MP3 and AIFF explained
MP3 is the lossy audio format that made digital music portable. Its patents expired in 2017, which is part of why it remains ubiquitous — anyone can implement it freely.
AIFF is Apple's uncompressed audio format, functionally equivalent to WAV but with better metadata support and big-endian byte order.
- Where MP3 files come from
- Music libraries, podcasts and voice recordings.
- Where AIFF is used
- Mac audio production and older Apple software.