YouTube Formats
Audio vs Video
Understand the difference between MP4, WebM, MP3, and M4A. Choose the right format for your needs.
Quick Format Picker
Need Video?
For watching content
MP4 works on every device - phones, tablets, computers, TVs, and game consoles.
Need Audio Only?
For music & podcasts
MP3 is universally supported - works in car stereos, old iPods, and every music player.
Video Formats
For downloading YouTube videos to watch offline
The most widely supported video format. Works on virtually every device and player.
- Universal compatibility
- Good compression
- Supports subtitles
- Hardware acceleration
- Slightly larger than WebM
- Older codec technology
Google's open format with better compression. Slightly smaller files with same quality.
- Better compression
- Open source
- Great for web
- Smaller files
- Limited device support
- Some players don't support it
- May need conversion
Container format that can hold multiple audio/subtitle tracks. Popular for archiving.
- Multiple audio tracks
- Chapter support
- Flexible container
- Great for archiving
- Poor device support
- Not for sharing
- May need conversion
Audio Formats
For extracting music, podcasts, and audio content
The most widely supported audio format. Works everywhere but uses older compression.
- Universal support
- Small files
- Works on all devices
- Easy to share
- Lossy compression
- Not the best quality
- Older technology
Apple's audio format. Better quality than MP3 at same file size.
- Better quality than MP3
- Same file size
- iTunes compatible
- Modern codec
- Some players don't support
- May need conversion
- Less universal than MP3
Newest audio codec with best compression. Excellent quality at low bitrates.
- Best compression
- Excellent quality
- Great for voice
- Open source
- Limited support
- Newer format
- May need conversion
When to Use What Format
For Mobile Devices
- MP4Best for video - works on iOS & Android
- MP3Best for audio - universal support
For Desktop/Laptop
- MP4orWebMBoth work great
- M4ABetter audio quality than MP3
For Saving Storage
- WebMSmaller video files
- OpusSmallest audio files
For Sharing
- MP4Everyone can play it
- MP3Works on any device