Everything you need to know about video codecs and containers

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Everything you need to know about video codecs and containers

Video Formats, Codecs and Containers

Sometimes it is quite difficult to figure out which codec and container are the best to create your video masterpiece.

Video Container, Video Codec

Today, everyone seems to be striving to become filmmakers. People use a wide variety of devices and devices for filming, including mobile phones, digital cameras, portable and professional video cameras. And the latest generation of digital SLR cameras can record high definition video.

Making a good video takes a bit of effort, but it becomes even more difficult when you want to show your masterpiece to other people in all its glory. Maybe you need to upload it to YouTube, maybe you are going to burn your own Blu-ray or DVD, maybe you want to download the video to your mobile phone or tablet.

Sometimes it is difficult to figure out which codec and container is best for creating your video masterpiece. The material below can help you solve this problem.

What is the difference between a codec and a container?

Novice users are often confused when trying to figure out the difference between codecs and containers. Now the word Codec has become commonplace, and initially the term was an abbreviation for the concept of KOMPRESSOR-DEKOMPRESSOR. What do codecs do?

They take data from digital media and compress it (for transmission and storage) or decompress it for viewing and transcoding. Each codec uses a specific method to encode and decode digital data.

Uncompressed video and audio (raw means unprocessed, or often “raw”) require a lot of storage space. Uncompressed 1080i HD video recorded at 50 frames per second consumes up to 410 gigabytes per hour. Audio on CDs, quite out of date by modern standards, plays for around 74 minutes with a 680 megabyte disk capacity. However, eight-channel audio encoded with a 24-bit resolution will require 16 megabits per second, or several gigabytes per hour. Even broadband internet connectivity is sometimes not enough to listen to music in full audio resolution. This is the reason why digital video and audio recordings must be compressed for transmission and storage.

Once the media is compressed within reasonable limits, it must be packaged for shipping and later viewing. For this, container formats are used that act as a “black box” filled with various multimedia formats. Good container formats can accommodate files compressed with different codecs.

Let’s take a look at the types of codecs.

General concept of codecs

If you chat with people who are into video processing or visit the relevant web forums, one way or another, you will find yourself involved in the sometimes heated debate about which codec is better. In fact, the effectiveness of any codec is highly dependent on the compression mode used and the type of video material being processed. Therefore, it is worth considering various codecs and taking into account their specific use and the characteristics of the compressed material. Video codecs are mainly covered below, but the section on format containers also mentions the use of audio codecs.

Capture and archive videos

Most modern consumer electronic devices receive content in some kind of already compressed format. Usually only professional videographers work with uncompressed HD video. Of course, ideally, if possible, in the presence of a large-capacity storage system, the video files should be stored in the original recording format, because this ensures the highest quality. Transcoding a video from one type of compression to another can introduce subtle artifacts that can degrade image quality. (These errors are minimized with good software transcoding.) Many codecs with specific specializations are currently offered. The average user may never find most of them. The next section is dedicated to codecs as compression / decompression systems,

x.264 / MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). This most common codec is used in modern digital video and digital cameras, where shooting results are saved as files on built-in hard drives, memory cards, etc.

MJPEG (Motion JPEG). This is an older format used by some older generation digital cameras and video equipment. It was developed by the same specialists (Joint Picture Experts Group), who participated in the earlier development of the JPEG codec for compressing ordinary still images, hence the name of this codec.

DV and HDV. The DV standard was developed by a consortium of companies from

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Digital audio formats

Digital audio formats

DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS

Digital sound “format” means not only the format of the audio file (which can be determined by its extension), but also, for example, the data presentation format, which depends on the digitization method and parameters. In addition to the computer file formats of various operating systems, there are audio media formats, streaming audio formats, and multi-channel audio formats.

digital audio formats

Furthermore, the “sound” file can be not only an audio recording, but also a project file from an audio editor, DAW, or any other program for working with sound. The project file can contain embedded audio and only links to multimedia data.

A standard MIDI file does not contain any audio data, it is a set of commands that control synthesizers and other devices.

