# Comparison of audio coding formats

The following tables compare general and technical information for a variety of audio coding formats.
For listening tests comparing the perceived audio quality of audio formats and codecs, see the article Codec listening test.

## General information

| Audio compression format | Creator | First public release date | Latest stable version | Cost | Cost | Proprietary implementations (codecs) | Open-source implementations (codecs) | Uses (other than consumer audio) | Music reproduction (consumer audio) | Telephony app | Lossless audio compression | Patented | DRM |
| Audio compression format | Creator | First public release date | Latest stable version | Encoder | Player | Proprietary implementations (codecs) | Open-source implementations (codecs) | Uses (other than consumer audio) | Music reproduction (consumer audio) | Telephony app | Lossless audio compression | Patented | DRM |
| AAC | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 1997 | ISO/IEC 14496-3 | Non-free | Non-free | Nero Digital Audio, Apple CoreAudio (via QuickTime, iTunes or afconvert) | FAAC (encoding only), FAAD2 (decoding only), FFmpeg, Audiocogs (decoding only), Fraunhofer FDK AAC | Digital TV service, Digital Radio, Internet streaming | Yes | AAC-LD/AAC-ELD | MPEG-4 SLS | Yes | FairPlay (.m4p only, discontinued) |
| AC-3 | Dolby Laboratories | 1992 | ATSC A52:2018 | Free | Free | DVD players, digital television, Camcorder | FFmpeg, liba52 (decoding only), Aften (encoding only), libavc (2.0 channels max) | Theatrical movie presentation, Digital TV service & home-video (personal recorders, DVD, etc.) | No | No | No | No | ? |
| AC-4 | Dolby Laboratories | 2014 | ATSC A342:2022-03 | Non-free | Non-free | Digital television, Harmonic Inc., DS Broadcast, Ateme, Synamedia, Dolby Media Encoder & Dolby Encoding Engine | ExoPlayer (decoding only for supported mobile devices) | Digital TV service | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
| ALAC | Apple Inc. | 2004-04-28 | QuickTime 7.6 | Free | Free | QuickTime, iTunes, RealPlayer | MacOSforge, FFmpeg, Audiocogs (decoding only) | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | Free | Possible, but never implemented |
| ALS | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 2005 | ISO/IEC 14496-3 | Free | Free | MPEG-4 ALS | FFmpeg (decoding only) | - | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? |
| AMBE | Digital Voice Systems | ? | ? | Non-free | Non-free | ? | mbelib | Low bandwidth HF/VHF digital radio, VoIP trunking | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
| AMR | 3GPP | 1999-06-22 | ETSI TS 126 071 V9.0.0 (2009) | Non-free | Non-free | QuickTime, RealPlayer | FFmpeg (decoding only), FFmpeg with OpenCORE libraries, Android | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| AMR-WB (G.722.2) | 3GPP | 2001-04-10 | ETSI TS 126 190 V8.0.0 (2009-01) | Non-free | Non-free | QuickTime, RealPlayer | FFmpeg (decoding only), FFmpeg with VisualOn libraries, Android (decoding only), opencore-amr for both encoding and decoding | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| AMR-WB+ | 3GPP | 2004-06-14 | ETSI TS 126 290 V8.0.0 (2009-01) | Non-free | Non-free | ? | ? | voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| aptX | Qualcomm | 1989 | 2007 | Non-free | Non-free | Broadcast audio codecs: 2wcom systems, Systembase, APT, AVT, Harris Corporation, MAYAH, Prodys, Qbit; wireless headphones: iSkin, JayBird Gear, DTS discs for movies | FFmpeg | Low latency Studio/transmitter link, Bluetooth A2DP stereo, digital wireless microphone | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| ATRAC | Sony Corp. | 1991 | ATRAC3plus | Non-free | Non-free | MiniDisc, Walkman, VAIO, Clie, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, SDDS, SonicStage, SoundForge, RealPlayer, ConnectPlayer | FFmpeg (decoding only, ATRAC Advanced Lossless is only partially supported) | voice recording, theatrical movie presentation | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BroadVoice (BV16, BV32) | Broadcom | 2009-08-19 | 1.2 | Free | Free | ? | ? | Speech, VoIP, Low latency, voice recording | No | Yes | No | Free | No |
