Digital audio file formats wav, mp3, aiff, ogg, flac, m4a

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Digital audio file formats wav, mp3, aiff, ogg, flac, m4a

digital audio formats

The last five years gave a great boost to the development of portable and stationary audio systems, and with this support for a variety of digital audio formats.

DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS

Small pocket devices have a large internal memory and fixed audio equipment has become even smarter and more demanding. That is why, now, we can not save space on the player and download songs that weigh between 15 and 30 MB each, but at home, listen to digital music in a quality equal to the sound of an analog vinyl.

Description of popular digital audio formats
However, the most widespread audio formats still have their pros and cons, and even in an urgent matter like digital audio, a “panacea” has not yet been found. Classic digital audio formats are divided into “compressed” and “uncompressed” streams, as well as “lossless” formats, which exclude loss of sound.

Description of digital audio formats Description of digital audio formats

Wav audio format
The waveform audio file format (WAVE, WAV – “in waveform”) is a file format for storing a recording of an uncompressed digitized audio sequence. In general, this is the most common format for working in the studio and in broadcasting. allows you to get the most honest sound quality. For example, the standard audio CD format is an LPCM audio stream, with parameters: 2ch (stereo), 44-100Hz, 16bit.

Mp3 audio format
MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3: (MP3) is the most popular digital format for storing compressed audio. The MP3 format uses a special algorithm designed to greatly reduce the size of the original file. This format allows you to keep the audio close to the original sound, but thanks to a variety of settings, extremely small size.
Compared to the standard audio CD format, a file in MP3 format and a bit rate of 128 kbps will be approximately 1/11 the size of the original file.

FLAC audio format
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a popular free codec designed for lossless compression of audio data. What does that mean? Unlike lossy audio codecs such as MP3 or OGG, the FLAC audio codec does not remove any information from the audio stream. This format is ideal for audiophiles who create their own music collections and listen to music on high-quality equipment.

Ogg audio format
OGG is a format that has not gained great popularity, but is nonetheless used by a fairly large audience. The OGG format, similar to MP3, compresses audio with loss of quality, but is fundamentally different in practical conversions. This made it possible to get better quality with a smaller file size and to display this codec as absolutely independent. In addition to similar formats that convert lossy audio, OGG has the ability to adjust container properties.

Aiff audio format
The Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is a fairly universal audio file format developed by Apple, which is used to store audio data. Like its counterpart, the WAV format, it is uncompressed audio and is widely used in professional recordings and music production.
The .aiff and .aif files created by Apple Loops are used by GarageBand and Logic Audio music editors.

M4a audio format
Apple Losseles (also known as Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE or Apple Lossless Audio Codec, ALAC) (m4a) is another Apple development. This audio format refers to uncompressed audio, which provides lossless playback. It is a fairly specific format, which is mainly supported by products of the creator company, and in some cases, as in the iPhone system sounds, where it is possible to use exclusively the m4a format.

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ABOUT DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS

ABOUT DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS

Digital Audio Formats

Today, there are several digital audio formats that are superior in quality to compact discs and are available on both physical media and the Internet. What are advanced sound lovers listening to now? Let’s find out.

Digital Audio Formats

The capabilities and quality of the CD-DA format were initially limited by the capabilities of CD as a medium. Legend has it that the standard 74-minute compact disc capacity was chosen in order to be able to record long classical pieces without splitting into two discs. And to be absolutely precise, this figure appeared thanks to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: it lasts exactly 74 minutes. Another default parameter was the 44.1 kHz sample rate. This figure defines the upper limit of the reproduced frequency range. For a CD that had to reproduce frequencies up to 20 kHz, this was the lowest possible carrier frequency. As a result, the only field of maneuver was the bit depth, the level of which was 16 bits. With regard to sound recording, bit depth determines its dynamic range and resolution.

The CD cannot be copied into the memory of the computer in the usual way, since we usually copy files. To save a CD-DA, you need a special program, a program that allows you to convert data recorded on an audio disc to PCM format (WAV file). A properly organized CD-DA ripping process allows you to get a completely identical digital copy on your hard drive. Audio CDs are generally saved on a computer as a large FLAC audio file (also WAV, WV, or APE) with a CUE index card or as separate tracks.

