The old standard of -0.2dB peak headroom from the CD era is usually not enough to prevent potential issues downstream. Be aware that if ample peak-headroom is not present on these WAV masters, you may experience clipping or overs when the masters are converted from WAV to AAC, mp3, and other data-compressed formats used by most online stores and streaming services.
These files will be submitted to an aggregator (distributor) such as DistroKid, CD Baby or Tunecore, to distribute your music to a variety of online stores and streaming services of your choice. If changes are needed, it’s always best to contact whoever did the mastering so these changes can be made from the best possible source, and checked again for quality and accuracy before being uploaded. They should not be altered in any way after being reduced to 24 or 16-bit and should be ready for distribution “as is”. Master WAV files should come directly from the mastering session, and should have never been on an audio CD or in mp3 format. They should all have their file specifications listed on their website but nearly all of them now accept 24-bit/44.1k (or higher) sample rates which is great. There are a growing number of smaller boutique distributors/aggregators as well, too many to keep track of. Other than CD Baby, the rest of the main digital distributors such as DistroKid, The Orchard, and TuneCore all accept 24-bit WAV files, and they can be higher sample rate files than 44.1k if available from the mastering session.
The rest of the digital distributors/aggregators now accept higher resolution files which is great, especially as streaming services are starting to offer lossless and high resolution streaming. I first wrote this article in 2014 and as of 2021, I can now say that there is really only one main digital distributor that still has an arbitrary limitation of 16-bit/44.1k WAV files, and that is CD Baby. Apple Music/iTunes Store, Spotify, Amazon HD, TIDAL, and Other Online Stores/Streaming Servicesįile Format: 24-bit/44.1k Sample Rate (or higher) WAV Files This is an overview of master audio file formats you’ll need depending on how you plan to release and distribute your music, and how well you want to optimize your audio for a given format.
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