iTunes and Apple Music Audio Formats Explained

iTunes shaped how a generation stored its music, and the Apple Music app that replaced it still works with the same handful of formats. Knowing which ones it accepts, which it creates and which it quietly refuses saves a lot of confusion when you add files, rip CDs or move a library between devices.

What audio formats work on iTunes?

iTunes and the Apple Music app work with five audio formats. You can add these files to your library, play them, and create them when you import or convert:

AAC and Apple Lossless both use the .m4a extension, so you cannot tell them apart from the file name alone. In the Music app, the song's Get Info window shows which kind of file you have.

Formats iTunes will not accept

Four common formats are not library formats: FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus and WMA. The Mac Music app ignores FLAC files you drag in, which surprises many people, because FLAC is the most popular lossless format outside Apple's world.

The fix is to convert them first. FLAC should go to Apple Lossless rather than MP3: both are lossless, so the conversion keeps every bit of the original, and the result plays in iTunes, the Music app and on iPhone. Our FLAC to ALAC converter does this in the browser without uploading the file. Ogg, Opus and WMA are already lossy, so converting them to AAC or MP3 at a similar bitrate is the practical route.

What is the highest-quality audio format for iTunes?

Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV all hold audio exactly as it came off the CD, so they sound identical. The difference is size and convenience:

• Apple Lossless is the best everyday choice. It is lossless, it keeps tags and album art, and the files are much smaller than AIFF or WAV — often around half the size, depending on the music.
• AIFF is lossless and uncompressed. It is larger, but some audio software prefers it.
• WAV is also lossless and uncompressed. Editing software supports it widely, though its handling of tags is weaker.

If you are buying music, the iTunes Store sells songs as 256 kbps AAC, known as iTunes Plus. That is high-quality lossy audio, not lossless. On typical headphones most people find it very hard to tell apart from the CD, but a true lossless copy means the CD itself, a lossless download from another store, or Apple Music's lossless streaming.

What iTunes and Apple Music use by default

Purchases. Songs bought from the iTunes Store are 256 kbps AAC files in the .m4a format, sold without copy protection since 2009.

CD imports. Ripping a CD imports AAC by default. You can switch to Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV or MP3 before you import — the steps are below.

Streaming. Apple Music added lossless streaming in June 2021, using Apple Lossless. Apple defines two tiers. Lossless starts at CD quality, 16-bit at 44.1 kHz, and goes up to 24-bit at 48 kHz. Hi-Res Lossless goes up to 24-bit at 192 kHz. Apple notes that sample rates above 48 kHz can need an external digital-to-analog converter on some devices.

To turn lossless on, on an iPhone go to Settings > Apps > Music > Audio Quality. On a Mac, open the Music app, choose Music > Settings (Preferences on older versions of macOS), and switch on Lossless audio in the Playback tab.

Lossless and Bluetooth

Lossless streaming only reaches your ears intact through a wired connection or a device's built-in speakers. Apple says plainly that Bluetooth connections aren't lossless: AirPods and most Beats headphones use Apple's AAC Bluetooth codec, which is lossy. The exception Apple lists is AirPods Max with USB-C, connected with a USB-C cable. There is more detail in our guide to whether lossless audio works over Bluetooth.

How to change the import format

On a Mac, in the Music app:

• Choose Music > Settings, then click Files.
• Click Import Settings.
• In the Import Using menu, choose AAC Encoder, AIFF Encoder, Apple Lossless Encoder, MP3 Encoder or WAV Encoder.
• Click OK.

In iTunes for Windows, choose Edit > Preferences, click General, then click Import Settings, and pick the format the same way.

The setting applies to CDs you import from now on and to conversions made with the Convert command. It does not change files already in your library.

Which import quality to pick

For AAC and MP3, the import settings offer presets — Good Quality, High Quality and Higher Quality — plus Custom, where you set the bit rate yourself. Apple's own guidance is practical: Good Quality fits more songs on a portable player, and Higher Quality suits you if you plan to make your own audio CDs. For music you care about, Higher Quality or a Custom rate of 256 kbps is a sensible floor, and it matches what the iTunes Store sells.

Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV have no quality presets, because a lossless file is already exact. If you are ripping CDs, one more option is worth turning on: Use error correction when reading Audio CDs. It can make importing slower, but it helps scratched or worn discs import without clicks and gaps.

How to convert a song to another format

• Set the format you want in Import Settings, as above.
• Select one or more songs in your library.
• Choose File > Convert > Create [format] Version — for example, Create MP3 Version.

This works in both the Mac Music app and iTunes for Windows. The original stays in your library and the new copy appears beside it, so you may want to remove the one you no longer need. Apple notes that you can convert iTunes Store purchases only if they are iTunes Plus songs.

Old protected files (.m4p)

Songs bought from the iTunes Store before it went DRM-free were sold as protected AAC files with the .m4p extension. The Convert command will not change them, and legitimate converters cannot either, because the protection exists to prevent exactly that. They still play on computers and devices authorized with the Apple ID that bought them.

iTunes on Windows and the Apple Music app

On a Mac, the Music app replaced iTunes in 2019. On Windows, Apple released separate Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Devices apps in February 2024. Once those are installed, iTunes on Windows is used only for podcasts and audiobooks, and your existing iTunes library is not deleted. The format advice on this page is written for iTunes and the Mac Music app.

A library that will outlast any app

• Keep lossless masters — FLAC or Apple Lossless — on a drive you control.
• Import Apple Lossless copies into the Music app if you want full quality there.
• Make MP3 copies at 256–320 kbps for cars, older players and non-Apple devices.
• Keep your own backups rather than relying only on a cloud library.

If you need a quick MP3 copy of an M4A file without opening iTunes, our M4A to MP3 converter runs in your browser and keeps the file on your device.