There are also several patch and sample formats that are used on synthesizers.

Presentation format
The format for representing audio data in digital form depends on how the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) quantizes. There are two types of quantization that are commonly used:

pulse code modulation
sigma delta modulation
Bit depth and sampling frequency (quantization) are also indicated for various audio recording and playback devices as the format for representing digital audio (24-bit / 192 kHz; 16-bit / 48 kHz).

Digital audio file formats
There are three groups of file formats:

uncompressed audio formats like WAV, AIFF, RAW (raw (unprocessed) measurements without any header or sync)
lossless compressed audio formats (APE, FLAC)
lossy compressed audio formats (MP3, AAC, Ogg, WMA (lossless version available))
Comparison of digital audio formats

Lossless data compression is a data compression method by which encoded data can be recovered unambiguously with bit precision. This type of compression is fundamentally different from lossy data compression.

When lossy compression is used, the decompressed data differs from the original, but the degree of difference is not significant from the point of view of its perception or later use. The advantage of lossy compression is that it allows a higher compression ratio with acceptable distortion. When using lossy compression, be aware that recompression tends to degrade quality. However, if the recompression is done using the same algorithm and without changes to the compressed data, the quality does not change. But in general, when editing the decoded data, it is advisable to save the original uncompressed (or compress without data loss).

Audio formats for sound quality.

Audio formats for sound quality.

Audio Formats

The term “audio” today means everything that is somehow connected with sound. This is processing, playing, mixing and simply listening to audio recordings. Few people know that during their existence, all popular audio formats have undergone significant changes, sometimes for the better, and sometimes even for the worse.

audio formats

The problem is that when the creators tried to improve the recording quality by using the new format, the size of the result increased significantly. Reducing the size of the final file resulted in a significant loss of quality. But this was not always the case.
The first audio format used in computer games.

The first mention of computer sound is associated with the creation of several primitive video games. Then the sound was played back using the speaker of the system. As the software developers of that time did not try, it was impossible to achieve the level of quality that would be compatible with tape and reel recorders. This is what got many developers thinking about how to change the audio format to make the sound more natural and natural. It is this problem that has led to the current competition in the audio market. As a result, the formats used strongly affect the quality of the reproduced material and the configuration of the basic playback parameters.

WAV format

The first full quality of audio formats is associated with this particular format. The WAV extension designation was derived from the English word “wave”, which means wave in Russian. It was this format that became the first audio format to be processed with computer programs at a highly professional level. Files with a WAV extension had the following characteristics:

– depth of sound;
– sampling frequency;
– bit rate, etc.

This format was even compatible with the sound that could be obtained after processing an audio CD with an equalizer and other tools. However, the file size in this case was completely unwarranted. For example, the most common 3 minute long track could be up to 50 megabytes long.

Audio CDs, or more exactly the .cda extension, appeared almost at the same time as the wav format. But unlike files with the wav extension, .cda cannot be edited. But it can be opened in any audio processing program, transcoded and formatted, and saved to your hard drive. Of course, you will not be able to save your changes to the CD.

MP3 codec

After the introduction of the LAME MP3 Encoder codec in the music industry, there was a real revolution in the audio world. Now the audio files are ten times smaller. At maximum compression, the size of a five minute composition rarely exceeds 7MB. This was a significant advance. Also, this extension finally implemented the ability to tweak some features and configure additional parameters, such as ID3 tags. They can contain information about the track title, artist, album, and release date.

Of course, this format immediately became widespread. Almost the entire Internet community uses this universal format. Therefore, we can say that the MP3 format has been a real revolution in the field of computer sound. Today it is one of the most demanded and popular audio formats. Although today it is already being replaced by other audio formats. But we will talk about this a bit later.

AIFF files

There are other types of audio files. This is the so-called aiff format. This format was originally created for use on Macintosh computers. A little later, a transformation occurred, as a result of which it was possible to achieve the compatibility of various audio formats and the possibility of their use on different platforms and operating systems.

