If you flip through the product manual you might be surprised by how many different types there are.

What makes them different from one another, and should this be important to you?

Music File Formats Explained

When it comes todigital music, does the format really matter?

Different kinds of music files in a computer window

Lifewire / Marina Li

The answer: It depends.

There are compressed and uncompressedaudio files, which may have either a lossy or lossless quality to it.

), and you own higher-end audio equipment, there are benefits to using uncompressed or lossless audio.

Common Formats

So how do you choose?