The rest of the digital distributors/aggregators now accept higher resolution files which is great, especially as streaming services are starting to offer lossless and high resolution streaming. I first wrote this article in 2014 and as of 2021, I can now say that there is really only one main digital distributor that still has an arbitrary limitation of 16-bit/44.1k WAV files, and that is CD Baby.
Apple Music/iTunes Store, Spotify, Amazon HD, TIDAL, and Other Online Stores/Streaming Servicesįile Format: 24-bit/44.1k Sample Rate (or higher) WAV Files
This is an overview of master audio file formats you’ll need depending on how you plan to release and distribute your music, and how well you want to optimize your audio for a given format.