As the best digital audio format, the CD did not last that long, just over ten years. In the mid-nineties, the first format appeared that allows for better sound quality. HDCD was an improved version of CD-DA. Their difference consisted in a special recording algorithm that made it possible to save additional data on the sampling depth in a standard CD format. With an HDCD decoder, the output signal received not 16, but 20 bits, which did not give the standard of 96, but up to 120 dB of dynamic range and a very noticeable increase in recording resolution. At the same time, devices without an HDCD decoder played discs like normal CD-DAs. Interestingly, when saving such a disk on a PC in the same way,

The next leap in terms of sound quality came at the beginning of the new millennium. Two HD audio formats were introduced to the audiophile audience at once, appearing almost simultaneously. DVD-Audio, a further development of the traditional recording method and promoted by Panasonic and Toshiba. It is capable of recording 24-bit / 192 kHz in stereo mode and 24-bit / 96 kHz in multi-channel mode.

The SACD format competed with it, which, by the way, looked much less like a normal CD, although it was called “super CD”. Super Audio CD, developed by Sony, was based on the revolutionary DSD encoding algorithm. This digitizing method assumed one-bit sampling at an ultra-high frequency of 2.8224 MHz. The encoding and decoding principles of a DSD stream are much simpler than in high-bit formats and are essentially closer to the principles of analog technology. At the same time, the SACD format retains all the advantages of the advanced digital format and has output characteristics comparable to DVD-Audio in both sound quality and number of channels.

Both DVD-Audio and SACD were designed with a high level of copy protection, but inquisitive minds have already won over both formats, so if desired, the content of both disc types can be saved to a PC as images. ISO (without changing the structure and original codec) or FLAC tracks in 24-bit / 96 kHz or 24-bit / 192 kHz. Almost simultaneously with the DVD-Audio and SACD formats, another original format for publishing high-quality music was born: DAD 24/96. DAD stands for Digital Audio Disk, but it is essentially a DVD-Video with a high-quality still image and sound that can be played on any standard DVD player or PC.

Obviously, with this approach, Blu-ray media, with its HD sound formats, recorded in high quality without compression, is quite applicable for recording music in high quality. However, at the moment there are few such publications, and a special version of the BD-Audio format has every chance of not seeing the light of day, as the sale of high-quality audio material is already very active on the Internet. Anyone who does not want to convert DVD-Audio, DAD and SACD discs to the FLAC format on their own can officially buy albums already converted in 24-bit / 96 kHz or 24-bit / 192 kHz quality.

Comparison of audio formats

What is the best audio format for what purpose?

Comparison of audio formats

All radio and podcast producers are faced with the question: What audio format is best for my shows and contributions? There is usually no simple answer. Each file format and each codec has advantages and disadvantages.

Audio Formats Comparison

Before converting / converting, you need to be clear about what you plan to do with your audio file: Should it be published to the NRWision media library? Is the program designed to broadcast on the Internet or for the home audio system? Should the file be edited again if necessary? Only then can you weigh which audio format and which properties make the most sense.

Audio File Formats comparision

Compress without loss?

You must decide whether you want the best possible sound quality or the smallest possible file size. With some audio codecs, sound is retained at its full bandwidth and without loss. Other codecs compress the file so that it takes up less space or is faster to transfer online. At best, it can still be played on many different devices and players. Depending on the strength of the compression, the sound of music or voice recording may also be audibly affected.

In the case of audio files, information such as sample rate and bit rate always play a role.

The sample rate indicates how often the level is saved per second. CDs, for example, have a sample rate of 44,100 Hz. 44,100 values are stored for one second of music.

Bit transfer rate

Bit rate defines the amount of data that is processed per second. It can be constant or variable and therefore also influences the sound quality.
Important: When converting audio files to other formats, the quality cannot be improved, it only deteriorates or is preserved. With each compression, some of the audio data is lost, although it is not necessarily audible.

Next we present the audio formats and their properties.

MP3

File extension: .mp3

MP3 is probably the most popular and widely used audio format in the world. It became the standard for music files on the Internet more than 20 years ago and has been freely available since 2017. By the way, MP3 was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, among others. Raw audio is highly compressed when converted to MP3 files to save storage space. Only what humans can hear should be preserved. You can set the degree of compression, the so-called bit rate. 192 kBit / s (kilobits per second) roughly corresponds to CD quality. At higher bit rates, MP3 files sound lossless to most people. Lower bit rates are used, for example, in Internet radios.

