Why does Microsoft Office recommend the use of "m4a files encoded with AAC audio" for PowerPoint audio?

So I’m sitting here working on a video project which the client has specified must be done in PowerPoint. The script is done and the voice over (VO) artist asks me “what format do you want the audio files in?”. I initially say “MP3” but after checking, I find this Microsoft Office article that recommends .m4a with AAC:

https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Video-and-audio-file-formats-supported-in-PowerPoint-d8b12450-26db-4c7b-a5c1-593d3418fb59?ui=en-US&rs=en-GB&ad=GB&fromAR=1

The VO artists says “are you sure? I’ve never been asked for that before” and I start do doubt the logic behind the recommendation.

Does anyone know why Microsoft are making this recommendation? Will there be any “nasties” uncovered if I use MP3? And if they go to the trouble of making a recommendation, why not specify recommended encoding parameters such as sampling and bit rates e.g. 16 bit @ 48kHz?

Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft PowerPointDigital Audio

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Guy Hengel [angelIII / a3]

8/22/2022 - Mon

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Rgonzo1971

9/13/2016

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Guy Hengel [angelIII / a3]

9/13/2016

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Jamie Garroch (MVP)

9/13/2016

ASKER

Having read both of these answers (thank you), I think Guy's comment points to the reason for the MSFT recommendation. If PowerPoint is being used to export a presentation to a video format, then the output format is most likely to be selected as MP4 (the only other option is WMV). That means PowerPoint needs to transcode all embedded non-M4a standalone audio files during that process and hence the user could see a slower export time if audio files are not using the M4a format. That would make sense to me but is it correct?

Reverting to the recommended sampling rate and size, if I export a test deck to MP4 and examine the audio properties, I can see that PowerPoint is using the following:

Channels : 2
Sample Rate : 44.1kHz
Sample Size : 16 bit
Codec : MPEG2/4

So can I assume this is the recommended/optimised encoding format for standalone audio?

Guy Hengel [angelIII / a3]

9/13/2016

yes

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