Glossary
Lossless vs lossy audio
Lossless formats such as WAV and FLAC preserve the full recorded signal; lossy formats such as MP3 discard detail to shrink files. Buyers generally want the least-compressed version an archive holds.
WAV and FLAC keep every sample; MP3, AAC, and Opus discard detail human ears rarely miss — but synthesis models can be sensitive to the artifacts. FLAC typically shrinks files by around half with no loss, which makes it a common delivery compromise. Transcoding a lossy file back to WAV restores nothing.
Why it matters
The least-compressed surviving format — not the published MP3 — sets an archive’s ceiling, so buyers ask what still exists.