Editorial Note

Mastered for iTunes is now Apple Digital Masters. On 08/07/2019 Apple Music announced the launch of Apple Digital Masters, a rebranding initiative that combines all of Apple’s Mastered for iTunes collections into one catalog. The iTunes® brand is finished, but the technical standard, and its justification, remain the same.

Apple notes that the majority of top releases on Apple Music as of 2019 are Apple Digital Masters, specifically about 75% of of the Top 100 in the U.S. and 71% of the Top 100 globally. The details in this 2013 article remain as valid as ever. Enjoy.

Why Mastered for iTunes Matters

by Rob Schlette

This article explains the Mastered for iTunes program, and why it’s an important benchmark for digital music distribution.

Masters v Premasters



It doesn’t matter if you’re a major label dealing directly with iTunes or a self-released artist using an aggregator; iTunes wants a specific digital audio premaster so that they can do the encoding (i.e. mastering) in-house.

So what do they want, and how do you know that your master is going to turn out the way you want it to? That’s precisely what the Mastered for iTunes program is all about.

Codecs and Compensated Premasters

The goal of any digital audio codec is to take a high-resolution or CD-quality digital audio file, and generate an encoded file that retains as much of the subjective audio quality as possible, but with a reduced file size. Regardless of anyone’s opinion of any particular codec, if your music is going to be sold on iTunes, it’s going to be encoded by Apple using their variable bit rate 256kbps AAC encoding format.




Best Practices and Deliverables

The Apple AAC codec performs measurably better with high-resolution digital audio input than with CD-quality input. A cursory review of the technology behind variable bit rate encoding should confirm this. ABX listening tests can do the same.


  1. “An ideal master will have 24-bit, 96kHz resolution.”




Bottom line: Apple is requesting 24-bit WAV premasters with native sample rates and approximately 1dB of peak headroom.

Why Mastered for iTunes Matters

CD-DA is not the primary music delivery medium anymore. The 2016 RIAA Music Industry Shipment Stats showed that, “digitally distributed formats comprised 75.5% of the total US market by dollar value in 2016.” What is the sense in continuing (intentionally or not) to master strictly for CD? Ignoring a concerted, thoughtful approach to delivering music for digital distribution ignores the statistical bulk of the listening audience.

The Mastered for iTunes Best Practices aren’t the least bit obscure or esoteric. In fact, they’re a good de facto standard for any digital premaster delivery. The loudest argument for ignoring the Mastered for iTunes program is that streaming music sources have overtaken digital download outlets as the primary source of music (digital or otherwise). That observation seems to make a better case for coordinated premaster deliver standards than against.


Mastered for iTunes is a simple standard for providing predictable high-quality results for one of music’s most popular retail distribution channels. Beyond that, it is an excellent chance for the pro audio community to get in the good habit of carefully considering and accommodating digital music distribution.