Advantage:
widely used, compatible with many playback devices, high compression

Disadvantage:
possibly loss of audible quality, especially at low bit rates

Wav

File extension: .wav

WAV files are not compressed and therefore take up a lot of storage space. But they can be used well for audio editing and can be easily edited in almost any software.

WAV files were developed for Windows computers in 1991. However, they can also be reproduced and used on other operating systems.

Advantage:
no need to encode / decode when editing

Disadvantage:
very large files

WMA

File extension: .wma

Originally, the WMA (Windows Media Audio) format was supposed to compete with MP3, but it could not be established equally. Audio data is also compressed here, if possible without audible loss.

Some versions of WMA files may contain a certificate key to prevent piracy.

Advantage:
good compression with high sound quality

Disadvantages:
not very widespread, only supported by a few players

AAC (advanced audio coding)

File extension: .aac

This audio format is considered the successor to the MP3 format. With the AAC format, developers have managed to further reduce memory size while maintaining the best possible sound quality.

The AAC process is being used with increasing frequency on music websites, Internet radio stations, and as a soundtrack format for video files.

Advantage:
very good compression, small files with high audio quality

Disadvantage:
not yet compatible with all programs and devices

Ogg

File extension: .ogg

In Ogg files, there is actually a container format. In addition to compressed audio, it can also contain video and text data. Also, Ogg files can be used well as an online stream. Even so, the format never prevailed against MP3 among home users.

Advantage:
small file size with good sound quality, no license

Disadvantage:
not compatible with many programs, must be converted for audio processing

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)

File extension: .flac

The name already gives it away: the FLAC codec is freely available and compresses audio files without loss of quality. The format is mainly used for music that can be faithfully reproduced thanks to FLAC. More and more players support FLAC files, sometimes just with the help of a plugin.

The FLAC codec makes audio files 30 to 60 percent smaller. This makes them much larger than MP3 files. To do this, you can decode it and thus restore the original data without loss.

Advantage:
no loss, no license

Disadvantage:
relatively large files, not natively supported by all players

Opus

File extension: .opus

The latest file format from our overview should become the Internet audio standard. Opus is developed openly and has several advantages. The audio codec significantly reduces the bit rate again. The quality of music and language is preserved as best as possible. Additionally, Opus files can be streamed and contain metadata.

Opus plays practically no role (yet) in audio processing. We are curious to see if and how the format will prevail for years to come.

Audio formats

Before you know the audio formats, know that they are divided into two main groups: the compressed and the uncompressed.

Uncompressed formats are those in which the audio quality is assessed and without loss of information, which guarantees that the audios are practically identical to the real ones. Tablets reduce the original file size, taking up less space on your computer or cell phone memory. However, the quality and information may be compromised.

It is worth mentioning that it is not just a good format that guarantees that the end result will be of excellent sound quality. You need to do your part, too, using good audio software to make the necessary changes and “cleanup,” as well as using quality equipment to record your voice.

1. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)

It is considered the main competitor to the most famous format on the Internet, MP3, and is commonly used on Apple devices, based on the MPEG-4 standard.

Compared to MP3, AAC has more flexibility, which means you will experience less data loss and quality when compressed. Also, it has a better level at lower bit rates, such as 128 kbps.

2. OGG Vorbis

This is a non-proprietary format, that is, they have no restrictions for audio players to play it. Also, it has a better compression rate than MP3, however it is not as well known or advertised.

It is widely used in game audio, because among other qualities, it brings open source, which provides greater customization, but is difficult to standardize. Its audio quality is quite satisfactory.

3. MP3

Considered the most popular audio format in the world, MP3 offers high compatibility, allowing music and audio to be played in virtually any program or media player.

It was created in Germany and uses the so-called perceptual encoding, which encodes only the sounds that humans can hear. Of all, it manages to be the most balanced in terms of quality versus size.

It may get to lower bit rates, but there may be a final quality loss.

4. WMA

This is Microsoft’s standard format and also quite popular. Unlike MP3, WMA allows the creation of content-protected copies, thus preventing your music or other audio productions from being pirated.

Microsoft’s proposal is that the format achieve a sound property equivalent to that of MP3, but in a much smaller size. In practice, this does not happen, but at low bit rates the result is very similar.

