When ripping music from a CD, save your songs in AAC or MP3 format. There is little difference in audio quality between the two file types. The encoding speed has a greater impact on how the track ultimately sounds.

AAC is the preferred audio file format for iTunes and Apple Music, but it is possible to play AAC files on Android and Windows computers. The MP3 format also works on either operating system. You should have no problem playing either file type on either device.

To explore the differences between the formats, we compare the song Wild Sage by The Mountain Goats encoded in each format at three different speeds: 128 Kbps, 192 Kbps, and 256 Kbps. The higher the Kbps, the larger the file size, but the better the quality.

The MP3 and AAC versions sound almost identical. The MP3 version is 1.2 MB smaller.