A surprising number of voice over jobs never specify a file format, sample rate, or naming convention at all. The client simply expects a file that opens, sounds right, and is named something they can find again in a folder of forty other deliverables. Getting this wrong doesn't usually cost you the job, but it costs you something quieter: the impression that you're new to this. Getting it right, consistently and without being asked, is one of the cheapest ways to look like a working professional rather than a hobbyist with a nice microphone.
Why Files Actually Get Rejected
None of these are creative problems. They're all avoidable with a short checklist you run before hitting send, which is exactly why a client who gets burned by one of them tends to remember it longer than a performance note they'd have given anyone.
The Formats and Specs Worth Defaulting To
- WAV, 48kHz, 24-bit is the safe default for almost any professional delivery: broadcast, corporate, e-learning, video game, and most agency work. It's uncompressed, so nothing is lost between your session and the client's edit.
- MP3, 320kbps is acceptable for quick reference tracks, casting submissions, or informal client review, but should almost never be your final master unless a client specifically asks for it.
- ACX and audiobook platforms have their own published specs, and ACX's loudness and noise floor requirements are strict enough that a generic export will often fail their automated check even when it sounds fine to your ear.
- 44.1kHz vs 48kHz: 48kHz is the video and broadcast standard; 44.1kHz is the music and CD-era standard. When a client doesn't specify, 48kHz is the safer assumption for most commercial and corporate work in 2026.
A short pre-delivery checklist does more good than any single spec choice: confirm the sample rate and bit depth match the brief, listen to the first and last three seconds for clicks or cut-off breaths, check that levels are consistent across every file in the batch, and open the file fresh in a separate player before sending, since your DAW's own playback can mask problems a plain player won't. This takes under five minutes and catches the overwhelming majority of the mistakes clients actually complain about.
A File Naming Convention That Survives a Client's Folder
Name files so they sort and identify correctly with zero context: ProjectName_TakeOrVersion_Date, for example AcmeCorpTraining_Final_20261007.wav, rather than a bare Take1.wav or VO_final_FINAL2.wav that means nothing once it's sitting in a folder alongside twenty other vendors' equally vague files. If a job has multiple scripts or characters, include that identifier too: AcmeCorp_Module3_Narrator.wav. This single habit, adopted consistently, quietly signals more professionalism than almost anything else in a delivery.
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Auto Clean Up
Cleaning, leveling, and exporting a batch of files to spec by hand eats time you don't get paid for. Auto Clean-Up handles the technical pass so your delivery checklist is faster to run, not slower.
Open Auto Clean Up →What to Do When a Job Doesn't Specify Anything
Ask, but ask efficiently: a one-line message covering format, sample rate, and whether they want stems or a single mixed file usually gets answered faster than silence gets you a guess right. When a client genuinely doesn't know or doesn't respond in time, default to WAV, 48kHz, 24-bit, with a clearly named file, and note in your delivery message that you can re-export to a different spec on request. That single sentence turns a guess into a professional default instead of an assumption.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are stems and when should I deliver them?
Stems are separate, unmixed audio elements, for example a raw vocal track without any processing alongside the finished, mixed version. Video game studios, some corporate clients with in-house editors, and any client who mentioned their own post-production step will often want stems in addition to, not instead of, a final mix.
How should I actually send large files to a client?
Email attachments choke on anything over roughly 20MB. A cloud folder link, WeTransfer, Dropbox, or Google Drive, works for almost everyone and is worth backing up alongside the rest of your business files so you can resend a delivery months later without re-recording anything.
Does the DAW I use change any of this?
Not fundamentally. Every major DAW can export to any standard format and sample rate; the differences are in workflow speed and built-in cleanup tools, not in what the finished file is capable of being.