Audio to no end. ))))pt 1((((

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Author: blue
Posted on 02/26/2006
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The first in a series of autio tutorials. AUDIO FORMATS

S

o you got music on your computer, but they are in different file types. Some are DRM, some aren’t. Some have a bit rate of 32Kbps and sound crappy! What's streaming and why can't I put it on a CD?!? Don't worry, as I will attempt to cover the stuffs that make audio so difficult to deal with as easily as possible.

Part 1. Audio Formats

Audio formats. You have heard of them, otherwise, you are some sort of non-technology person. There are many kinds out there, and sometimes they confuse the best of us. Don’t worry, I’ll try to explain it the best way, err, second best way I know how. And no, I’m not out to describe what they do, or how they are made. I’m much too lazy and you can Google it yourself.

Microsoft
These audio types are very popular, as they are used in most digital audio players. Spread mostly because of Windows. All these types are native to Windows.

.wav (wave)
your basic uncompressed win audio file. Usually very large. Can be compressed into many other types.

.wma (windows media audio)
windows audio's heart and soul. it's mainstream-ness has it secured for a very long future. Is used in virtually every digital media player out there. Size is decent. Also, a lossless variant exist of this format.

Apple Computer
If you have a iPod, or even use iTunes, chances are, you use some of these formats.

.aiff (audio interchange file format)
In essence, Apple's .wav format. Uncompressed with a large size, this file type is popular with Apple.

.aac (advanced audio coding)
The brainchild of the MPEG group, this is quickly becoming the standard for many companies. It’s used for all files in the iTunes music store. Uses superior compression and quality to prove it's worth of replacing the mp3. may appear as .m4a on Windows systems.

.m4a (apple lossless)
Not .aac, apple lossless is a high-end forma that delivers near CD quality sound.

Sony
As a digital innovator, Sony has made its own format to be decoded natively by its own players.

ATRAC™
The original Sony format, it was developed for the Minidiscs. It still retained near CD sound as it is compressed to fit on a 2-1/2" disc.

ATRAC3™
A enhancement of ATRAC™, compression is even smaller while keeping the ability to keep good quality.

ATRAC3plus™
A enhancement of ATRAC3™, compression is even smaller while keeping the ability to keep good quality. This version also supports all current Sony media players including the PSP and HiMD

Others
There are a lot other file types, but I’ll just cover the main ones.

.mp3 (MPEG1, audio layer 3)
The original standard. It brought compression while retaining quality. Aging, but still going strong. It is slowly being replaced by its younger brother '.aac'.

.mp3 (MP3 Pro)
An update to the .mp3 format, it completely replaces the old .mp3 format because it encodes almost the exact same way. It improves quality and compression as a attempt to make the format more competitive with .wma format.

Vorbis (Ogg Vorbis)
The business friendly format. It’s free and unpatented, which saves money. It was designed to be a .mp3 killer, so it was designed to have better quality and compression rates then mp3. It doesn’t play natively anywhere, but it plays the best in Winamp.

Flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
A free lossless format that can be embedded with Ogg to make Ogg Flac. Falls short of Apple Lossless, but good anyways.

.ra (Real Audio)
Old and reliable, this was one of the first compressed formats out there. It's player, Real, is somewhat of a pain to use, and digital media players don’t ready support .ra flies.

This concludes part one, should I have forgotten anything pertaining to this section, or if you wish that something should be added, BMS me and it'll be added at my convince.

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