WAV vs. MP3 for Voiceover: Why Format Matters

WAV is uncompressed audio — every sample is stored exactly as generated, with no quality loss. MP3 is compressed — smaller file size, but some audio detail is discarded permanently to get there. For voiceover work, that difference decides which format you want at which stage of your project.

Why HixCodeTTSv1 generates WAV

Every clip you generate downloads as a WAV file. That matters most if you're going to edit the audio afterward — trimming, layering under music, adjusting levels — because WAV has no compression artifacts to compound each time you re-save. Editing a WAV file repeatedly doesn't degrade it; editing a re-compressed MP3 repeatedly can.

When to convert to MP3

Once your edit is final, converting the finished file to MP3 makes sense if you're distributing it somewhere file size matters — email attachments, a podcast host with upload limits, a website you don't want slowed down by large audio files. Convert once, at the end, after all editing is done — not before.

What this looks like in practice

Generate your narration as WAV, import it into your video or audio editor alongside your other tracks, mix and trim as needed, then export your final project in whatever format your destination platform expects — WAV for further editing, MP3 for final distribution. Keeping the original WAV around also means you can re-export at a different quality later without regenerating the voiceover from scratch.