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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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
May 28, 2023 · When choosing an audio format, there are several factors to consider: from sound quality to file size, as well as compatibility with different devices, as each format has its strengths and weaknesses.
Jul 29, 2024 · When choosing an audio file format, consider the bit depth and sample rate that best suit your needs. High-resolution audio formats like FLAC, ALAC, and DSD offer superior audio quality but require more storage space and compatible playback devices.
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May 25, 2024 · So to help you get your head around audio file formats, we'll walk you through 10 of the most popular ones, including who uses them, how you can use them and what the benefits and shortfalls...
