Choose import settings in Music on Mac
When you import songs from CDs into Music, Music converts them into AAC format by default. You can choose a different encoding option, including AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3 and WAV.
Music also supports HE-AAC files (also called MPEG-4 AAC files).
Choose import options
Your choices affect the audio quality and size of the song file (the higher the quality, the larger the file size).
Go to the Music app
on your Mac.
Choose Music > Settings, click Files, then click Import Settings.
Choose an encoding format from the Import Using pop-up menu.
AAC Encoder: Use for most music. You can play songs encoded using this format in Music, on iPhone and iPad, and on iPod models that come with a dock connector.
AIFF Encoder: Use if you want to burn high-quality CDs with the songs you’re importing without losing audio quality. (Songs imported using this format take up much more disk space.)
Apple Lossless Encoder: Use if you want to play imported songs on audiophile-quality sound systems without losing audio quality. (Songs imported using this format take up much more disk space.)
MP3 Encoder: Use if you plan to play music in apps other than Music, or on MP3 players other than iPhone, iPad or iPod.
WAV Encoder: Use if you’ll be playing your songs on a computer that doesn’t have MP3 software. (Songs imported using this format take up much more disk space.)
Choose a bit rate from the Setting pop-up menu (not available with the Apple Lossless Encoder). In most cases, the default selection works well. If you choose MP3 Encoder, you can also choose one of the following:
Good Quality: Choose to fit more songs on a portable MP3 player with limited storage capacity.
High Quality Choose if you play music in a noisy environment. This setting creates files that are about 1 MB in size per minute of music.
Higher Quality: Choose if you plan to create your own audio CDs or listen to your music with high-quality stereo speakers.
Custom: Choose for greater control over the file size and sound quality.
If needed, select the “Use error correction when reading Audio CDs” option.
Set custom import settings using AAC Encoder
Set custom settings for greater control over the quality and size of imported files when importing using AAC Encoder.
Go to the Music app
Choose Music > Settings, click Files, then click Import Settings.
Choose AAC Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
Select the settings available for your encoding format:
Stereo Bit Rate: The higher the Mono or Stereo kilobits per second (kbps), the higher the audio quality and the larger the file size. The most common bit rate for stereo MP3 files is between 128 kbps and 192 kbps. Lower bit rates are more appropriate for sound files containing voice recordings — audiobooks — as opposed to music.
Sample Rate: The number of times per second that the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don’t choose a sample rate higher than the rate used originally to store the music or you’ll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you’re encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Channels: If you don’t have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you’ll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.
Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR): This setting varies the number of bits used to store the music depending on the complexity of the music. This can help keep file size to a minimum.
Use High Efficiency Encoding (HE): This setting optimises the audio quality of highly compressed files.
Optimise for voice: This setting optimises spoken voice recordings while producing smaller files. Select for importing audiobooks, not music.
Set custom import settings using AIFF Encoder
Set custom settings for greater control over the quality and size of imported files when importing using AIFF Encoder.
Go to the Music app
Choose Music > Settings, click Files, then click Import Settings.
Choose AIFF Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
Select the settings available for your encoding format:
Sample Rate: The number of times per second that the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don’t choose a sample rate higher than the rate used originally to store the music or you’ll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you’re encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Sample Size: The number of bits used to store each sample taken as the music is encoded. The higher the sample size, the better the quality and the larger the file size.
Channels: If you don’t have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you’ll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.
Set custom import settings using MP3 Encoder
Set custom settings for greater control over the quality and size of imported files when importing using MP3 Encoder.
Go to the Music app
Choose Music > Settings, click Files, then click Import Settings.
Choose MP3 Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
Select the settings available for your encoding format:
Stereo Bit Rate: The higher the Mono or Stereo kilobits per second (kbps), the higher the audio quality and the larger the file size. The most common bit rate for stereo MP3 files is between 128 kbps and 192 kbps. Lower bit rates are more appropriate for sound files containing voice recordings — audiobooks — as opposed to music.
Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR): This setting varies the number of bits used to store the music depending on the complexity of the music. This can help keep file size to a minimum.
Sample Rate: The number of times per second that the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don’t choose a sample rate higher than the rate used originally to store the music or you’ll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you’re encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Channels: If you don’t have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you’ll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.
Stereo Mode: In Normal mode, your MP3 files contain one track for the right stereo channel and one track for the left. In many cases, the two channels contain related information. In Joint Stereo mode, one channel carries the information that’s identical on both channels, and the other channel carries the unique information. At bit rates of 160 kbps and below, this can improve the sound quality of your converted audio.
Smart Encoding Adjustments: Select to have Music analyse your encoding settings and music source.
Filter Frequencies Below 10 Hz: Select to filter inaudible frequencies, which results in smaller, more efficient files without perceptible loss of quality.
Set custom import settings using WAV Encoder
Set custom settings for greater control over the quality and size of imported files when importing using WAV Encoder.
Go to the Music app
Choose Music > Settings, click Files, then click Import Settings.
Choose WAV Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.
Choose Custom from the Setting pop-up menu.
Select the settings available for your encoding format:
Sample Rate: The number of times per second that the music waveforms are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality and the larger the file size. Don’t choose a sample rate higher than the rate used originally to store the music or you’ll waste space. CD quality, for example, is 44.100 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when you’re encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.
Sample Size: The number of bits used to store each sample taken as the music is encoded. The higher the sample size, the better the quality and the larger the file size.
Channels: If you don’t have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural (mono files are about half the size of stereo files), choose Mono. If you’ll be listening through headphones or a stereo system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts monaural tracks into mono files and stereo tracks into stereo files.