OGG format

This audio format is also quite common. It was developed by the specialists of the Vorbis company. Please note that this format has several disadvantages. First of all, despite the small size of the files, using this format places a heavy load on the computer’s system resources.

Also, to work with this audio format, you must use your own decoders and codecs, which may not be installed automatically. For example, those who worked with the FL Studio Producer Edition program had to manually activate the installation file in .inf format to work with this format. Otherwise this app just won’t play OGG files. Despite all these shortcomings, OGG audio files are quite common nowadays and they sound good.

Audio formats: rating and benefits

Audio formats: rating and benefits

As actual field studies have shown, a good idea to rank the top ten audio formats turned out to be an impossible task at first.

Competition conditions too different for unequal participants. In addition, some corruption schemes or lobbyists of transnational companies in the field of audio recording interfere in our good cause to help people choose the best sound product.

The world’s most popular MP3 format reached the leaders of popular love solely due to multi-million dollar promotional investments. And if you take the sound quality, then regular. And even in terms of compression and disk space savings, it’s not the highest compression either.

Therefore, a compromise decision was made: divide the test subjects into three groups and compare and identify the leaders by groups.

Three types of audio formats
No compression.
Lossless compression.
Lossy compression.
Uncompressed audio recording formats show their best performance only on high-quality professional audio equipment.

If you have an inexpensive tablet or smartphone in your hands, then wonderful music will sound on your device, but you will not hear it simply because the hardware and software resource and the speakers or headphones cannot reproduce such high sound quality.

On the other hand, if you start MP3 sound recording through professional stereos and amplifiers, you will hear such noise and rattle from the speakers that, again, this type of use is completely meaningless.

Audio classification by type of sound reproduction equipment
For professional equipment, uncompressed audio formats.
For semi-professional teams, compressed audio formats. But without loss.
For inexpensive equipment: lossy and compressed audio formats.
In the first case, the hardware is so expensive that it is ridiculous to worry about saving money on media.

In the second case, the owner of an Apple device for a thousand dollars will obviously be able to call himself and spend a couple of hundred dollars on a bulky memory.

In the third case, since it has hardly been possible to raise money for a cheap smartphone, saving on the size of the stored music is very important. Well, no one is going to listen to a symphony orchestra in Hi-Fi on the phone anyway. Unless you can download a ringtone from the classics for fun to make it look like a fresh bell pepper to the eyes of tomatoes.

With this concludes the overture, we begin to present the subject.

Audio formats for high quality sound
This includes uncompressed formats.

PCM – Pulse Code Modulation. The original analog audio is sampled as is, without any modification.
PCM is the most common audio recording format used on CDs and DVDs. Dolby multi-channel, surround, subject to high-quality speakers, sounding almost one-on-one with a live performance.

If you like to sit in front of a home theater and immerse yourself in empathy for the main and supporting characters in the movie, this is it.

Wav
A fairly old format, developed as early as 1991. Well, the old masters always thought of high quality.

Many people consider WAV to be an uncompressed format. But it is actually a container and it can also contain compressed files.

In most cases, WAV contains uncompressed PCM audio. Therefore, the quality is high. But even for one minute of recording, approximately 32MB of memory is wasted.

Good enough compatibility with Windows and Mac.

AIFF
WAV analog from Apple developers. This is also a container and also usually contains sound in PCM format. Good compatibility with Windows.

Lossy compressed audio formats
Truly popular formats for everyone.

MP3
In accordance with the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 standard, it appeared in 1993 and instantly won universal love precisely because of its economy in memory consumption.

A CD can store the complete discography of your favorite band.
Throw some records in the glove compartment and you can enjoy music from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.
During this time, you can listen to all the books by all the writers worth listening to.
The MP3 format is such a solid eunuch, from which they cut the most reluctant, but began to show the ability to store and save. So MP3 is a very inexpensive format.

The main advantage is that he leans on everything that he just plays and sings.

AAC
An advanced form of audio encoding. The younger but advanced brother of MP3. It has slightly improved sound characteristics and a higher compression ratio.

