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10 Common Audio Formats: Which Format Should I Choose?

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10 Common Audio Formats: Which Format Should I Choose?

Audio files come in various formats and sizes, in addition to our common MP3, there are AAC, FLAC, OGG, WMA, etc.

Why are there so many different audio standards? What format is the best? What should you choose when saving audio files?

In fact, all audio formats can be divided into 3 categories, and once you understand the characteristics of each of these 3 types, you can choose one of the three, and then choose a further subdivided category according to your specific needs.

Comparison of audio formats – operation, equipment – Introduction to 10 common audio formats: which format should I choose?
uncompressed audio format
The uncompressed format preserves the original audio waveform. The so-called original audio waveform refers to the result after the sound is captured and converted to a digital signal for storage. Raw audio waveforms are stored without any post processing. From the results, such an audio file will consume a lot of space. For 24-bit (24-bit) 96 KHz audio, you need about 34 MB of storage space per minute.

Uncompressed audio format: PCM
PCM is short for Pulse-Code Modulation, which is a technical method of simulating sound using digital signals. The sounds that we can hear in nature exist in the form of physical sound waves, and in order to simulate this sound wave with a digital signal, scientists decided to sample it and record it with another wave, which is what we call a pulse.

Therefore, digital audio has two basic concepts: sample rate and bit depth. The so-called sampling rate refers to the speed of how many times the sound is sampled. The so-called bit depth refers to the space occupied by a single sample. In uncompressed formats, the product of the sample rate, bit depth, and audio duration is the space occupied by the digital signal that represents the audio content.

PCM is a format commonly used on CDs and DVDs, but its derivative LPCM is often used in practice. LPCM is short for Linear PCM, which is Linear Pulse Code Modulation. Most PCM files in use today are actually LPCM files, so there is no need to differentiate between them.

Uncompressed audio format: WAV
WAV is short for Waveform Audio File Format, which is a standard audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM in 1991.

Many people think that WAV is an uncompressed audio format, but this is not entirely true. In fact, WAV is a “wrapper” type format, a common format developed by Microsoft to use audio for various platforms. So it is possible for WAV to contain compressed audio, but this is rarely the format of choice when using compression these days.

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What are the common audio formats?

Most frequent and popular sound formats

05 AAC format

AAC is actually short for Advanced Audio Coding. The algorithm adopted by AAC is different from that of MP3. AAC improves encoding efficiency by combining other features. The AAC audio algorithm far surpasses some previous compression algorithms (such as MP3, etc.) in terms of compression capabilities. In conclusion, AAC can provide better sound quality with 30% smaller file size than MP3 files.

It is one of the best lossy formats out there. There are multiple encodings, with bit rates up to 448 kbps. In terms of hardware support, advanced mobile phones and mp3 players are now generally supported.

06 VQF format

The VQF format is an audio compression technology jointly developed by YAMAHA and NTT. Its compression ratio can reach 1:18. Therefore, under the same circumstances, the compressed VQF file size is 30%-50% smaller than MP3, which is more suitable for online streaming, while the sound quality is excellent, near to CD quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz stereo). But VQF has not revealed the technical standards, so far it has not become popular.

07 FLAC format

FLAC is short for Free Lossless Audio Codec, which can be interpreted as Chinese lossless audio compression coding, which is characterized by lossless compression. Unlike other lossy compression codes like MP3 and AAC, it can restore the sound quality of music discs. It is now compatible with many software and hardware audio products.
It can be said that FLAC is similar to MP3, but it is losslessly compressed, which means that the audio is compressed in FLAC without losing any information. And you can use the player to play compressed FLAC files, just like playing MP3 files.

08 APE format

APE is one of the most popular digital music file formats. Unlike lossy compression methods like MP3, APE is a lossless audio compression technology, which means that after compressing the audio data file read from the audio CD in APE format, you can also compress the file in APE format. The audio file is exactly the same as before compression, without any loss.

The file size of APE is about half that of CD, which is loved by many music lovers, especially for friends who want to stream audio CDs over the network, APE can help them save a lot of resources.

