Field guide
WAV vs FLAC vs MP3 for music distribution: what Spotify and Apple Music want (2026)
October 26, 2026
The rule
Always deliver a lossless master — WAV or FLAC. Stores create their own streaming versions from your file, so starting with MP3 means compressing something that's already compressed.
WAV
- Uncompressed and universally accepted
- 16-bit / 44.1 kHz is the CD-quality minimum; 24-bit / 48 kHz or higher is common for modern masters
- Big files — a 4-minute 24-bit stereo track is around 70 MB
FLAC
- Lossless compression: same audio as WAV, ~40–60% smaller
- Ideal for uploading large album masters on slower connections
MP3
- Lossy — fine for previews and demos
- Not recommended for distribution; some stores reject it and lossless tiers can't use it
Spotify, Apple Music and lossless tiers
Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal stream lossless and hi-res audio, and Spotify has rolled out lossless too. A proper lossless master is what qualifies your music for those tiers.
Mastering checklist
- No clipping; leave about -1 dBTP of headroom
- Trim silence at the start and end
- Same sample rate across every track of an album
Uploading big masters with DistributeMusic.AI
Our uploader sends large WAV and FLAC files in small pieces, so 250 MB masters upload reliably — even on unstable Wi-Fi. Add your own ISRC codes per track, set a version/subtitle (Remastered, Acoustic, Radio Edit), lyrics and an instrumental flag on every track of an album or EP.