What music formats are supported in cars?
4 Answers
Common music formats for car USB drives are MP3 and WMA. Below are the instructions for using a car USB drive and some precautions: How to use a car USB drive: Insert the car USB drive into the USB port, and the vehicle will automatically scan and retrieve the music files from the USB drive. You can then directly play the music stored on the USB drive. Precautions for using a car USB drive: Most vehicles can only recognize music files in MP3 and WMA formats. If the downloaded music is in an incompatible format, it should be converted promptly; otherwise, the vehicle may fail to recognize the files.
I usually enjoy listening to music while driving, and I've noticed that cars support quite a few audio formats. The most common ones are compressed formats like MP3 and WMA, which are supported by almost all car audio systems. CDs I bought in the past used WAV format, which offers excellent sound quality, but they're less commonly used now. Nowadays, playing music via Bluetooth is very convenient, but it's worth noting that when using a smartphone to play music, it gets converted to AAC format for transmission. Some high-end cars can even play lossless FLAC format—just store these files on a USB drive and plug it into the USB port. However, some older car audio systems don't recognize FLAC, so you might need to convert them to MP3 yourself. Many car navigation systems also use independent audio file formats for voice prompts, which are usually custom formats designed by manufacturers.
Last week, while helping a friend research his new car audio system, I discovered that car audio formats are more complex than imagined. Traditional CD players naturally use standard formats for CDs, but most people now use USB drives or Bluetooth. When storing songs on a USB drive, MP3 is the safest choice, though occasionally the car system might prompt an unsupported format, likely due to WMA copyright issues. Nowadays, connecting a phone via CarPlay actually uses data streaming, which is fundamentally different from local file playback. Some car owners who install aftermarket Android screens with app support can even play more niche formats. The audio engineer also mentioned during DSP tuning that different audio formats can noticeably affect speaker performance.
Last week I discovered my dad's old car could still play MD discs—what a nostalgia trip. Nowadays mainstream car stereos actually come with USB ports, which can handle MP3/WAV formats with ease when you plug in a flash drive, and a few even support AAC-encoded m4a files. Be careful when streaming music via Bluetooth: Android phones default to SBC codec transmission, while iPhones use AAC protocol. Some models come with built-in hard drive players that support ripping CDs directly into WMA format for storage. The infotainment screens in new energy vehicles are far more capable—just install a player app to play FLAC or even DSD files, though MP3 is perfectly sufficient for average users.