It offers four codecs:

Standard WMA: acts as an MP3 repeater;
WMA Pro: guarantees higher definition audio;
WMA Lossless: allows file compression without loss of quality;
WMA Voice – Aimed at low bit rate voice recordings.

5. MP2

Although it already has a successor, MP2 is still widely used, being the standard format for transmitting radio and television audio. It is a file extension for MPEG -1 layer II playback (MP3 plays in MPEG -1/2 layer III).

One of the attributes of the MP2 is that it still has great compatibility, as well as fewer errors than its successor. In addition to having better performance in audios with higher bit rates.

6. Real Audio

RealNetworks proprietary format. They have multiple audio codecs and great performance for those with low bit rates. It was constantly used in dial-up modems, hi-fi formats for music and streaming, as is the case with web radio.

RealNetworks is an internet provider that works with streaming services. It was founded by a former Microsoft executive and also offers entertainment services through subscriptions.

7. Audio Coding 3 (AC3)

Created in 1983 by Dolby Laboratories, AC3 is primarily used in DVDs, Blu-ray players, home theaters, and HDTV playback. It can reproduce frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hz, which is equivalent to the human audible sound.

Therefore, the AC3 can reproduce unique and detailed sounds, with very good quality. Its bit rate goes up to 640kpbs and its display speed goes up to 48kHz.

8. WAV

One of the best characteristics of this format is that it has a high sound fidelity rate, that is, it faithfully reproduces what was recorded without compression or loss of data.

It is widely used by those who work with audio editing, since it will be able to manipulate the real sound and without any interference. It is also considered for those who need more definition and sound fidelity as possible for their productions.

Mp3, the winner

In the era of broadband connections, fiber optics and HD videos on YouTube, MP3 remains the reference format for audio files. We are now so used to listening to music in compressed formats, and often through poor quality playback systems, that it is difficult for us to remember what listening to music really means. The recent evolution from download to hit-and-run streaming has only made the situation worse by further devaluing the value of music. When was the last time you listened to a record from start to finish without interruption, spending those 30-40 minutes on “simple” listening activity?

Premise: This post is not a crusade against Spotify because I use it myself for new releases or to have some background music at work, it is not even an analog vs. digital (or vinyl vs. CD vs. MP3) post because on this topic en Much has already been said. My goal is to make you understand what you are missing, in qualitative terms, if you listen to music in compressed formats.

Sampling and theoretical aspects.

Audio recording on a computer or digital medium assumes that the signal passes through an analog> digital (AD) converter, so that the continuous electrical signal generated by microphones or musical instruments is transformed into a digital signal (series of 0 and 1) This process is called sampling. The final quality of the recording depends on several factors: converter quality, sample rate, and bit depth.

To make an easily understandable comparison: When shooting a movie, the “analog” reality perceived by our eye is stored in a movie that takes 24 frames per second. If we consider the standard of the audio CD (44.1 kHz, 16 bits), for every second of music 44100 pictures are taken from the computer to the continuous electrical signal. If with the sampling frequency we have simply established how many times in a second the waveform will be analyzed, with the bit depth we assign to each sample a numerical value: 2 ^ 16 = 65,536 possible values.

If you wonder how it got to 44,100, I refer you to the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem.

When we press the record button on our computer, through the PCM (pulse code modulation) sampling process described above, the files are saved in uncompressed WAV or AIFF format.

Lossless files and lossy files

PCM files take up a lot of space on our hard drives because, as we have seen, there is the data necessary to describe the analog waveform in as much detail as possible. Indicatively, a WAV or AIFF file as audio CD will occupy 10 MB for every minute of music.

To overcome this problem, remember that in the early 2000s storage space cost around $ 10 / GB, while today the price is around $ 0.03 / GB (source): Audio formats have been introduced that , through an algorithm encodes and decodes information, reduces the size of the file. These codecs fall into two categories: formats with lossless compression and formats with lossy compression.

As the name implies, lossless compression indicates a reduction in file weight (usually around 50%) without loss of information. Leaving the world of audio aside for a second, ZIP and RAR files are clear examples of this type of compression: at any time we can “unzip” such a file and have access to the original information again without this no way has changed.

The most common file formats are: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec).

