Depends of the intended use of the files.
PCM is the most compatible format, it will "play" without issues in any receiver or TV. But it has the largest size for the file.
mp3 is a format that are supported mostly by PC and a very-very limited range of receivers. Lowest quality, but smallest files.
AAC is a format supported by PC and Mac, successor of mp3. Small files, better quality, allows multichannel. It is slowly becoming a standard, but is still not directly supported by receivers or TV's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

I would recommend AAC.

Quote: Hi there,

What would be the optimum format for audio files - mp3, wav, or aac?

TIA

For what final purpose -- where are you going to use the music/audio files? As part of a vidoe project, a standa alone audio project, for mp3 disc, etc?

Please don't be stingy with the information! Use a computer to ask your questions so it is much easier type in the information. Cell phones (if you are using one) are so much harder. .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Quote: For what final purpose -- where are you going to use the music/audio files? As part of a vidoe project, a standa alone audio project, for mp3 disc, etc?

Sorry I wasn't more specific. It's a holiday video project in Bluray. (I'm actually doing a DVD version as well). In my previous Editing software, I converted wav files to mp3 and added them to the timeline. After rendering the Video (mpv) & Audio (mpa/mp2)streams separately, I then converted the mpa/mp2 using TMPEnc to AC3.

The resultant Audio was very good. I hope that explains things better. IanB
PowerDirector Ultimate 18.0.3801.0 (64bit)
Dell XPS 8700, Win 8.1
4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 processor (6M Cache, up to 3.4 GHz)
Nividia GeForce 720 Version 372.54 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GB x 2)
2 x 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard D

Quote:

Quote: For what final purpose -- where are you going to use the music/audio files? As part of a vidoe project, a standa alone audio project, for mp3 disc, etc?

Sorry I wasn't more specific. It's a holiday video project in Bluray. (I'm actually doing a DVD version as well). In my previous Editing software, I converted wav files to mp3 and added them to the timeline. After rendering the Video (mpv) & Audio (mpa/mp2)streams separately, I then converted the mpa/mp2 using TMPEnc to AC3.

The resultant Audio was very good. I hope that explains things better.

I'm still confused ! Why did you do all that? Why did you render the video and the audio separately? Is that because o9f the software you are using? Did you want a standalone audio file to play or a audio disc?

You should be able to just add the wav file to the project. Wav, as you know is uncompressed. These are the options for blu ray disc audio. .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

It was the way the software worked. FWIW the editing software was EditStudio6, and the authoring program was DVDLab Pro, both produced by a Canadian company, Mediachance. I had used the editor since version 2. (Originally developed by 2 brothers in England. They sold the rights to Mediachance about 3 or 4 years ago).

Because there has been no further development in the editor for about 18 months - it is unable to work with AVCHD/H.264 - I came across PD12 and liked it a lot.

All I really want to know is which format is best for music tracks for the video - wav, mp3, or AAC. Sorry if a sounded a bit vague with my query. IanB
PowerDirector Ultimate 18.0.3801.0 (64bit)
Dell XPS 8700, Win 8.1
4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 processor (6M Cache, up to 3.4 GHz)
Nividia GeForce 720 Version 372.54 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GB x 2)
2 x 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard D

Quote: It was the way the software worked. FWIW the editing software was EditStudio6, and the authoring program was DVDLab Pro, both produced by a Canadian company, Mediachance. I had used the editor since version 2. (Originally developed by 2 brothers in England. They sold the rights to Mediachance about 3 or 4 years ago).

Because there has been no further development in the editor for about 18 months - it is unable to work with AVCHD/H.264 - I came across PD12 and liked it a lot.

All I really want to know is which format is best for music tracks for the video - wav, mp3, or AAC. Sorry if a sounded a bit vague with my query.

Use what you started with -- you said you started with wav so use that to add to the timeline. The others are compressed to some degree and some are better compression codec than others but why convert if you don't have to?

There is no need to have separate audio and video tracks in the output. The program takes that out of that equation.

Am I getting to understand better? .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Thanks Stevek,

I'll go with the wave files.

The separate streams in the previous software was just the way the software worked. I'm now using PD12 permanently.

Thanks again
IanB
PowerDirector Ultimate 18.0.3801.0 (64bit)
Dell XPS 8700, Win 8.1
4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 processor (6M Cache, up to 3.4 GHz)
Nividia GeForce 720 Version 372.54 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GB x 2)
2 x 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard D

^+1. For DVD compatibility, use the WAV files. DVD can use for audio only PCM (WAV) or DolbyDigital.