How to use this workflow
Identify the best source you have
Keep the original recording or highest-quality available source. A WAV created from an MP3 is still derived from that MP3.
Minimize repeated lossy exports
Keep an editable PCM or lossless intermediate where practical. Avoid creating a new MP3 after each individual cut, pitch shift and effect.
Create the final delivery version
Choose the format needed by the destination, export once from the completed edit and compare it with your working version.
Lossless is a property of a coding step
FLAC and ALAC can encode samples without the perceptual losses of MP3, AAC or Vorbis. But if the samples came from an MP3 decoder, preserving them exactly does not reconstruct the recording that existed before the MP3 was made.
Processing also matters. Trimming, equalization, resampling and pitch shifting intentionally produce a different signal. Exporting that new signal in a lossless format preserves that stage’s result; it does not make the whole workflow unchanged from the original.
Compare size using stated assumptions
For sixty seconds of two-channel, 44.1 kHz, 16-bit PCM, sample data occupies about 10.58 MB in decimal units, before file overhead. At a constant 192 kbps, sixty seconds represents about 1.44 MB of encoded audio before overhead. These are calculations, not files downloaded or measured in a test.
A FLAC file’s size depends on the signal and encoder settings, so a fixed universal compression percentage would be misleading. Likewise, actual compressed file sizes include headers and metadata, and variable-bitrate formats need not match one simple bitrate calculation.
Evaluate the result rather than the label
Listen to the final file on the playback setup that matters to you. Compare exposed reverbs, sharp transients and dense high-frequency passages at similar levels. A bigger file can still contain the same damaged or distorted source.
This guide does not claim a blind listening study, a universal audible threshold or a guaranteed preference for one format. If you conduct your own comparison, use the same source and avoid level differences that bias the decision.
Common questions
Does a 320 kbps MP3 converted from 128 kbps improve the source?
It cannot recover discarded source information. The new encode may also add another generation of loss, even though the nominal bitrate is larger.
Why use WAV if the source is already lossy?
It can be a practical intermediate for editing without another lossy encode at that step. It is not a restoration of the original recording.