Audio File Formats
Codec:
An
important concept to know when looking at audio formats is the audio
codec. An audio
codec is a program that compresses and decompresses audio
files to a given format.
Audio
Formats:
There are
tons of audio formats out there. We will only discuss the most common
ones
here; wma, mp3, m4p, wav, ogg, and real audio formats. You
can find out which audio formats are compatible with
your mp3 player here.
These audio
formats fit into three categories:
Uncompressed audio (or PCM
formats) – These are not
compressed at all, which means the highest quality but very large file
size.
Lossless compression - doesn’t
cause any loss of
information or change the quality of the audio files. It is an exact
reproduction of the original, uncompressed audio.
Lossy compression - some data loss
as the compression takes
out any redundant or unnecessary information. Lossy compression is used
often
online because has the smallest file size. The difference between this
and
uncompressed music can’t be heard by most people as long as the bitrate
is 192
or above.
WMA
- Windows Media
Audio (file extension is .wma)
WMA is a Microsoft file format for encoding digital audio files similar
to MP3.
It is a lossless compressions format. WMA files can be compressed to
any size, matching
different connection speeds and bandwidths.
MP3
(file extension is .mp3)
MP3 is actually MPEG audio layer 3. It has a lossy compression. This is
probably the most commonly found audio format for downloadable music.
Almost
all audio programs and portable music devices will accept this format.
M4P
(file extension is
.m4p)
M4P is a proprietary format used by iTunes
music download service. M4P
has a
lossy compression. It can only be used on iPods and in the iTunes music
player
on your computer.
WAV (file extension is .wav)
WAV is a format developed by Microsoft and IBM. It is an uncompressed
format. Support
for this type of file has been built into Windows since 1995 so it has
become
the standard for PCs. WAV sound files can be played by almost any
Windows audio
players.
Ogg
(file extension is
.ogg)
Ogg is a format similar to MP3 and other digital music formats. It’s an
open, unpatented
format. It uses Vorbis, a specific audio compression scheme that's
designed to
be contained in Ogg.
Real
Audio (file
extensions are .ra .ram .rm)
Real Audio is another proprietary format developed by RealNetworks,
and is
used for streaming audio. It is also a lossy format. To use these files
you must have the RealPlayer
software, which can be downloaded for free.