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Audio Formats: Know all that exist

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Audio Formats: Know all that exist

There are several kinds or types of audio formats, you probably know the most common ones such as mp3, mp4, wav, etc. In this article you will know which are the most important apart from those mentioned above and how they differ from each other.

What is an audio format?

An audio format is a multimedia container where data is stored in an audio file. Each of these has its own characteristics and capabilities in terms of reproduction, they also have a sample rate (bit rate) and a specific bit depth (bit depth) that are closely related to the quality of each format.

Let’s talk about the sample rate and the bit depth
These two terms refer to the way it is stored and how an audio file is played. For this, what is sought is to digitally re-interpret the analog signal of a recording. As they have a type of continuous analog wave signal and instead the digital language used by computers is given by shorter and more concrete actions (1 and 0) executed at high speed, that continuous analog wave must be described in more values Small and concrete.

To achieve this conversion, small fragments of a specific size of the analog signal are taken, each sample (sample) contains the necessary information so that by putting all the “pieces” together and reproducing them in the same order and at the same speed in which they were captured, as a result a reliable digital interpretation of analog recording.

The frequency at which each of these samples is reproduced is what is called “sampling rate” or “sample rate” and the digital data in bits contained in each sample is called “bit depth” or “bit depth ”.

How is an audio format different from a codec?
The difference between these two is that while a codec as its name says is responsible for encoding and decoding all the information in an audio file, the format gives us the idea of how this audio information is stored, what is its bit depth, its sample rate, etc.

Types of audio formats

Among the types of audio formats there is a large amount and we will separate them into 4 groups or families to understand a little better the characteristics and potential they have:

1.Compressed audio format

The uncompressed formats allow several sample rate combinations in a flexible way and seek to preserve all the details of the analog recording even the details inaudible to our ears.

The main ones are:

WAV

Owned by IBM and Microsoft, the Wave Audio File Format was developed by these two previous ones to store sounds on the PC or computer. It is relatively similar to the Mac AIFF and a variant of the RIFF or Resource Interchange File Format which is a file format for the exchange of resources.

AIFF

The Audio Interchange File Format was co-developed by Apple Inc. to store sound data on personal computers. The AIFF is used professionally for audio applications along with SDII and WAV because it is a compression-free format and fast signal processing

This format was formerly common on internet pages. At first it was encoded in 8-bit data with a sample rate of 8000 Hz, uploading in the newer files to a 32-bit encoding.

2. Compressed audio format without loss or lossless
Because the uncompressed formats encode both the sound of a recording and the silences, a few seconds of sound from an audio file will weigh the same as the same seconds of silence. The type of lossless format compresses the file so that silence does not take up almost anything in size.

Between them we have:

Shorten

The SHN format is used for lossless compression of CD quality audio files, it is similar to formats such as RAR or ZIP with the difference that it is optimized for compression of audio data.

WMA Lossless

The WMA or Windows Media Audio format is a compressed audio format which has 4 codecs of which the WMA Lossless codec allows the compression of an audio file without loss of definition.

Within the codecs for this type of audio we have:
TTA

The True Audio Codec Compresses audio in 8, 16, or 24 lossless bits that are stored in WAV format files, which is done while maintaining good operating speed.

ATRAC

Although the first version of the ATRAC codec (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) was developed as a lost audio encoder, currently the most recent version of this codec (ATRAC3) in addition to doubling the compression capacity of the first version is capable of encoding the An audio file with very few losses.

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DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS

Currently, thanks to digital audio formats, we can store and listen to our music on numerous devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, computers and music players.

What are digital audio formats?

Digital audio formats are basically containers. And the differences between them are fundamentally in:

Whether or not they are compressed.
If they are compressed, in the quality of compression.
The type of labeling they can support.
Digital audio formats

MP3

It is the best known, popular and most used. They are known by their extension “.mp3”.

It was developed by Moving Picture Experts Group, to be part of the well-known MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards.

