Every Audio Format and Codec Explained in 24 Minutes

Every audio format, container and codec you'll meet as a creator, explained one by one: MP3, WAV, M4A, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, Opus, Vorbis, WMA, plus sample rate, bit depth, bitrate, Bluetooth codecs and loudness (LUFS). Tap a timestamp to jump to the term you need.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro: how to jump to any term
0:58 The Big Idea
2:35 Uncompressed
4:41 Lossless
6:48 Lossy
10:53 M4A & Containers
12:44 Settings Inside
16:17 Bluetooth
18:37 Platforms & Loudness
22:44 Cheat Sheet

Every single term has its own timestamp in the pinned comment.

NOTES
- Numbers on screen that aren't from a named source are examples. Some bars and tiles show the midpoint of a sourced range and are labeled as such.
- YouTube doesn't publish an official numeric loudness target in the pages I found, so none is claimed for YouTube.
- Facts were checked in October 2026. Platform details change, so confirm current specs before a big project.
- Narration is an AI-generated version of my own voice.

SOURCES
YouTube recommended upload encoding settings: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171
YouTube live encoder settings: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702
Spotify audio quality: https://support.spotify.com/us/article/audio-quality/
Spotify loudness normalization: https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/loudness-normalization/
Apple Music lossless: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118295
Apple Podcasts audio requirements: https://podcasters.apple.com/support/893-audio-requirements
FLAC (Xiph): https://xiph.org/flac/
Opus codec: https://opus-codec.org/
EBU R 128: https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf
Background references: Wikipedia articles on WAV, AIFF, ALAC, Vorbis, WMA, Compact Disc Digital Audio, audio bit depth, sampling, bit rate, variable bitrate, Bluetooth profiles, SBC, aptX, LDAC, LC3, AAC, MP3, MP4 file format, LKFS, dynamic range compression.

Which format confused you the most? Tell me in the comments.