How do WAV and OGGcompare? 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.
Ogg Vorbis
OGG (Vorbis) is a free, open-source lossy audio format that offers better quality than MP3 at comparable bitrates. It's widely used in gaming, open-source software, and web audio.
| Specification | WAV | OGG |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Waveform Audio File Format | Ogg Vorbis |
| Extension | .wav | .ogg |
| MIME type | audio/wav | audio/ogg |
| Category | Audio | Audio |
| Developer | Microsoft / IBM | Xiph.Org Foundation |
| Year introduced | 1991 | 2000 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
WAV preserves full audio quality with no compression artifacts. OGG offers much smaller files at the cost of some quality. For casual listening, OGG is fine. For production or archival, use WAV.
Need to switch formats? Convert for free with SquishConvert.