What File Formats Do I Need For Distribution?

Your master is done (or nearly there) and the next step is distribution - congrats!  You’ve made it to the finish line! But do you know what you need for your specific distribution plan?

Let’s go over some of your options.  First we’ll have a look at what formats your mastering engineer can prepare for you, and then we’ll look at a few of the most popular distribution companies and in what format they require your masters to be delivered.

Digital Masters

It’s 2019.  You may even be reading this from the future - in the ‘20s!  Chances are, your mastering engineer is not going to hand you a physical CD and say “off to the pressing plant with ye”.  So even if your distribution plan includes a physical product (CDs, Vinyl, etc.), your mastering engineer should be delivering your masters to you digitally.

Here are some of the most common digital formats you may want to consider receiving from your mastering engineer:

High Resolution WAV Files

The WAV file is the standard uncompressed audio file format (‘uncompressed’ referring to data compression, not musical compression), and the standard for “Hi Res” these days is 24bit WAV.  Sample rate may vary 44.1kHz up to 96 or even 192kHz (but 192 is very rare and not recommended in 2019… check back with me in 2024).

CD Quality WAV Files

A CD Quality WAV file is always delivered at 16bit, 44.1kHz.  Although we live in a digital age, many distributors have not yet caught up.  So while streaming and download services are offering 24bit playback, some distributors only allow artists to upload 16bit files.  Later in this article, we’ll go over which distributors are awesome, and which ones are still stuck in the dark ages.

MP3

The MP3 has become the standard lossy, data-compressed format for sharing and distributing music.  If your 4-minute masterpiece doesn’t fit in an email as a Hi Res WAV file, it will fit as an mp3. The sound quality will suffer, so you never want to upload mp3s for distribution, but the format is just fine for sending in an email to your fans, your sync licenser, and your mother.

Album and EP Formats

Disc Description Protocol (DDP or DDPi)

When you’re making a full album or EP, your distributor may require your masters in the form of a DDP.  The DDP is widely regarded as the most secure way of ensuring that exactly what you approved in the mastering stage is what gets delivered to your distributor - complete with precise spacing, metadata, and sound quality.  However, many independent distributors will not accept masters in the form of a DDP image.

When requesting a DDP from your mastering engineer, please provide them with complete and accurate metadata (exactly as you want it spelled, capitalized, and punctuated) including:

Album Title
Artist Name
Song Titles
Album UPC code
Track ISRC codes

If you don’t have ISRC or UPC codes, or even know where to get them, that’s a good indication that the DDP is beyond the scope of what you need for distribution.  Many independent distributors will provide these codes for you upon uploading your CD quality WAV files to them, so you really don’t need to worry about it.

High Resolution or CD Quality WAV Files

If your distributor does not require (or will not accept) a DDP image of your masters, the next best way to get your music to market is by uploading either Hi Res or CD Quality WAV files of your EP or album to your distributor.  If your plan is to distribute digitally only (no physical products), I would recommend choosing a distributor that accepts 24bit Hi Res WAV files, but if you plan to make CDs, you will need to deliver 16bit 44.1 CD Quality WAV files.  Of course, there’s no rule against distributing with one company digitally, and physically with another. In that case you would deliver Hi Res to your digital guy and CD quality to your CD guy.

Vinyl

Vinyl is set to outperform CD sales this year!  That’s pretty cool! To get you ready for vinyl production, you can ask your mastering engineer to build Vinyl Sides for you - these will be one long Hi Res WAV file for each side of your album specifically prepared for vinyl production (eg. the “Side A” WAV file would include tracks 1-4, and the “Side B” WAV file would include tracks 5-8).

An important thing to note: you should aim to have no more than 20 minutes of music per side because the sound quality of your vinyl will decrease if you try to fit more than that.  Preparing your masters for a cassette release follows a similar one-WAV-per-side format, but a standard cassette can hold up to 45 minutes per side.

Apple Digital Masters (Formerly Mastered for iTunes)

Chances are, the standard masters you receive from your mastering engineer are not in a format that follows the Apple Digital Masters standards.  An ADM compliant master is a separate master that must be requested from an official ADM certified mastering engineer (and I happen to be one of those lucky guys!).  Once requested, the mastering engineer will prepare and deliver ADM compliant masters to you in 24bit WAV format.

Future Formats and Archiving

One last thing to mention on the topic of master deliveries: please archive and backup your masters in multiple safe and secure formats!  While a professional mastering engineer should keep a copy of your masters in their archive, it is not the mastering engineer’s responsibility to do so, it is yours.

When it comes time to re-release your song or album as the “10th anniversary super special mega multi-platinum edition”, your mastering engineer may not have stored your music waiting for this moment for the last 10 years, so it’s 100% on you to keep a copy of your masters in the highest possible format for future re-releases.  At the time of writing this article, that format is 24bit WAV files.

Now that you have a good grasp on what file formats you may need for distribution, let’s have a look at some distributors and what they have to offer.

Popular Distributors and their Requirements

There are so many independent distributors these days, and I’m not going to write about the pros and cons of each (there are so many articles out there that do a great job of reviewing them and that’s not really the point of this article anyway… so go do your homework).  The point is: there’s Coke and Pepsi, McDonalds and Burger King, Neve and API. It’s up to you to decide your taste, personal preference, and which distributor meets your needs best. Here’s just a brief sampling of a few that I’ve worked with before and can recommend:

CD Baby

Best for: CD production and distribution, Digital release, Vinyl

Formats Accepted: CD Quality (44.1kHz/16bit) WAV, DDP

According to their website, they will accept a 24bit file, but they will down-convert it to 16bit on their side.

If you use them for CD production, they will accept a DDP file (but only for the CDs, you’ll have to upload the WAV files separately for digital distribution).

CD Baby will refer you to their partner Disc Makers for vinyl production.

DistroKid

Best for: Digital-only releases

Formats Accepted: Hi Res WAV, up to 96kHz

They’ll get you into all the major digital stores and streaming services.

TuneCore

Best for: Digital releases and CD Production

Formats Accepted: CD Quality (44.1kHz/16bit) WAV

You’ll have to dig a bit to find their CD Production services as it is not their primary offering.

BandCamp

Best for: Independent Distribution and a complete web store

Formats Accepted: Hi Res WAV and anything else under the sun

While BandCamp does not distribute your music to digital stores and streaming services, it does set up your own personal digital store and streaming platform where you can not only sell your music but your merch as well.

Thank you for reading!  I hope this article has helped you learn more about the file formats you need for distribution and your distribution options.

Ready to master your music with Borza Mastering?