Best Audio Format for Podcasts

Three separate stages, three separate answers

Podcast production has three distinct phases where the format question comes up: recording, editing, and distribution. The right format at each stage is different, and mixing them up causes problems.

Stage 1: Recording

Record in WAV, or whatever lossless format your recording setup defaults to. Most dedicated audio interfaces and recording software default to WAV at 44.1 kHz / 16-bit, which is standard CD quality and more than sufficient for voice recording. Some use 48 kHz — that's fine too.

A few recorder devices default to MP3. If you have a choice, switch to WAV. If your recorder only does MP3, use the highest bitrate it offers (typically 320 kbps). You'll still have the MP3 quality ceiling, but you minimise additional degradation in later stages.

Phone recordings via apps like Voice Memos (which saves as M4A) or third-party recorders are workable for remote guests, but they're not ideal for main hosts. If you're recording on a phone: convert the M4A to WAV before editing — not because the quality improves, but to avoid compounding compression in subsequent steps.

Stage 2: Editing

Edit in WAV. This applies regardless of what format the recordings came in as. If you received an MP3 from a remote guest, convert it to WAV first. Then cut, noise-reduce, normalise, add music, and export — all from WAV.

The reason is the same as in any audio editing context: opening and re-saving an MP3 multiple times applies lossy compression repeatedly. After two or three edit cycles, voice quality degrades noticeably. Staying in WAV through the entire edit means only one encode happens, at the very end.

Audacity, Adobe Audition, Hindenburg, Reaper, and Descript all handle WAV natively. None of them require you to work in MP3.

Stage 3: Distribution

This is where format and bitrate decisions affect the listener. The podcast distribution ecosystem is built around MP3. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS aggregators — all accept MP3. All podcast hosting platforms accept MP3 as the standard format.

Does AAC perform better than MP3 for podcasts?

AAC (often distributed as M4A) does produce better audio quality than MP3 at 128 kbps. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and several podcast apps support AAC. If your hosting platform supports it and you know your listeners use modern devices, 128 kbps AAC is a reasonable choice.

The practical issue is compatibility. MP3 is guaranteed to work on every device, RSS reader, and podcast app. AAC has broad but not universal support. Older car systems, certain smart speakers, and some embedded podcast apps may not handle M4A/AAC from an RSS feed. For most podcasts, MP3 remains the safe default because you can't predict every listener's setup.

Common mistakes

• —Recording in MP3 directly. Avoid if you can. You lock in a quality ceiling before you've done any editing.
• —Editing and re-encoding MP3 files. Each save through a lossy encoder degrades the audio further. Work in WAV.
• —Publishing in WAV. A 45-minute WAV is 600+ MB. Hosting costs, download times, and listener data usage all suffer. MP3 is the right output for distribution.
• —Using stereo for voice-only shows. It adds no noticeable quality to speech while doubling the file size.
• —Setting bitrate too low to save storage. 64 kbps MP3 sounds noticeably degraded. 96 kbps is acceptable for pure speech but 128 kbps is the minimum worth publishing.