Simply clicking on the file will open it in iTunes or Windows Media Player, depending on your preferred platform. Due to small size and acceptable quality, MP3 files are accessible to a wide audience, as well as easy to store and share.īecause MP3 files are so prevalent, most major audio playback programs support them. MP3 files are the most widely-used audio file for consumers.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3) is a digital, audio-coding format used to compress a sound sequence into a very small file to enable digital storage and transmission. For mobile devices, try OverDrive Media Console, which has separate versions for Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile. Other programs that can open WMA files include VLC media player and UltraMixer. WMA files are also frequently used in online streaming. Because of their relative ubiquity, however, many other players and programs support the file type. It is a key component of Windows Media, which Microsoft discontinued.Īs a key component of Windows Media, Windows Media Player supports WMA files and is usually the default program for opening these. WMA has evolved since its inception in 1999, with several updated versions: WMA Pro, WMA Lossless, and WMA Voice. WMA is both an audio codec and an audio format. Microsoft initially developed the Windows Media Audio (WMA) file format to compete with the MP3 file format.

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