Lossy compression, on the other hand, implies that some of the original audio information is somehow removed to obtain a file that weighs even 90% less than the PCM.

By what criteria is information removed without “compromising” the original audio too much? Since our hearing is an imperfect instrument, codecs exploit two principles of psychoacoustics: the minimum threshold of audibility (the human ear does not perceive all frequencies in the range between 20Hz and 20kHZ equally) and masking (a weaker sound). is masked, making it inaudible, by a louder sound.)

Compression algorithms, however advanced, introduce a number of artifacts into audio files that, if played back in discrete quality audio systems, can be easily recognized or at least noticed even by an inexperienced ear. Several studies have shown that an untrained ear does not distinguish the difference between an uncompressed file and an MP3 with a bit rate equal to 256kb / s or more.

The most common lossy formats are: MP3, OGG Vorbis, AAC.

The victory of MP3

Since its introduction in the mid-1990s, MP3 has established itself as the industry-standard consumer format fueled by file-sharing through peer-to-peer channels, where, with slow connections, the heaviest file was the one it was downloaded, the longer it took to obtain it, and since the market introduction of MP3 players in which we tried to store as much music as possible and, therefore, we resorted to very compressed files.

In the transition from the era of downloading to that of small transmission files, they ensure smoother and smoother data transmission.

Despite, therefore, the evolution that has taken place in recent years in the speed of Internet connections and the reduction in the price of storage systems, only in recent years have services been created to buy files from High-quality online audio (HD tracks) or HD streaming services (Tidal).

Examples and audio files.

The main services we use to buy or listen to music use these compression levels (all information is taken from the official websites of each service at the time this publication was written).

Spotify: OGG Vorbis files at 96 kb / s (normal mobile quality), 160 kb / s (normal desktop and web player quality, high mobile quality), 320 kb / s (premium users: high desktop quality, very high quality mobile).
iTunes: By default, CDs are imported into 128 kb / s AAC files. Files in the iTunes Store are of this quality, except for “iTunes Plus” songs converted to AAC at 256 kb / s.
Pandora: 64kb / s AAC (free users), 192kb / s AAC (premium users).
YouTube: HD videos (720 or 1080p) have an audio quality equal to 384kb / s, SD videos (360, 480p) have an audio quality equal to 128kb / s.

Choose the sound format well into 2020

Although many dematerialized music rhymes with MP3, it is recommended to take a tour of the owner in existing dematerialized formats to choose the audio format well when digitizing their CD / Vinyl.

What is an audio format?

An audio format is to simplify a kind of container where dematerialized music is stored: it is important to choose it carefully when ripping a CD, because its properties will directly affect the quality of the file created.

Therefore, selecting audio format is a crucial step and it is advisable to guarantee three things with priority: the quality, functionality, and the fact that they are standard and legible on a maximum of devices, whether on a PC or MAC computer, but also on your smartphone / car radio …

It is also important to understand that in general, and although there are exceptions, the choice of audio format consists of placing the cursor in the middle between the quality on the one hand and the space occupied by the media on the other. storage.

Choose audio format: which challengers?

select aac-ogg-wma mp3 audio format
The 4 semi-amazing audio formats with destructive compression.

MP3:
Give glory where honor is due. MP3 is just as popular as it is underrated: it will have done a lot for dematerialized music by itself and has enabled millions of people around the world to discover a new way to listen to their music.

MP3 is a format of strong and destructive compression, in other words, a large part of the musical signal will be suppressed (priority, frequencies inaudible to the human ear … but not only!), And therefore offers a quality that only becomes good for from 256/320 kbps.

Is this a good opportunity today? Not being the best from a quality standpoint, choosing mp3 audio format today allows you to be sure that you can listen to it on all devices released for 10 years. MP3 is dematerialized music, what jeans should wear: versatility and the highest “acceptance rate” in the world.

Note that it is also advisable to choose mp3 audio format if you have limited storage space on a smartphone, for example because it is (in the company of AAC / WMA / OGG) the type of format that requires least space.

AAC:
This format is similar to “Apple MP3”. It has the same qualities and shortcomings as the previous one with some details: slightly better at the same speed, on the other hand it is far less standard: except for the fact that manufacturers have made explicit agreements (and pay because they require a license) , we find in Practice much fewer AAC compliant devices.