What are the common audio formats?

Most frequent and popular sound formats

01 MP3 format

MP3 is one of the most common audio formats. Its full name is Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer III. Simply put, MP3 is an audio compression technology that uses MPEG Audio Layer 3 technology to compress music into a smaller capacity file with a compression ratio of 1:10 or even 1:12. Compress files to a lesser extent in small cases. And it keeps the original sound quality very well.

It is precisely because of MP3’s small size and high sound quality that the MP3 format has become almost synonymous with online music. Use an MP3 player to uncompress (decode) MP3 files in real time so that high-quality MP3 music can be played. The highest bitrate is 320K, and the high-frequency part is one size fits all, which is its default.

02 WMA format

The full name of WMA is Windows Media Audio, which is an audio format promoted by Microsoft. The WMA format achieves a higher compression ratio by reducing the data stream while maintaining sound quality. The compression ratio can usually reach 1:18, and the generated file size is only half of the corresponding MP3 file. In addition, WMA can also be added to prevent copying through the DRM scheme, or add restrictions on playback time and playback times, and even restrictions on playback machines, which can effectively prevent piracy.

03 WAV format

WAV format is a lossless sound format developed by Microsoft Corporation, also known as waveform sound file. It is the oldest digital audio format and is widely supported by the Windows platform and its applications. The WAV format supports many compression algorithms, supports a variety of audio bits, sample rates, and channels. It adopts 44.1kHz 16-bit sampling rate. Therefore, the sound quality of WAV is almost the same as that of CD, and it is suitable for uploading to all major music platforms. But the WAV format is bulky and difficult to spread.

04 ASF format

The full name of ASF is Advanced Streaming Format, which is a media playback format developed by Microsoft and is suitable for playback on the Internet.

All the Audio Format Differences: Which One Should You Use?

Three classifications of audio formats

Characteristics and differences of different audio formats

Which audio format is right for you?

You already know MP3, but what about AAC, FLAC, OGG or WMA? Why are there so many audio file formats and is there any best audio format?

Comparison of audio formats

Audio files come in various types and sizes. While we’re all probably familiar with MP3, what about AAC, FLAC, OGG, or WMA? Why are there so many audio standards? Is there a better audio format? Which ones are important and which ones can be ignored?

All audio formats are divided into three main categories, and once you know what the categories mean, you can choose the format within the categories that best suits your needs.

uncompressed audio format

Uncompressed audio consists of actual sound waves that have been captured and converted to digital format without any additional processing. So uncompressed audio files tend to be the most accurate, but take up a lot of disk space: about 34MB per minute for 24-bit 96KHz stereo.

Audio file format: PCM

PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulation, a digital representation of the original analog audio signal. Analog sounds exist as waveforms. To convert a waveform into digital bits, the sound must be sampled and recorded at specific intervals (or pulses).

This digital audio format has a “sample rate” (how often the samples are made) and a “bit depth” (how many bits are used to represent each sample). There is no compression involved. Digital recordings are almost accurate representations of analog sounds.

Do you know what is the best audio format? (for musicians and listeners)

Maybe you are a musician who has had the hard work of learning sound theory, writing and arranging your music, practicing, recording, and now you want to show your work to the world. What is the best audio format to distribute your recording? Or maybe you are a music lover looking for the best way to organize your collection. It may be that your collection comes from CDs or vinyl or even digitally downloaded. What is the best audio format to store your collection?

Choosing the right file format is important. On the one hand, the selected format affects the fidelity of the sound. However, the selected format also limits which devices can play your files. In this guide, we explain the different audio formats available, what they offer and how they are used in the best possible way. First, let’s understand what digital audio files are.