Its fundamental characteristic lies in the fact that the technology behind it compresses the sound sequence, resulting in a really small file, which normally occupies half of the original file. To achieve this, it is necessary to lose certain sounds, which supposedly cannot be heard by the human ear.

Audio formats

WAV

Developed by the companies Microsoft and IBM, this format, whose name comes from the acronym WAVE (Waveform Aujdio File Format), is currently one of the audio formats that have no compression in the data, so they have excellent quality.

They are known for their “.wav” extension.

On the other hand, this format has the particularity that it includes support for almost all current audio codecs. This makes the WAV one of the most used formats in the field of professional sound, since the sound is captured with parameters of 44100 Hz and at 16 bits, the same quality can be obtained as on a CD.

On the contrary, one of the disadvantages of this format is that it has a limitation in recording, since it can only capture a maximum of 6.6 hours at maximum quality in the same file.

Audio formats

AIFF

The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) format is very similar to WAV. It was born as an answer from Apple to the Microsoft WAV, being initially only compatible with MAC computers. Currently it can also be used on Windows.

Due to its characteristics, AIFF, together with FLAC and WAV, are usually the most used formats in the professional field of audio.

Wma

The WMA (Windows Media Audio) format is a format of music files created by Microsoft.

One of its main features is that those files that have been compressed in WMA format occupy less space than MP3s, which also means reducing their quality. Therefore, it is a lossy audio compression format.

OGG

OGG audio formats are compressed audio files, which means that they have a size that allows them to be transmitted via WIFI, but at the same time avoid the damage that is usually generated in the compression process.

For example, Spotify uses these OGG formats.

Audio formats

OPUS

Opus is a new codec that use the Ogg container. It was developed by the same creators of FLAC, with the help of Mozilla and Skype.

This new format stands out for its low latency, being ideal for online audio transmissions.

FLAC

When we talk about the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format, we are referring to an audio compression free codec without loss of quality.

Emerged within the community responsible for the OGG project, FLAC has become one of the strongest competitors of the WAV format, due to its advantages in terms of its sound quality.

Its objective is to reduce the size of the original file, eliminating data that are usually known as “waste”, without causing loss of quality.

This is the format used by the Tidal platform, the best service for high quality audio transmissions.

Audio formats

A THE C

The Alac (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) format is basically Apple’s alternative to FLAC. It is the format used by Itunes and for Apple Music broadcasts.

The most used audio formats

As you can imagine, when we talk about digital formats in the field of sound, the range is wide. When choosing the one that best suits our needs we have to think about several issues. To do this, the first thing is to know the most used audio formats.

CPA Online sound postproduction course We begin by clarifying the concepts of Bit Depth and the Sample Rate, fundamental to understand how audio formats work. These are two measures that indicate the quality of a digital audio file.

When we read the specifications of the audio formats and we find, for example, 32-bit / 192kHz and 24-bit / 96kHz, these figures refer to the “bit depth” and the “sample rate” respectively. They tell us how much information the different formats transmit and the sound quality. The higher the number of times a device plays the samples, the higher the quality.

Audio formats

MP3: these files weigh very little for any device to read. The negative part is that the quality of the compression pro is sacrificed.
CPA Online sound postproduction course

WAV (Waveform Audio File Format): are higher resolution files than MP3s, a piece of audio that is encoded with what is known as Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). The analog audio pieces are encoded and converted into digital so that they can have the Sample rate and the Bit Depth.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format): It is very similar to WAV and also uses the PCM to encode analog audio parts and present them in digital format. In fact, the AIFF and WAV files are more or less interchangeable.
In short, when we talk about a file in WAV or AIFF audio format we talk about a piece of sound of good quality.

What is the difference between MP3 and FLAC

What is the problem with the popular MP3 or why FLAC is of better quality? Actually, in addition to these 2 formats, there are others with different specifications that differentiate them from each other.

In this article we will talk about the most important formats and their characteristics, in this way you can choose the one that suits you.

What is bitrate?

The difference in the size of the files is noticeable

You’ve probably heard this term before, but if you don’t remember it or don’t know what it means, I’ll explain it. Bitrate is translated as the bit rate, that is, the amount of bits or data that are processed in a unit of time. When referring to audio, we usually use the measurement of kilobits per second (Kbps). For example, the music available on iTunes is usually 256 Kbps, which means that there are 256 kilobits of information stored in every second of the song.

The higher the bitrate of a file, the more space it occupies on your hard drive. Usually, a music CD uses a large amount of memory space, so since the early 1990s, researcher Karlheinz Brandenburg developed the audio compression standard we now know as MP3. When an audio file is compressed, the space destined for it is smaller, however, this means that it loses part of its sound quality. For that reason, the different audio formats available are divided into 2 categories: with losses and without losses.

Lossless Formats

Lossless or lossless formats, as they are known in English, retain the sound quality of the original source intact. This means if you compress a CD in any of these formats, your digital music files will have the highest quality.

FLAC. Free Lossless Audio Codec is the most used sound codec, making it one of the best options for storing music without losing quality. Unlike other formats such as WAV and AIFF, the compression it uses decreases the space it occupies. In addition, it is free and free software, so anyone can use it and is compatible with a considerable number of players.
WAV and AIFF. These 2 formats do not use compression, so it could be said that they are exact copies of the original sound source. Although both are of the same quality, what differentiates them is the way they store the data. AIFF was created by Apple, while WAV is used universally. The problem with these formats is that since they do not have any compression, they take up too much memory space. They are normally used in audio editing.
A THE C. Apple’s lossless format is very similar to FLAC because it uses compression, the detail is that it was created by the company founded by Steve Jobs. Although its compression method is not as efficient as that of FLAC (it occupies more space), the advantage is that it is compatible with iTunes and iOS devices.
Formats with losses

Lossy, or lossy, formats are the most common, most systems and players recognize them and compress a lot, which allows large amounts of music to be stored in a small space. One advantage is that if your bitrate is high enough, it will be difficult to distinguish the difference you keep with the original source.

MP3 Its name without abbreviation is MPEG Audio Layer III, and it is the most popular lossy format, so much that it has become the benchmark in the category of digital or downloadable music on the Internet. Although it is not the most efficient format of all, it is the one with the highest compatibility, so it is the first option to choose between lossy formats.
AAC Advance Audio Coding is similar to MP3, although a bit more efficient in compression, which means that your files take up less space while matching the quality of the MP3. Although not as popular, it has the advantage that Apple players support it.
WMA As the name implies, Windows Media Audio is the proprietary format of Microsoft. It is very similar to the 2 previous formats and does not really offer any advantage over them. The disadvantage is that it is not so popular, so it is not compatible with many systems.

Which one should you use?

After having reviewed the main formats of both categories and their characteristics, we conclude that the type of file to use will depend on the habits and tastes of the user. In general, MP3 and AAC are widely recommended, because they are compatible with most players and the quality of both becomes quite good if it is encoded with a high enough bitrate (192 Kbps onwards). If your demands in audio quality are not the highest, any of these 2 formats is ideal thanks to the little space they occupy.

Storing your music collection in FLAC will require many GB of storage

However, storing music for posterity in MP3 or AAC may not be the best idea, since converting from one format with losses to another with losses will produce files with much lower quality. On the other hand, FLAC is the best for preserving music for the future, because it will keep the quality intact and allow converting to other formats in the future, in addition to occupying less space than WAV or AIFF.

If your interest is to enter the world of audiophilia, without a doubt lossless formats are the option. Thus, it is necessary to consider that to notice the difference between a high quality MP3 file and a FLAC, you must have high fidelity headphones or speakers and have a trained ear. Of course, the storage issue is also important, the amount of gigabytes or terabytes you will need to store all your music will depend on the size of your collection.