So it should be avoided unless you only have Apple products around you (even the car radio? I doubt it) and even in this case they are all perfectly mp3 compatible.

WMA
If AAC is Apple’s MP3, WMA Microsoft is MP3. Even less widespread because it doesn’t benefit from iTunes / Music Store / iPOD steamroller (who still remembers Zune’s iPod killer? Miscrosoft)

Again, forget the same qualities and shortcomings as MP3, but even less standard, therefore urgent. I even advise you to convert your existing WMA files to MP3 at a similar or slightly higher bit rate to ensure durability. Therefore, choosing WMA audio format today is not a good idea.

OGG:
We also find it under the name “vorbis”, we also have an mp3 clone here, except it is compatible with the free world (understand free) a bit in the same format as Linux.

Ogg is a completely free format unlike the previous ones, but despite this it is very confidential and is generally used only by those who take a pro-free dogmatic stance. While this position is quite respectable, selecting OGG audio format in 2014/2015 does not seem like a good idea because it is not widely distributed and above all it is like MP3, a destructive format.

WAV:
WAV is the first format on the list that does not deteriorate the quality extracted from the CD, and therefore offers an identical bit rate of 1411 kbps and therefore provides optimal quality.

However, the format shows its age and is limited in several ways: no space optimization (one second of silence = one second of noise) and no metadata or album cover management.

Therefore, choosing Wav audio format is similar to generating very heavy files and simply impossible to organize properly in a music database.

An overview of the main audio formats that can be found on your computer

Codec for mp3, mpc, flac, mono, ogg vorbis and more.

For convenience, audio formats can be divided into unprofitable (unprofitable) and unprofitable (or unprofitable without losing quality).

The idea of loss formats (most common among ordinary users) stems from the idea that the human ear misunderstands all the sounds that are in a standard WAV file at 44,100 samples per second.

In this way (as in the JPG format of the images) we will drop the high frequencies, which are thought to be less different from our hearing. The more these frequencies are reduced, the more space is allocated to our track (for example, 3 MB instead of 6 MB for a few minutes of song or much more) … but it also degrades the quality of the result, as the cut frequencies are no longer so “inaudible”.

Converting to WAV from lossy formats does not provide any benefit (unless you have to process the track and save it several times, in which case the quality loss will be limited to the first step); There are also programs that are able to bring some of these high frequencies back into our tracks, such as Steinberg Clean Plus or others (such as the first versions of Easy CD Creator or other, even more professional ones), but by doing the job properly , more than No they can do a lot.

Unbearable (lossy) formats try to reduce the space occupied by the track without touching the sound; the degree of compression will be much less than the loss, but there will be no loss of quality. If it is converted back to WAV (possibly processed), the sound will be identical to the previous one.

To listen to audio tracks in various formats, we recommend using audio players that can support different formats, such as AIMP and Foobar2000.

Lost audio formats (lossy quality)

WMA (.wma): Windows Media audio format, compressed and very similar to mp3. Microsoft audio compression format. Files compressed in this format are approximately 20% smaller than MP3 files

MP3 (.mp3) is briefly suitable for the MPEG 1 III layer and identifies audio files that use this algorithm. This is a standard that removes inaudible sounds from the human ear. This way the 128 kbps mp3 track takes up 1/11 of its space in .wav or audio CD format.
Some rate 128-bit bits as “CD quality”; In fact, the frequencies that are reduced to save hard disk space are not so “inaudible”. 192 The results are starting to get good and at only 320 kbps we can talk about the quality of CDs … Until a few years ago the quality of mp3 was considered high, but now with the advent of more modern sound cards, 24 bits: we continue to use mp3 compared to other formats like like ogg or mpc, more for its diffusion and compatibility than the quality of the result. A 600 MB album in wav format will take up about 50 MB in 128 mp3 format.

To convert an audio track to mp3, it’s a good idea to use the Lame mp3 codec (free) in all the best conversion programs (download).

AAC (.aac and .mp4): A lossy format that delivers high quality (currently the highest among lossy formats), at least one step higher than mp3. A feature of this format is the ability to protect DRM from being freely copied from one platform to another (unless applications are used to protect it).

AC3 (ac3). This is the audio format used by DVDs. We usually find it at 384 kbps (and 6 channels), but it is also possible that you only have it at 2 channels and lower speeds. One of the free programs that supports it (and allows, for example, to reduce the bit rate) is BeLight (Besweet).

