Take the 2-minute tour ×

I have noticed that most tutorials regarding HTML5 audio tags always use mp3 and ogg formats, Why do most developers use mp3 and ogg format in their html5 audio source tags? Why can't it be mp3 and wav? Is it a rule of the thumb to use mp3 and ogg on audio source tags?

share|improve this question
add comment

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Wave is generally uncompressed audio data, which is not practical for web applications.

share|improve this answer
care to explain why it is not practical for web applications? –  user962206 Dec 28 '12 at 14:40
.Wav files are uncompressed == large == slow download == annoyance –  Ralf de Kleine Dec 28 '12 at 14:43
but wav files deliver better sound quality, are wav files to be considered if audio quality is important? –  user962206 Dec 28 '12 at 14:46
Better is subjective term. Ogg and mp3s are good enough. Most of the people browsing web don't have proffesional-grade audio equipment do hear a difference between SACD and CD, and even between FLAC and mp3. And oh, wave can have any bitrate, so for example 32kbps wave is entirely possible, though the quality will be a lot worse than (for example) low-profile AAC. –  Bartek Banachewicz Dec 28 '12 at 14:49
Read and listen to this, mp3 file 25% of wav >> noiseaddicts.com/2010/04/… –  Ralf de Kleine Dec 28 '12 at 14:50
show 1 more comment

mp3 and especially ogg are easy to stream and can contain video/audio/text

as mentioned above .wav is totally uncompressed-audio only

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer


