AAC and Opus explained
AAC is the successor to MP3 and is the default audio codec for MP4 video, Apple Music and YouTube. At the same bitrate it generally sounds noticeably better than MP3.
Opus is the current state of the art for lossy audio, and the codec behind most voice calls you make over the internet. It performs well across an unusually wide range, from 6 kbps speech to transparent music.
- Where AAC files come from
- Streaming services, video soundtracks and Apple devices.
- Where Opus is used
- Voice and video calls, modern podcast pipelines and WebRTC.