OGG VORBIS (.ogg) is a great open source codec. It is able to give better results than mp3, especially at low bit rates (higher quality, less space), which is less than 128 kbps (download). It is compatible with virtually all audio players (both software and audio).

MusePack (.mpc): Very large output format, especially at high bit rates (more than 192 kbps and above). The results are much better than mp3: just listen to one 192 kbps mp3 encoded track and one mpc track at the same bit rate to immediately feel the difference (in some cases without words …). Many people considered this to be the best lossy audio format, at least until mp4 was released. It is compatible with WinAmp through plug-ins and, on average, with more advanced players such as Foobar 2000.

Digital audio formats

Below is a non-exhaustive list of the most widely used digital audio formats.

AIFF – Audio Exchange File Format

Apple uses a standard audio format. This can be considered the wav equivalent of a mac environment. Audio data is organized according to PCM encoding and is not compressed. There is also a condensed option defined as AIFF-C or AIFC.

AAC – Advanced Audio Encoding

This format is based on MPEG2 and MPEG4 lossy compression standards. It was created as a successor to the mp3 format, which uses a slightly better algorithm. This allows you to get slightly better quality for the same speed.

ALAC – Apple Lossless Audio Codec

This is Apple’s lossless audio format. Also called ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder).

ATRAC (.mp3) – acoustic coding of adaptive transformation

Old Sony audio format with ATRAC compression. Files always have a .mp3 extension, but you need the ATRAC3 driver to open them. MiniDisc was a commercial advertising product that took advantage of this type of format. The codec was later improved by subsequent enhancements such as ATRAC3 (1999), ATRAC3plus (2002), and ATRAC Advanced Lossless (2006).

AS

This is the standard audio format used by Sun, Unix, and Java operating systems. Data encoding can be PCM (uncompressed) or compressed with μ-law, a-law G729 codecs. The Au audio format was introduced by Sun Microsystems. It was a format used on NeXT systems and early websites. Initially, the file did not have a header (the original data from the file) because the encoding was unique: 8 bits with µ-law compression and a sampling rate of 8000 Hz. The latest version of this format contains a header consisting of six blocks. 32 bits, an optional block of information, and finally audio data.

FLAC is a free lossless audio codec

It is an audio codec with lossy compression (without losing information). Data compression can reach 50-60% without losing quality.

M4P

It is a patented version of the MP4 AAC format with a DRM (Digital Rights Management) system developed by Apple to download music from the iTunes Music Store.

MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 (formerly ISO / IEC 14496-14: 2003) is a storage medium for multimedia data. It is mainly used to store audio / video data, but can also be used to store other types of data, such as still images and subtitles. Like all modern formats, this format allows data to be sent over the Internet in real time: this feature is implemented by adding a data path for transmission control. The only extension for files that use this codec is .mp4.

MP3 – MPEG layer III audio recording

It is currently the most widely used audio format. The MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 III audio layer, commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented lossy format. It is used for digital music use at the user (non-professional) level.

OGG

It is an open source container that supports a variety of formats, the best known being the Vorbis audio format. This format offers MP3-like audio compression, but is less common. The big difference with mp3 is the absolute free format. In terms of performance, with the same parameters, Vorbis is slightly more efficient than MP3.

The Ogg cache can handle multiple independent streams at the same time: audio, video, text (such as subtitles), and additional data (metadata).

RA and RM

This is a format developed by Real Audio to transmit audio over the Internet. The .Ra format allows you to store all the audio files you want to transfer in one file. The codec enables transmission from very low quality to high accuracy.

RAW

A RAW file can contain any type of data, but in reality it is mainly used for PCM-encoded (uncompressed) audio data. Thus, unlike the uncompressed audio format (wav, aiff), a flat file does not contain headers with information about the data itself (usually the header contains information about: sampling rate, quantitative bits, channels, type of markup used for the ideas). A typical file extension for this type is: .raw, .pcm, without the extension.

Vox

This audio format uses Dialogic ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation). This performs 4. compression. Vox files are similar to wave files, except that they do not have a header, so you need to specify frequency information.

Better audio formats

You have decided to digitize the music tracks in your audio CD collection by transferring everything to your computer. You started to examine the possibility of converting it into a format that is more convenient for you.

