ROTATIONWhere to send your musicThe Dial

WAV or MP3: what format should you send radio?

The short answer

Send WAV when the station allows an attachment or a download, and treat 320 kbps MP3 as the floor rather than the goal. Broadcast processing compresses and limits everything it airs, which exaggerates the artefacts an MP3 has already baked in permanently.

	WAV or other lossless	MP3 320	MP3 128 or a stream link
Audio kept	All of it	Most of it, permanently reduced	Audibly reduced
Survives broadcast processing	Yes	Acceptably	No
File size for a single	Roughly 30 to 50 MB	Roughly 7 to 10 MB	Small
Emails without trouble	Often too large, use a download	Usually yes	Yes
Accepted by stations that specify a format	Yes	Sometimes	Rarely
What it signals	You are treating this as broadcast	You are being practical	You did not think about it

Send lossless when

The station names WAV, AIFF, FLAC or lossless anywhere in its rules.
You are sending a download link or filling a form with an upload field.
The record is going to a station that will add it to a library and keep it.

MP3 320 is fine when

The station asks for an email attachment and gives a size limit.
The station's own rules name MP3 as acceptable.
You are sending a first contact and the full-quality file will follow.

What the data shows

At least 42 of the 273 confirmed accepting stations ask for lossless audio in their published rules, including KCRW, WKNC, WMNF, WNAA, WVUA, WYXR, and at least 3 state they will not take a streaming link at all (KALX, KNHC, WKNC). Separately, 41 of those 273 want physical media rather than any file, and 8 accept nothing else, so for those the format question is a pressing question.

What to do

Export WAV from the master, not from an MP3 you already bounced.
Leave about a decibel of headroom. Loud in the file is not loud on air.
Name the file Artist - Song Title, and add (Clean) when it is the clean edit.
Read the station's stated format before you choose. It is usually written down.

Questions people ask

Is 320 kbps MP3 good enough for radio?

For most stations, yes. A 320 kbps MP3 survives broadcast processing acceptably and many stations accept it explicitly. It is the floor rather than the target: where a station allows lossless, lossless is the better send, and where a station names WAV, an MP3 can get the submission rejected outright.

Why do radio stations ask for WAV instead of a streaming link?

Two reasons. A link is one more step for somebody working through a queue, and it can break or change. And a broadcast chain needs the actual audio file to schedule and process, so a station that logs and plays from a library needs something it can keep.

Every door is on your sheet.

Pick your sound and region on Rotation and each of these stations shows its real submission contact and the exact rules it posts: clean edit, WAV, form or mail. Checked by hand and kept current. No station here paid to be listed.

Open my sheet →

Radio is the free half, and it stays that way. Every station here is free to reach and no station ever pays to be listed. The Doors is the other half: 100 verified places that are not radio, sync libraries, music supervisors, festivals, contests, live sessions and the music press, 43 of which can actually pay an artist. It also lists the 162 we opened and refused, with the reason each one failed, because most lists of this kind are stale and the rejections are the part nobody else will show you. $9.99, the 2026 Q3 edition →

Email vs form vs postEmail, web form or post: how do radio stations actually want music sent?Station vs showShould you submit to the station or to a specific show?Lossless audioGlossary Clean editGlossary ISRCGlossary One-sheetGlossary

Every comparison → · The Playbook → · The data behind these numbers →

Checked by hand, not scraped · Last rechecked September 2026