| CELT | Xiph.Org Foundation, Jean-Marc Valin | 2007-12-08 | 0.11.1 (merged into Opus) | Free | Free | ? | libcelt, FFmpeg with libcelt library (decoding only) | Speech, VoIP, Low latency, Studio/transmitter link, wireless audio | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Codec2 | David Rowe | 2010-08-25 | 1.2.0 (2023-07-14) | Free | Free | ? | c2enc, c2dec | Low bandwidth HF/VHF digital radio, VoIP trunking | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Encodec | Facebook | 2022-10-25 | v0.1.1 (2022-10-26) | Free | Free | ? | Encodec | Speech, VoIP, voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No |
| Enhanced AC-3 (E-AC-3) | Dolby Laboratories | 2004 | ATSC A52:2018 | Non-free | Non-free | Digital television | FFmpeg | Theatrical movie presentation, digital TV service & home-video (personal recorders, DVD, etc.) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| EVS | Fraunhofer, JVC Kenwood, NTT, NTT Docomo, Panasonic, Ericsson | 2014 | ? | Non-free | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| FLAC | Xiph.Org Foundation, Josh Coalson | 2001-07-20 | 1.4.3 (2023-06-23) | Free | Free | | FLAC, Flake (encoding only), FFmpeg, FLACCL (encoding only), Audiocogs (decoding only) | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| G.711 | ITU-T | 1972 (ITU-T standard from 1988) | G.711 Appendix II (02/00) | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | FFmpeg, Ekiga, Asterisk (PBX) and almost any VoIP software | voice recording | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| G.722 | ITU-T | 1988-11 | | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | Asterisk (PBX), QuteCom, FFmpeg | voice recording | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| G.722.1 | ITU-T | 1999-09 | G.722.1 (05/05) | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | FreeSWITCH, PJSIP, etc | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| G.722.2 (AMR-WB) | ITU-T (adopted directly from 3GPP) | 2002-01 | G.722.2 (07/03) | Non-free | Non-free | QuickTime, RealPlayer | FFmpeg (decoding only), FFmpeg with VisualOn libraries, Android (decoding only) | voice recording, audio | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| G.723.1 | ITU-T | 1996-03 | G.723.1 (05/06) | Non-free | Non-free | Various proprietary VoIP software | FFmpeg | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| G.726 | ITU-T | 1990-12 | | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | FFmpeg, Ekiga and other VoIP software | voice recording | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| G.728 | ITU-T | 1992-09 | | Non-free | Non-free | Various proprietary VoIP software | | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| G.729 | ITU-T | 1996-03 | G.729 (06/12) | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | FFmpeg (decoding only) | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Expired | No |
| G.729.1 | ITU-T | 2006-05 | G.729.1 Am.8 (03/13) | Free | Free | Various proprietary VoIP software | | voice recording, DECT telephony | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| GSM-FR | ETSI Special Mobile Group | 1990-1994 (ETS 300 580-2) | ETSI EN 300 961 V8.1.1 (2000–11) | Free | Free | | FFmpeg (decoding only), FFmpeg with external library libgsm, Ekiga and other VoIP software | voice recording | No | Yes | No | ? | No |
| HE-AAC | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 2003 | ISO/IEC 14496-3 | ? | ? | ? | Fraunhofer FDK AAC | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
| iLBC | Global IP Solutions | 2002 | RFC 3951 | Free | Free | Cisco IP Communicator, old versions of Skype | Ekiga, Asterisk (PBX) and other VoIP software, FFmpeg with libilbc library | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Free | No |
