Library & files
WAV and AIFF
WAV and AIFF are uncompressed audio containers — the raw samples, no encoding. They sound identical to each other and differ mainly in how they store tags and which software wrote them.
In practice
WAV and AIFF are the same audio in different wrappers — pick the one your software tags reliably.
If your library already tags cleanly, this is not a decision worth making. If it does not, the fix is usually to move to whichever container your software writes tags into properly and re-import, rather than to fight the tagging. Either way, uncompressed files are large enough that most DJs end up keeping them as masters and carrying something smaller to the gig.
1,411 kbps
CD-rate stereo, either format
None
Audible difference between them
Tags
The only real difference
Where these come from: Format properties and the arithmetic of CD-rate stereo (44.1 kHz × 16 bits × 2 channels), not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the same audio, smaller.
Why it matters
The practical difference is metadata, not audio. AIFF has carried tags reliably for longer, WAV support has historically been patchier across software, and a DJ library lives or dies on whether the artist, title and key survive a move between programs.
The audio difference is nothing, which is worth saying plainly because a lot of energy goes into the question. Both hold the same samples at the same rate; a conversion between them is lossless in both directions.
Frequently asked
Does AIFF sound better than WAV?+
No. Both are uncompressed containers holding identical samples, and converting between them changes nothing about the audio.
Which should DJs use, WAV or AIFF?+
Whichever your software tags reliably. Metadata that survives a library move matters far more than a container choice that has no effect on sound.
How big is an uncompressed track?+
At CD rate, about 61.4 MB for a track of median length in this catalog — roughly four and a half times a 320 kbps file of the same track.
Related terms
FLAC
FLAC is a lossless compressed format: it shrinks a file without discarding any audio, so decoding returns the original samples exactly. It typically lands around 60% the size of the WAV it came from.
Lossless
Lossless means the encoding discards nothing: decode the file and the original samples come back bit for bit. WAV, AIFF, FLAC and ALAC are lossless; MP3 and AAC are not.
Bit rate
Bit rate is how much data one second of audio uses, in kilobits per second. It decides the file size, and on a lossy format it decides how much of the original recording survives the encoding.
ID3 tags
ID3 tags are the metadata written inside an audio file — title, artist, album, genre, year, comment, and on DJ files often BPM and key. They travel with the file rather than with the software that read it.
Explore: FLAC · Crate to tracklist · ID3 tags · All DJ terms