wav vs ogg files

Java Sound & OpenAL
#1

Does it make any difference which file format to use for music or sound? I’m not familiar with the ogg file format.

#2

Both have pros and cons:

WAV files - big size, but minimal decoding.
OGG files - small size, but major decoding.

Take your pick. I generally go with OGG files because of the smaller sizes (game sounds can be packed pretty small with low quality settings). Also, if you have background music, WAV files are just too darn big. Besides, anyone who can play my 3D games has more than enough horsepower to decode OGG in the background.

#3

Thanks for the info.

So I guess ogg are compressed files.

#4

Just look at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg page it’s always good to check about stuff there first, seems like it has a good free standard under it and has much better compressions than wav.

#5

Thanks, that was very informative. Now I know what I’m dealing with.