Applies to Android, iOS, iTunes, YouTube, Nintendo, and the latest versions of PlayStation.

MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: we talk about all audio file formats

MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: we talk about all audio file formats

As you organize your digital music collection, you can dive into a variety of audio file formats. Almost everyone has heard of MP3, but what is OGG, AIFF, or MQA?

If, after reading the list, you have the suspicion that all these formats for obtaining such chic abbreviations were studied in different universities, we will help to dispel it. This material will clarify the essence of some popular music formats, the difference between them and why it is important to know them.

Regardless of what you’re listening to, low-bitrate MP3, slightly better tracks in AAC, or high-resolution audio in FLAC or WAV, it’s time to find out exactly what you get in each case and how to choose the optimal format.

Let’s evaluate the pros and cons of each.

A quick overview of file formats and codecs

In order not to beat around the bush, we’ll provide a quick guide to all file formats and the differences between them at first. If you want to know more, here is a more detailed description of the differences in size, sound quality and compatibility.

–AAC (not high resolution audio format). Apple’s popular alternative to MP3. Compressed and lossy, but with higher sound quality. Used to download from iTunes and stream from Apple Music.

–AIFF (high resolution). Apple’s alternative to WAV with more complete metadata. It is not an uncompressed and lossy format very popular with large files.

–DSD (high resolution). One-bit format used in Super Audio CD. Available in 2.8 MHz, 5.6 MHz and 11.2 MHz sample rates. Due to the use of a high quality codec, it is not currently used for transmission. Uncompressed format.

–FLAC (high resolution). Lossless compression format supporting high-resolution supporting sample rates and metadata storage; the file size is half that of WAV. Due to the absence of royalties, it is considered the best format for downloading and storing albums in high resolution audio. Its main drawback is the lack of support for Apple devices (and therefore the incompatibility with iTunes).

–MP3 (not high resolution audio format). Popular compression and lossy format with small file size and far from the highest sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods.

–MQA (high resolution). Compressed format for storing high resolution files in an easier way to transmit. Used by the Tidal Masters service for high resolution audio streaming.

–OGG (not high resolution audio format). He is sometimes known as his full name: Ogg Vorbis. An open source alternative to MP3 and AAC that is not covered by patents. This 320 kbps format is used in Spotify broadcasts.

–WAV (high resolution). The standard format in which all CDs are recorded. Great sound quality, but large files due to lack of compression. Weak support for metadata (versions, song titles and artists).

–WMA Lossless (high resolution). An uncompressed version of Windows Media Audio, the compatibility of which is not often found on smartphones and tablets.

Compressed and uncompressed audio files

Let’s start by looking at three categories into which all audio file formats can be grouped. They are determined by the degree of data compression and the associated loss of sound quality.

If a special algorithm (or codec) was not used to compress the audio in your file, this will lead to a double result: first, there will be no loss of sound quality, and second, your space will soon be exhausted. HDD.

In essence, the uncompressed recording corresponds completely to the original audio file, in which real sound signals are recorded in digital representation.

WAV, AIFF or FLAC: uncompressed formats

WAV and AIFF are the most popular uncompressed audio file formats. Both are based on PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), a known mechanism for directly converting audio to digital format. WAV and AIFF use similar technologies, but the storage methods are slightly different. In these formats, you can record CD-quality files with higher resolution.

The WAV format was developed by Microsoft and IBM, and is therefore used on Windows-based platforms; it is the standard CD recording format.

The AIFF format was created by Apple as an alternative to WAV; And while AIFF files are less common, they provide more comprehensive metadata support, allowing you to store album art, song titles, and the like.

These fortmats take up a lot of space.

Description of the main audio formats

Description of the main audio formats

In the world of music there are a large number of music formats, their modifications and versions, created by the giants of the music industry and small companies that have received public recognition in the electronic world.

Various physical methods have been developed to store audio data for these purposes, such as vinyl records, magnetic tape, CD, DAT, MD (minidisc), DVD, or converting music scores to music (MIDI), in the same way that they have many different computing methods emerged. audio data storage – digital: OGG, Mp3, Flac, Wav formats.