| iSAC | Global IP Solutions | ? | | Free | Free | Yahoo! Messenger | WebRTC | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| LA | Michael Bevin | 2002-09-07 | 0.4b (2004-02-08) | Free | Free | Winamp with old plugin version, foobar2000 with old plugin version | ? | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| LC3 | Bluetooth SIG | 2022-04-11 | 1.03 (2023-05-09) | Free | Free | ? | liblc3, Android 13, BlueZ | Speech | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No |
| LDAC | Sony Corp. | 2015-04 | ? | Non-free | Non-free | Sony Walkman, Sony Products, mobile phones | libldacdec, Android 8 (encoding only), BlueZ (encoding only) | Bluetooth audio | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| LHDC | Savitech | 2017 | 5.0.6 (2022-08-03) | Non-free | Non-free | Mobile phones, Bluetooth headphones, Home receivers | Android 10 | Bluetooth audio | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| L2HC | Huawei | 2020 | 3.0 (2023-09-19) | Non-free | Non-free | Huawei products, EMUI, HarmonyOS | Android 10, OpenHarmony, Oniro OS | Bluetooth audio NearLink audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lyra | Google | 2021-04-06 | 1.32 / V3 (2022-12-21) | Free | Free | Google Duo | Lyra | Speech, VoIP, voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No |
| Monkey's Audio | Matthew T. Ashland | 2000 | 10.92 (2025-01-24) | Free | Free | | Monkey's Audio, FFmpeg (decoding only) | Music Archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| MP1 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer I) | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 1991-12-06 | ISO/IEC 11172-3, ISO/IEC 13818-3 | Free | Free | ? | FFmpeg (decoding only) | - | Yes | No | No | Expired | No |
| MP2 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer II) | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 1993 | ISO/IEC 11172-3, ISO/IEC 13818-3 | Free | Free | various DVD software, video software, audio software | TooLAME (encoding only), TwoLAME (encoding only), FFmpeg | DAB, DVB, DVD, VCD, SVCD | Yes | No | No | Free | No |
| MP3 (MPEG-1/2/2.5 Audio Layer III) | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 1993 | ISO/IEC 11172-3, ISO/IEC 13818-3 | Free | Free | FhG, l3enc, MP3enc, (old implementations: Xing TOMPG, SCMPX) | LAME (encoding only), FFmpeg (decoding only), libmad (decoding only), Audiocogs (decoding only), (old implementations: BladeEnc) | - | Yes | No | No | Expired | Yes (optional, rarely used) |
| MPEG-H 3D Audio | ISO/IEC MPEG Audio Committee | 2013-01 | ISO/IEC 23008-3 | Non-free | Non-free | FhG, MainConcept (encoding only) | libmpegh, mpeghdec (decoding only) | Digital TV service, voice recording | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Musepack | Frank Klemm/MDT | 1997 | 1.30 (2009-04-02) | Free | Free | | Musepack, FFmpeg (decoding only) | - | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Nellymoser Asao | Nellymoser Inc. | 2002 | ? | Non-free | Non-free | Adobe Flash, Flash Player | FFmpeg | voice recording | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
| OptimFROG | Florin Ghido | 2001-12-16 | 5.100 (2016-09-02) | Free | Free | OptimFROG and some media players (decoding only). | Some media players (decoding only) | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Opus | Xiph.Org Foundation, Internet Engineering Task Force | 2012-09-11 | RFC 6716 (libopus 1.5.1) | Free | Free | | libopus, FFmpeg | Speech, VoIP, Low latency, Studio/transmitter link, wireless audio, voice recording, WebRTC | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| OSQ | Steinberg | 2002 | ? | Free | Free | WaveLab | FFmpeg (decoding only) | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| QOA | Dominic Szablewski | 2023-02-02 | 1.0 (2023-04-24) | Free | Free | | qoa, FFmpeg (decoding only) | - | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Sac | Sebastian Lehmann | 2006-09-01 | v0.7.6 (2024-07-04) | Free | Free | | Sac | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Satin | Microsoft | 2020 | ? | Non-free | Non-free | Microsoft Teams, Skype | ? | Speech, VoIP, voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| SBC | Bluetooth SIG | 2003 | A2DP 1.3 (2012-07-24) | Free for Bluetooth | Free for Bluetooth | A2DP | BlueZ, FFmpeg | Bluetooth audio | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Shorten | Tony Robinson | 1993-03-30 | 3.6.1 (2007-03-19, final release) | Free | Free | Shorten | FFmpeg (decoding only) | - | Yes | No | Yes | No (with commercial use restriction) | No |
| SILK | Skype Limited | 2009-01-07 | Merged into Opus | Free | Free | Skype | SILK Speech Codec | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| Siren 7 | PictureTel Corp. (now Polycom Inc.) | 1999 | | ? | ? | Microsoft Office Communicator | FreeSWITCH (libg722_1, aMSN (libsiren - part of libmsn), FFmpeg (decoding only) | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | ? |
| SNAC | Hubert Siuzdak | 2024-02-20 | 1.2 (2024-04-04) | Free | Free | | SNAC | Speech, VoIP, voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Speex | Xiph.Org Foundation, Jean-Marc Valin | 2003-03-24 | 1.2.0 (obsoleted by Opus) | Free | Free | Adobe Flash Player 10 | Speex, FFmpeg with libspeex library | voice recording | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| SVOPC | Skype Limited | 2007-03-28 | 2008-09-23 (Skype 3.8) (replaced by SILK) | Non-free | Non-free | Skype | | voice recording | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor (TAK) | Thomas Becker | 2007-01-26 | 2.3.3 (2022-06-30) | Free | Free | Winamp with TAK plugin, foobar2000 with plugin, XMPlay | FFmpeg (decoding only) | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| TSAC | Fabrice Bellard | 2024-04-08 | 2024-04-08 | Free | Free | No | TSAC, Linux: , Windows (experimental): . Does encoding and decoding in one app, no separate encoder and decoder | Speech, VoIP, voice recording | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| True Audio (TTA) | TAU Software | 1999 | 2.3 (2015-02-24) | Free | Free | | TTA, FFmpeg | - | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| TwinVQ | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 1996 (?) | | Non-free | Non-free | Winamp with VQF plugin, NTT TwinVQ player/encoder, Yamaha SoundVQ player, Nero Media Player | FFmpeg (decoding only) | speech | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| USAC | Fraunhofer IIS | 2012 | 4.4.0 (2023-06-21) | Non-free | ? | EZ CD Audio Converter, FFmpeg with Mainconcept plugin (encoder only), Sonnox, Apple (decoder only), QuickTime (Mac version & decoder only). | Exhale (encoder only), FFmpeg (decoding only with Fraunhofer FDK AAC library enabled for manually command, native decoding only), Android (decoder only) | - | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Vorbis (Ogg) | Xiph.Org Foundation | 2000-05-11 | 1.3.7 (2020-07-04) | Free | Free | | libvorbis, aoTuV, FFmpeg | - | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| WavPack | Conifer Software | 1998 | 5.7.0 (2024-02-29) | Free | Free | | WavPack, FFmpeg | Music archival | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| Windows Media Audio | Microsoft | 1999 | 11.0 | Free for consumer licensees of the Windows operating system | Free for licensees of the Windows operating system | Windows Media Player, Windows Media Encoder | FFmpeg (decoding only for Pro, Lossless and Voice) | internet streaming | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Optional |
| Audio compression format | Creator | First public release date | Latest stable version | Encoder | Player | Proprietary implementations (codecs) | Open-source implementations (codecs) | Uses (other than consumer audio) | Music reproduction (consumer audio) | Telephony app | Lossless audio compression | Patented | DRM |
| DRM ||