What Is iTunes Store Audio Format And How To Play?

iTunes is a popular application among users especially when it comes to streaming and organizing music. This is one of the most widely used because it has a lot of audio formats supported. To name them, you can play AAC files, MP3, FLAC and ALAC. Some of you may know the MP3 format alone, while may know AAC.

In this article, the difference between these formats, including the advantages and disadvantages, will be discussed. You will learn as well about the used iTunes store audio format, what are the things that you can do with it and would it give you a better sound quality than the previously mentioned ones.

Contents Guide Part 1. What Is the Format of Audio Purchased from iTunes Store?Part 2. Other Formats Supported in iTunesPart 3. The Best Way to Stream iTunes and Apple Music with Any FormatPart 4. Conclusion

Part 1. What Is the Format of Audio Purchased from iTunes Store?

As tackled, iTunes can play multiple audio file formats. Every track found in the iTunes store are compressed in size for the purpose of reducing the space that it will consume when saved on your device. However, the consequence of shrinking the original size into a smaller one may cause the audio quality to decrease. One good illustration to understand it easier is the MP3 format. Apart from that, AAC format which is the default iTunes store audio format used, can also serve as a good example. This is actually designed to be the equivalent of MP3, but in some cases, it is believed to have a higher bit rate.

Every single file that you purchase from the iTunes store is encoded in AAC. This is actually the best iTunes audio format, not only because of the quality and size, but also for its compatibility with multiple music players especially Apple devices. Once saved on your device, it will only consume a space that is smaller than 1 MB for each minute of music length. In addition to AAC, you can also explore the formats of Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV. The last two formats mentioned are different in AAC in a way that they are not compressed files and have a larger file size. Meaning to say, these kinds of files will take up a much bigger space on your storage. But on the brighter side, they will surely let you stream the best audio quality.

Part 2. Other Formats Supported in iTunes

Based on the size and quality, AAC is definite the best iTunes store audio format. But still, iTunes let its users to choose the audio format they want to have. By going to the Preferences window, you will be able to see the complete options. Each format encoder is defined below. Take note of the characteristics of each and how one format differs from the other.

AAC Encoder

AAC is not an actual format product from Apple. If you are well aware about MP4 standard, AAC is part of it and it can be utilized by any software apart from Apple Music or from being the iTunes store audio format. Since the release of AAC, a lot of progress and enhancements are made. When it is just starting, the devices that can access it are only limited in number, but as time passes by, more devices are getting used to this format including portable players and even those speakers that you have at your home.

Apple Lossless Encoder

Apple Lossless is the format which Apple created. This is designed to be lossless from the start wherein the total space that its file can consume is only small while still being capable of keeping the music data related to the file. If you have some tracks or albums saved on a disc, you can try on converting its initial format into Apple Lossless. After saving the ripped version, check on the total space consumed and you’ll notice that only 250-400 MB space was used. To be more specific, it is at most 7 MB per minute alone. But of course, this will always depend on the music type saved.

According to Apple, lossless audio on ‌Apple Music‌ can be listened to on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Apple Music for Android also support Apple Lossless Audio. But bear in mind that Apple Music will lack Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support on Android. Due to the limitations of Bluetooth (AAC codec), analog-to-digital conversion, and the Apple Lossless Audio codec, AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max can’t stream in 48kHz Lossless or 192kHz Hi-Res lossless audio.

MP3 Encoder

Apart from the default iTunes store audio format, MP3 can also be played on the platform. Among all the audio formats released for music, MP3 is surely the most popular, with every one of us definitely being familiar with it. Another reason behind its popularity is that almost all devices can access this format. When it comes to compatibility, MP3 is totally at the top.

AIFF Encoder

One advantage of AIFF audio format is with regards to the raw data that can be accessed even on computers utilized. The only drawback of this format is about the storage space consumption. Every single file released in such format will take up to 600 to 700 MB. If you will do the math, for every minute saved, a 10 MB space is consumed. This is mainly because AIFF files are not compressed. On the brighter side, the audio quality is really good.

WAV Encoder

Audio files ripped in WAV are also uncompressed files and will take a much larger space compared to others.

Part 3. The Best Way to Stream iTunes and Apple Music with Any Format

Discussed above are all the audio formats that you can have through the iTunes app in addition to the default iTunes store audio format. All of these formats can be saved on your device without having issues with playing them on any device that you want. This is possible only if you will use AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter app.

Since iTunes and Apple Music files are both protected with DRM, owning them as yours is definitely impossible. But since AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter is very capable of iTunes DRM removal, keeping them will now be attainable as conversion and download can be done as well. In using AMusicSoft, you will only have to spend a few minutes of your time until the work is done. This is via the 16x faster working speed that it has. Even with the fast speed, it is still able to work on the best audio quality.

In addition to that, you should also commend the user interface of AMusicSoft which every beginner will surely find it very convenient to use. The output formats that it can produce include MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, AC3 and M4A.

It will also help you keep songs streaming on any device even without a subscription. When using the Apple Music or iTunes app, you may find some playing issues which can be super annoying. Perhaps the iTunes application is unable to start correctly. In some cases, iTunes get album artwork gone, or Apple Music plays automatically. To fix common problems on iTunes or Apple Music, you’re going to need to transfer music to other players for playing smoothly.

Here is the procedure on how to download Apple Music songs to any format.

• Download AMusicSoft and launch it on your computer.

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• After that, start uploading the music files by ticking on the box beside each song title as an indication that it has been selected for upload.

• Next is to choose the output format and decide on the output settings as well.

• Then select the Convert button that is placed at the lower right part of your screen.

• Lastly, click the Finished menu to see all of the downloaded music files.

Part 4. Conclusion

To quickly end this article, let me take a short review of the sections included in the discussion above. With the help of each part, you’ve learned about the iTunes store audio format, as well as the other formats supported in the platform. With all the information shared above, you got to know the difference between each and learned which to save and not. On the other hand, you can save any iTunes and Apple Music you like through the help of AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter. This tool can even give you multiple formats that are very good with compatibility concerns.

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