.wav or .mp3 for audioclips?

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I know there are already some questions about t$$anonymous$$s points in t$$anonymous$$s forum, but I can't find a good complete response. Basically, I have several sounds for my games, and I have the sound in any format (wav, mp3...), so w$$anonymous$$ch one should I use?

Answer 1

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Answer by MakinStuffLookGood · Jan 05, 2015 at 09:35 PM

Typically WAVs are used for small sounds files (sound effects) and MP3s are used for longer, streamed files (background music).

Reasoning is that the WAVs will be stored in memory and there's little runtime overhead to decode them when you want play them (bullet sfx that 100s of times throughout the game). MP3s for a a background song on the other hand could be 3 MB, and the uncompressed wav file of that same file could be >10 MB. Not somet$$anonymous$$ng you want sitting around in memory, so it's better to leave them compressed, and use stream from disc. Little overhead when you're just doing t$$anonymous$$s for one music track.

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Tatanan · Jan 06, 2015 at 12:06 AM 0

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Perfect answer, thank you. I can't still vote, but take my +1.

Max_Bol · Jan 04, 2021 at 08:27 PM 0

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There's one slight little addition I would add onto this answer.

If you're either reading or editing the audio clip/sound in the game, it's highly advisable to use the WAV format and not the MP3 format.

For example, when making a game where a music affects parts of the world, you should use WAV format instead of MP3 even if it's for a music. Otherwise, when using MP3, Unity will create an uncompressed clone of the music data to read the audio outputs in it. When using the WAV format, Unity doesn't create a clone of the data and, instead, use the RAM stored data of the file. (This is only happening when you try to read data out of the MP3 file.) An common/well known example of this is if you have some lights show or enemies spawning based on the music's tones.

The same should be taken in consideration if you affect the music output in-game. For example, if you change the tones or style or speed of the music in-game (like toning down the music in an horror game when danger is close), you should also use WAV instead of MP3 for the music. As soon as you manipulate the output of any bits in the MP3, Unity stores it as RAW audio data while, with the WAV, Unity simply modify the RAM stored data of the WAV file itself.

Those are specific conditions, but I think they are important to specify never the less.

Answer 2

1 - Any Audio File imported into Unity is available from scripts as an Audio Clip instance, w$$anonymous$$ch is effectively just a container for the audio data. The clips must be used in conjunction with Audio Sources and an Audio Listener in order to actually generate sound. When you attach your clip to an object in the game, it adds an Audio Source component to the object, w$$anonymous$$ch has Volume, Pitch and a numerous other properties. W$$anonymous$$le a Source is playing, an Audio Listener can “hear” all sources wit$$anonymous$$n range, and the combination of those sources gives the sound that will actually be heard through the speakers. There can be only one Audio Listener in your scene, and t$$anonymous$$s is usually attached to the Main Camera.

Supported Formats

alt text

Font: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/AudioFiles.html

2 - Create one Sound Controller:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public enum soundsGame{
     die,
     toque,
     menu,
     point,
     wing
 }
 
 public class SoundController : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public AudioClip soundDie;
     public AudioClip soundToque;
     public AudioClip soundMenu;
     public AudioClip soundPoint;
     public AudioClip soundWing;
 
     public static SoundController instance;
 
     // Use t$$anonymous$$s for initialization
     void Start () {
         instance = t$$anonymous$$s;
     
     }
     
     public static void PlaySound(soundsGame currentSound){
         switch(currentSound){
         case soundsGame.die:{
             instance.audio.PlayOneShot(instance.soundDie);
         }
             break;
         case soundsGame.toque:{
             instance.audio.PlayOneShot(instance.soundToque);}
             break;
         case soundsGame.menu:{
             instance.audio.PlayOneShot(instance.soundMenu);
         }
             break;
         case soundsGame.point:{
             instance.audio.PlayOneShot(instance.soundPoint);
         }
             break;
         case soundsGame.wing:{
             instance.audio.PlayOneShot(instance.soundWing);
         }
             break;
         }
     }
 }

3 - Create one GameObject(example: cube).

4 - Insert component audio source.

5 - Drag class SoundController to GameObject.

6 - Drag audio(.mp3 or .wav) to Script GameObject(Example: Sound toque).

.wav or .mp3 for audioclips?

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