MPEG-4 Part 12 container
G.723ADPCM, Lossy8 kHz24, 40 kbit/s13 bit
G.723.1MP-MLQ, ACELP, Lossy8 kHz5.3, 6.3 kbit/s13 bit37.5 ms
G.726ADPCM, Lossy8 kHz16, 24, 32, 40 kbit/s13 bit125 μs
G.727ADPCM, Lossy8 kHz16, 24, 32, 40 kbit/s13 bit
G.728low-delay CELP, Lossy8 kHz16 kbit/s13 bit0.625 ms
G.729CS-ACELP, Lossy8 kHz8 kbit/s13 bit15 ms
G.729DCS-ACELP, Lossy8 kHz6.4 kbit/s13 bit
G.729ECS-ACELP, Lossy8 kHz11.8 kbit/s13 bit15 ms
G.729.1CELP, TDBWE, TDAC, Lossy8, 16 kHz8 kbit/s, 12–32 kbit/s in 2 kbit/s steps16 bit48.9375 ms