With a little experience in this area, however, you would like to get some advice on the subject so you can make the best decision. How do you say? Things are exactly the same and you want to know if I can help you by giving you the best audio formats? Of course yes, that’s exactly what he wanted to do.

If you allow me a few minutes of your free time, I can actually use threads and characters to tell you which audio formats are most popular, what strengths and weaknesses they have and what purposes they may be more or less convenient for. Contact. Condition to choose those who you think are actually right for you. To complete the information and give you an even more comprehensive overview of the topic, I will also indicate at the end of the article which tools you can use to carry out various conversion processes. You will find that once you have read this manual, there is no longer any doubt about what to do.

In order to? How about putting the conversation aside and finally getting to the point? Yes? Excellent! So I suggest that you don’t waste any more time and immediately focus on the topic. Make yourself comfortable in front of your trusted computer and read everything below. I am sure you can say that you are happy and satisfied with what you have learned. As always, I hope you enjoy reading.

Differences between digital audio formats (MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV files, etc.)

What are the main digital audio formats and what are the differences between WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC and others?

Differences in audio files To discover all types of digital audio formats, you must first understand briefly and synthetically what digital audio means and how it was created.

It all starts with Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), the basis for digital audio, which was founded in 1937 and is characterized by two properties: sampling rate for measuring the waveform amplitude and bit depth for measuring possible digital values.

If the sound is continuous in the real world, this is not the case in the digital world.

To understand the difference, you can think of digital videos that consist of still images that change quickly and give the impression of continuous motion.

It is the same for audio and the amplitude of the sound waves in a digital format is not fluid, but changes according to certain criteria at predefined intervals.

Since I am not an audio technician or physicist to do simple things and understand what digital audio is, I have found a very explanatory analogy that I am trying to explain here.

The analog audio source can be thought of as the water flowing from an open tap and the amplitude of the audio waveform as the water temperature.

Sampling can be viewed as the frequency with which the finger is immersed in the flowing water per second

The more the finger is immersed in it, the more continuous the temperature changes become.

If you put your finger in the running water 44,100 times per second, it’s almost like holding your finger still all the time.

This is the idea behind the sampling rate.

In terms of bit depth, we should think that we’re using a thermometer instead of the finger.

If the water temperature is higher than that of the surrounding area, we will say that it is hot, otherwise it will be cold if it is below it.

Instead of only 2 options, we could mark 16 possible values for measuring the water temperature.

The bit depth can be viewed as the number of values with which the thermometer is to be used to measure the temperature. The more they are, the more accurate information is obtained.

Without losing ourselves technically, we are now seeing the most important digital audio file formats and their differences.

1) WAV and AIFF are lossless (i.e. uncompressed) PCM-based audio container formats with some minor changes in data storage.

.WAV or Wave is the standard format when you take a CD out of your computer (CD ripping).

A WAV and an AIFF can be converted into each other without changing the quality.

These audio formats are suitable for a stereo system (2 channels), they are sampled at 44.1 kHz (or 44100 times per second) with 16 bits (“CD quality”) and the files are approximately 10 MB per minute.

2) Lossless formats: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) and APE

These formats compress audio using algorithms.

The difference between compressed files and FLAC files is that FLAC is specifically designed for audio and therefore has better compression rates without data loss.

As a rule, a .FLAC takes up half of the storage space of a WAV in megabytes and maintains the “CD quality”.

A FLAC can be converted to WAV without loss of quality and is the preferred format for those who want to listen to music with the best quality and great speakers.

3) Loss formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, Vorbis

.MP3 and .AAC files are the most common formats when you need to store music on a computer or phone and need to share or download music on the network and the Internet.

MP3 is a highly compressed “lossy” format that sacrifices a certain amount of audio quality for a significant gain in file size.

An MP3 has a size of approximately 1 MB per minute.

The difference to lossless formats is that if you convert the file to a less compressed format like WAV, the quality sacrificed during compression will not be restored.

The various lossy formats use different data storage algorithms, so they vary the size of the files with the same quality. For lossy formats such as MP3, the audio quality is measured using the bit rate value, which is generally specified in “192 kbit / s” or “192 kbit / s”.

The higher the bit rate, the more detailed the sound becomes.