How do WAV and M4Acompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
Waveform Audio File Format
WAV is an uncompressed audio format that stores raw audio data at full quality. It's the standard format for professional audio editing, music production, and any application where quality is paramount.
MPEG-4 Audio
M4A is an audio-only MPEG-4 container, typically containing AAC or ALAC encoded audio. It's Apple's preferred format for music files in iTunes and Apple Music.
| Specification | WAV | M4A |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Waveform Audio File Format | MPEG-4 Audio |
| Extension | .wav | .m4a |
| MIME type | audio/wav | audio/mp4 |
| Category | Audio | Audio |
| Developer | Microsoft / IBM | Apple / ISO |
| Year introduced | 1991 | 2001 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
WAV preserves full audio quality with no compression artifacts. M4A offers much smaller files at the cost of some quality. For casual listening, M4A is fine. For production or archival, use WAV.
Need to switch formats? Convert for free with SquishConvert.