In short, what is the best audio format for you?
To choose the best audio file format you need, think about the purpose of each file. Here are some common uses with suggestions for the best audio formats for each:

If you are an artist …

Do you record a CD with your work? WAV! Conventional CDs use WAV, so export your music from DAW to Wav (or other lossless and then convert properly) and use these files to burn to CD. If you compress CDs from a factory, export in wav but in the original sampling rate and bit depth settings. Leave these settings to them.
Do you share your music with the public? Lossy! You want a smaller file size and maximum compatibility with them from your listeners. Any device plays an MP3 file and is easy to share online.
Should you distribute your music with Magroove or another aggregator for streaming services and online music stores? Streaming services have their own conversion systems, and each one works in a different format (the vast majority, lossy), so you probably won’t get a lossless song. Get a good mp3 that survives encoding (and is easier to load) and save Lossless versions somewhere, whether burning to CD or distributing to acts overseas!
If you are a listener or a collector …
Are you archiving your music? FLAC with maximum compression! A lossless compressed format such as FLAC or ALAC lets you store your files efficiently without losing sound quality. Records in the original multimedia format settings. CD, for example, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz.
Do you digitize music from a vinyl? Record at least in a lossless format. Read about the recording / conversion settings, especially sample rate and bit depth, and understand what lossless quality you need.

Digital audio format guide.

Since digital music has become popular, its fans have gradually developed the desire to hear it in the best possible quality.
For a time, the technical limits and the costs prevented us from achieving this goal, which is no longer an illusion.

The music streaming services market has never been so successful and we talk a lot about it in this article, but there are so many digital music formats … we’ve made this guide for clarity.

The teacher recorded in the studio is recorded at the resolution that defines the artist, but then the album we hear can be converted into a large number of more or less compressed formats, which, as shown in this infographic, into two large families are divided. . ::

Lossy audio formats: If the quality and the data contained are inferior to the original file, which leads to loss of detail, but to the benefit of the lightness of the file. These formats are widely used by streaming services like Spotify and take up less space.

Lossless: If the quality of the generated file matches that of the original master, without loss of quality, however, they require storage systems such as NAS and are not ideal for streaming via a mobile device connection.

Let’s start with the first Lossy family (AAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis and WMA)

AAC

Advanced Audio Coding (MPEG-4) is the standard standard used by Apple for iTunes. Nostalgic people who had an iPod will remember that when CDs were imported into their MAC, the files were converted to this format. At the same bit rate, it takes up the same space as an MP3, but the conversion can be of higher quality.

MP3

An acronym for Moving Picture Expert Group-1/2 Audio Layer 3 is the world’s most widely used compressed audio format and was first introduced in 1998. The compression algorithm removes some details from the audio track that you can hardly hear The human ear By compressing a WAV file, you get an MP3 file that is up to 90 times lighter than the original. This depends on the bit rates or the amount of digital information (bits) that are transmitted or recorded in a unit of time. They can vary between 32 (poor quality) and 320 KB (excellent quality) per second.

OGG Vorbis

It’s an open source format with a quality comparable to MP3 that was unknown until recently, but is now used by services like Spotify. OGG is the file extension, while Vorbis is the compression algorithm.

WMA

Windows Media Player is the format invented by Microsoft in response to the MP3 standard. The quality is the same, but has the disadvantage that it is only compatible with devices of this brand.

Now let’s discover the features of the lossless family (FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, WAV and DSD).

FLAC

Free lossless audio codec. It is the most widely used open source format for downloading music without loss of quality compared to the original source. A fairly attentive ear can easily tell the difference from a smaller format, lower quality file.
iTunes does not support playback of this format because it uses its (ALAC).

A THE C.

The Apple Lossless Audio Codec or FLAC for the Apple world is only ideal if you use Apple branded devices, even if it does not correspond to the FLAC in terms of weight.

AIFF

This audio swap file format is also owned by Apple, which was developed based on the Electronic Arts swap file format and is particularly suitable for audiophiles and music producers. It has essentially the same properties as the WAV format, but without compression, and is used by artists because it can also be used to embed metadata such as text, notes or other information in the file.

WAV

The WAVE audio file format, introduced by Microsoft and IBM in 1991, continues to be used and represents what you get when you import a music CD to your Microsoft computer. When playing back a file of this format that can also be read by a MAC, a special function is used in the Intel CPU. These are very heavy files that reach a maximum of 2 GB and reproduce the sounds in a very faithful manner.

