Which sound format produces good quality audio in a compressed file format?

MP3 is a widely used audio format known for producing good quality audio while maintaining a compressed file size. This makes it particularly advantageous for sharing and streaming music, as it reduces the amount of storage space needed without significantly compromising sound quality. The compression used in the MP3 format utilizes perceptual coding, which takes into account the limitations of human hearing to remove inaudible frequencies and sounds, leading to file sizes that are much smaller than uncompressed formats, yet still providing a satisfactory listening experience.

In contrast, WAV, MOV, and AIFF formats are typically uncompressed or less compressed and tend to result in larger file sizes. WAV files, for instance, are often used in professional audio settings for their high fidelity but are not ideal for storage or sharing in limited bandwidth situations due to their size. MOV is a video file format that can contain audio tracks, and AIFF is used primarily in Apple environments and, like WAV, often results in larger files with higher sound quality. While all these formats have their uses, they do not combine good quality and file size efficiency as effectively as MP3 does.