If you rip CDs or buy hi-res downloads, you will face a choice of format. FLAC, ALAC, and WAV all preserve the original recording perfectly — they are all lossless — but they behave very differently in terms of size, metadata, and which devices play them. Picking the right one for your library saves space and headaches later.
They All Sound Identical
This is the most important point: a track stored as FLAC, ALAC, or WAV decodes to exactly the same audio samples. There is no sound-quality difference between lossless formats, because none of them discard data. The differences are entirely practical — how big the file is, what tags it can carry, and what will play it without fuss.
FLAC: The Open Standard
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is the most widely used lossless format outside Apple. It compresses files to roughly 50–60% of WAV size, supports rich metadata and embedded artwork, and is an open standard supported by almost every player except, historically, Apple’s own apps. For a portable, well-tagged library that you may move between platforms, FLAC is the safe default.
ALAC: Apple’s Lossless Codec
ALAC (Apple Lossless) does the same job as FLAC with similar compression, but it is Apple’s format. It plays natively in the Apple ecosystem and was historically the only lossless option Music and iTunes accepted. If your collection lives mainly on Apple devices and you use Apple’s apps, ALAC avoids conversion friction. Its support outside Apple is decent but narrower than FLAC’s.
WAV: Uncompressed and Universal
WAV stores audio uncompressed, so files are large — a hi-res album can run into the gigabytes. It plays virtually everywhere and is common in production because there is no decode step. The downside is weak, inconsistent metadata support: WAV files often cannot reliably store artist, album, and artwork tags, which makes them awkward for a browsable library.
How to Choose
For most listeners, FLAC is the best choice: small, fully tagged, and broadly compatible. Choose ALAC if you live entirely inside Apple’s apps and want zero conversion. Reserve WAV for editing, archiving masters, or feeding gear that demands uncompressed input. If you already have a mixed library, the good news is you do not have to standardize — a capable player will handle all three side by side.
Play Them All Without Converting
PhaseShift plays FLAC, ALAC, WAV and AIFF natively on iPhone, iPad and Mac, so a mixed library just works — no transcoding, no lock-in. Its tag editor can even repair the metadata that WAV files tend to lose, so every track shows the right artist, album, and artwork no matter which format you ripped it to.