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Dec 7, 2023 · The “best” audio format depends largely on your needs and priorities, as different formats offer varying balances of sound quality, file size, and compatibility. Each audio file format caters to specific types of listeners, as you’ll discover below.
- Joel Lee
- Former Editor-In-Chief
- Audio File Format: PCM. PCM stands for Pulse-Code Modulation, a digital representation of raw analog audio signals. Analog sounds exist as waveforms. To convert a waveform into digital bits, the sound must be sampled and recorded at certain intervals (or pulses).
- Audio File Format: WAV. WAV stands for Waveform Audio File Format (also called Audio for Windows at some point but not anymore). It's a standard developed by Microsoft and IBM in 1991.
- Audio File Format: AIFF. AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format. Similar to how Microsoft and IBM developed WAV for Windows, AIFF is an audio file format developed by Apple for Mac systems back in 1988.
- Audio File Format: MP3. MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. It was released back in 1993 and exploded in popularity, eventually becoming the most popular audio format in the world for music files.
- Becky Scarrott
- File formats and codecs at a glance. Want to cut straight to the chase? Here's a handy guide to all the file formats and the differences between them. If you want to know more, read on below for a more in-depth look at the differences in size, sound quality and compatibility.
- Compressed vs uncompressed audio files. First, let’s talk about the three categories all audio files can be grouped into – uncompressed, lossless and lossy.
- WAV vs AIFF: uncompressed audio file formats. WAV and AIFF are arguably the most popular uncompressed audio file formats, both based on PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), which is widely recognised as the most straightforward audio storage mechanism in the digital domain.
- ALAC vs FLAC vs WMA Lossless: lossless audio formats. Everyone loves a FLAC. A lossless file, the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is compressed to nearly half the size of an uncompressed WAV or AIFF of equivalent sample rate, but there should be no “loss” in terms of how it sounds.
MP3. The MP3 audio file format became immensely popular in the early 2000s. At the time, it was among the most efficient ways to get an audio track from a CD and store it on a digital hard drive or on a “burned” CD. The MP3 file format is much smaller than that of an uncompressed CD audio track.
Oct 7, 2024 · Which format should I use? Uncompressed audio, without a doubt, should be used for tracking and mixing and mastering. That way the music retains the highest sound quality while engineers and mixers are working on the tracks. AIFF and WAV, again, while both uncompressed, tend to be a choice of preference.
Jul 29, 2024 · As fellow music enthusiasts, we understand the importance of quality sound and how the right format can make all the difference. In this article, we’ll dive deep into the various types of audio file formats, their unique characteristics, and when to use each format for the best listening experience.
May 14, 2024 · Discover the nuances of various audio formats including MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and AIFF. Understand the difference between lossy and lossless compression, and learn how to choose the right audio format for your specific needs.