In conclusion, the format you intend to use will depend on your musical demands, both in quantity of music and in its quality. You just have to remember that the important factors are compatibility and avoid converting between 2 formats with loss and, above all, enjoy music in the way you like best.

WHAT IS THE BEST FORMAT TO LISTEN TO MUSIC?

There are many, but after trying almost all of them, here we tell you which is our preference for quality and file size.

As part of our new discovery, we want to share what our experience has been in the vast market of formats offered in digitalized music. The not so common OGG used by Spotify; the AAC incorporated by Apple Music and even the MP3 used by the Google Play Music and Amazon Music service. They all offer different qualities so you will undoubtedly notice a difference when listening to your favorite songs.

We could even include uncompressed formats such as FLAC, AIFF, or even DSD and WAV. Apparently superior qualities, since, if you are like us who do not have a specialized audio equipment for this purpose, it does not make much sense to bring a file of more than 50 MB on your sixth generation iPod with a capacity of 64Gb.

Removing that from the medium, this article we want to dedicate it exclusively to compressed formats in order to show the benefits and benefits of knowing how to choose the best of all. It is important because, taking it into account, it can also help you solve the dilemma of which streaming music service would suit you best.

3. MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III)

Mp3 Starting with the most common of all, the MP3, a format that although we can give it the merit of being the first to emerge to digitize the music, it is not so in terms of quality. It is also true that its size makes it the best for allowing a song of five minutes occupying about 10 Mb on average of your internal memory of the cell phone and / or music player. However, its coding and the way in which it cuts digital information to be able to offer a small weight file is one of its clearest disadvantages.

In practice, this is reflected when you put a song like Angel de Massive Attack, where the bass is deep and in detail – that is, you have the “boom” caused by the lower frequencies, in addition to the pick of the strings of the low- you don’t enjoy generating artifacts that distort the signal.

For that reason, the MP3, German format founded with the idea of offering music in the first digital era of computers, is not the best there is in the market … By the way, not long ago it was announced that its creators declared it dead.

2. OGG Vorbis

Ogg was like the direct competition in its time, of MP3. Created by a programmer and vocational musician from the United States named Chris Montgomery, it is clear evidence that when your passion is combined with your work, the results are extraordinary.

Recalling a little the history of OGG to contextualize, it emerges in the nineties as a need to find a better way to encode and compress digitized information. And maybe that is one of the reasons why Spotify chooses this format to play and stream the music: friendly, versatile and small in size, it is definitely better than MP3.

The quality of the same role we mentioned earlier is far exceeded. Not only the bass frequencies sound better defined, but the media and the treble ones are balanced a little – so to speak – to offer better sharpness and detail of the instrumentation in general.

However, it is not the best there is in the market, since besides it is difficult to achieve, there is something that is lacking to be our first choice: we would say that, it is something like the “tone” of the sound.

1. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)

aac is our first choice. With a sound coding that allows you to eliminate less information from an analog signal, the result is quite noticeable when you compare a song with this extension, with that of the other two formats. The bass sounds completely deep and defined without distorting anything, in addition to the medium and treble being highlighted allowing a wider dynamic range than the MP3 and OGG.

It is the holy grail of compressed music formats. We would even dare to say that the AAC offered by the iTunes Store and Apple Music is as good in quality as a FLAC or WAV. If you put one followed by the other, the only notable difference you can find is the amount of the volume. While an uncompressed format offers you more sound, that other format invented by the Fraunhofer Institute in conjunction with Sony, Dolby and AT&T, has slightly less volume, but with the same quality.

So, the AAC is the best format you can get: it has a fairly small file size; it has a “tone” of music that enhances all the details of the instrumentation and voice in the songs; and having even specializations by sound engineers at Apple to include in their record materials their “Masterized for iTunes” versions, there is no way to make a mistake when choosing it as our favorite.