DSD

Direct Stream Digital is a registered trademark of Philips and Sony, developed for the Super Audio CD. An encoding method is used that uses a single bit instead of predicting a higher bit depth, but at a much higher sampling rate to record, store, and reproduce extremely high sound quality. The original sampling rate was 2,822 MHz and its format is known as DSD64

What is the difference between the different audio formats, and which one should I choose?

There are two types of sound quality: lossless and lossless. Lossless music preserves the sound quality of the original source – in most cases, CD – intact, on the other hand, lossy music compresses the file to save space (in exchange for decreasing quality). The following formats are included in lossless formats:

Formats WITHOUT loss of quality:

–WAV and AIFF: Both are uncompressed formats, which are exact copies of the original sound source. The two formats have essentially the same quality; They simply store the data differently. AIFF was created by Apple – you’ll see it often in its products – but WAV is much more universal. However, since they are not compressed, they take up too much unnecessary space. Unless you’re editing sound, we don’t need to use this format.

–FLAC: Free lossless sound codec – Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC). It is the most used lossless codec, it is a good option if we seek to store our music without losing quality. Unlike WAV and AIFF, it uses compression, taking up less space. However, it is still a lossless format, which means that the sound quality is the same as the original source, so it is better to listen to than WAV and AIFF. It is also free and free software, which is useful if you like to take a look at how it works.

–Apple lossless (Apple Lossless): Also known as ALAC, it is similar to FLAC. Use compression, although it is made by Apple. Its compression is not as efficient as that of FLAC, so the files will be a bit larger, but it is compatible with iTunes and iOS (FLAC not). Therefore, if you use iTunes or iOS as the main software for listening to music, you should choose this format.

–APE: It is a file of very high compression without losses, which means that you will save more space. The quality is the same as FLAC, ALAC and other lossless files, but it is not compatible with most players. On the other hand, it makes the processor work harder to decode when it is so compressed. Generally, I would not recommend using this format unless you are very concerned about space and have a compatible player.

Formats with losses: MP3, AAC, OGG and more

–MP3: MPEG Audio Layer III, or MP3 for short, is the most common lossy format. So much that it has become synonymous with music downloads on the internet. It is not the most efficient format of all, but it is undoubtedly the most compatible, making this the first option to choose between lost sounds.

–AAC: Advanced Audio Coding, also known as AAC, is similar to MP3, although a bit more efficient. Which means that the files take up less space and with the same sound quality as MP3. And, with Apple’s iTunes making it so popular, it’s as compatible as MP3.

–Ogg Vorbis: The Vorbis format, often known as Ogg Vorbis due to the use of the Ogg container, is the free software version to MP3 and AAC. Its main attraction is that it is not restricted by patents, but that does not affect you as a user – in fact, despite being open it is of similar quality, and much less popular than MP3 and AAC, so not all players support it . I do not recommend it unless you are interested in the fact of being open source.

–WMA: Windows Media Audio. The proprietary format of Microsoft, similar to MP3 or AAC. It really offers no advantage over the other formats, and is not very well supported.

So which audio format should you use?

Now that we have seen the differences between each format, which one should we use for our music? In general, we recommend using MP3 or AAC. They are compatible with most players, and the quality of both is very similar to that of the original source if it is encoded with a high bit rate. Unless you have specific needs, MP3 and AAc are the most recommended options.

However, there is something to say to store music in lossless formats such as FLAC. Although we probably don’t notice a higher quality, it is good to store music if you plan to convert it to other formats later – since converting from one format with losses to another Lossy (eg, from AAC to MP3) will produce lower quality files. In that case we recommend FLAC. In addition, we can choose the lossless format we want, since converting between formats without losses does not degrade the quality of the file.

As a final conclusion, we can say that one should not become obsessed with the subject. We just have to be sure to choose something widely compatible, not convert between two formats with losses, and enjoy music.

An advantage is that Mp4Gain works with all these fromatos (and more) and you can convert from one to another, without problems or loss of quality, on the contrary, with tools like the Equalizer, you can improve the sound to your liking.