WAV - Most Professional

Best for: Professional audio work, editing, and archiving

Key Benefits:
• Uncompressed quality - retains all original sound data
• Perfect for editing and mixing without quality loss
• Industry standard for professional audio production
• Includes metadata and timecodes for video sync

Trade-off: Large file sizes due to no compression

MP3 - Most Compatible

Best for: Sharing, streaming, and broad device compatibility

Key Benefits:
• Universal support across all devices and platforms
• Smaller file sizes for easy sharing and storage
• Standard for online content and music collections
• Good balance of quality and file size

Trade-off: Lossy compression reduces some audio quality

FLAC - Lossless Compression

Best for: High-fidelity personal collections and archiving

Key Benefits:
• Lossless compression - no quality loss
• Smaller than WAV but same audio quality
• Growing support across modern devices
• Ideal for music enthusiasts and audiophiles

Trade-off: Not as universally supported as MP3