In the music industry, studio albums are usually the opposite of live albums and collections. Most of the original songs included in the studio album are unpublished. The studio album is also the best-selling music album. For example, in Britain, 18 of the 24 albums that have sold more than 2.5 million are studio albums.

The difference between studio album and live album in classical music is the result of repeated editing of studio album. Especially orchestral works, can be different scenes of the same work. This idiom is well constructed, and editing is usually very important when early analog recordings are transferred to digital media.