They should not be altered in any way after being reduced to 24 or 16-bit and should be ready for distribution “as is”. Master WAV files should come directly from the mastering session, and should have never been on an audio CD or in mp3 format. They should all have their file specifications listed on their website but nearly all of them now accept 24-bit/44.1k (or higher) sample rates which is great. There are a growing number of smaller boutique distributors/aggregators as well, too many to keep track of. Other than CD Baby, the rest of the main digital distributors such as DistroKid, The Orchard, and TuneCore all accept 24-bit WAV files, and they can be higher sample rate files than 44.1k if available from the mastering session. 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. 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.Īpple Music/iTunes Store, Spotify, Amazon HD, TIDAL, and Other Online Stores/Streaming Services File Format: 24-bit/44.1k Sample Rate (or higher) WAV Files UPDATED: Variables Regarding Master Audio Files