It is impossible to consider and discuss all audio formats, codecs, their advantages and disadvantages, so in my article I will try to tell you about the most popular audio file extensions that you find.

Why can’t we use any universal audio file encoding format? Because implementing multiple functions requires a different format. For example: to play CDs in a CD-ROM drive, to record music or sound effects in video games, to record a movie track or video clip, to play on mobile phones or to transfer files over the Internet, in addition, there are various operating systems that are the most widely used in the world … These include: Amiga, Macintosh, NEXT, and Windows PC.

Also, the work of a dj, sound engineer, cj, video engineer, or a simple music lover is quite different in nature. This may require that your audio data be saved in your own way. For example, the audio of a CD must be saved using 16 bits and a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz. However, to download sound over the Internet, we’d better use a different bit depth and sample rate, as each minute of 16-bit, 44-kilohertz audio takes up about 10MB, i.e. an average track of 5 minutes will be 50 meters, too much data for the average user. This article provides an overview of the most popular music formats.

AA (Audible Audio Book File) is a proprietary format developed by Audible. It is used to record audiobooks sold through the Audible and iTunes services. It is possible to reduce or accelerate the speed of listening to files: digital tone, the ability to leave bookmarks when listening to audio books, file protection, when delivering sound recordings over the Internet.

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is an audio file format with less quality loss when encoding than MP3 in the same sizes. Lossless music encoding of original quality using the ALAC profile. AAC is a family of MPEG4 audio coding algorithms. Unlike the hybrid mp3 filter bank, AAC uses MDST (Modified Cosine Transform) technology, which means that the listener gets better sound quality than MP3 encoding with the same or lower bit rate. Possible AAC file extensions: [.m4a], [.m4b], [.m4p].

Additionally, AAC is a wideband audio coding algorithm that uses two basic coding principles to dramatically reduce the amount of data required to transmit high-quality digital audio. This format is one of the highest quality, uses lossy compression, compatible with most modern equipment, including notebooks.

For 2009, it is much less common than MP3 and other workarounds. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) was originally created as a successor to MP3 with improved encoding quality. The AAC format, officially known as ISO / IEC 13818-7, was released in 1997 as the new seventh part of the MPEG-2 family. There is also the AAC format known as MPEG-4 Part 3.

Benefits of AAC over MP3:

– up to 48 audio channels;

– high coding efficiency with constant and variable bit rate;

– sampling frequencies from 8 Hz to 96 kHz (MP3: 8 Hz – 48 kHz);

– More flexible set stereo mode.

ADX is a proprietary ADICM-based lossy compression and storage format developed by CRI Middleware specifically for use in video games. The most characteristic feature is the ability to repeat the sound recording, which makes using the format convenient to use as background music in various games that support this media container. It is compatible with many SEGA Dreamcast games, some PlayStation 2 games and GameCube.

Unlike MP3, it does not use the psychoacoustic model of reducing the volume of sound data (reducing its complexity). Instead, the ADPCM model uses a prediction function relative error data record to store samples.

The 4 most popular audio formats

Each audio file format has its individual strengths and weaknesses. Find out which one is best for certain tasks or situations; This will save you time and avoid unnecessary mistakes. Next, we will look at the five most common types of audio files and some of their distinctive characteristics and differences.

Audio Formats

1. The M4A audio file format

M4A is a file extension for an audio file in the mpeg-4 format. This is a compressed audio file format used in modern environments. The reason for this is the higher quality standards that result from the use of cloud storage and more local hard drive space on modern computers. Especially for users who have to listen to pronounced sounds in audio files, the high quality of M4A ensures that the format remains relevant compared to other common file types.

Audio format

.M4A files are compressed audio formats used in Apple iTunes.
Music download software, such as Apple iTunes, uses the M4A format instead of MP3 because it is smaller and of higher quality. There are limitations in terms of compatibility, as many software programs cannot recognize the M4A format. This makes it ideal for a single selected user type.

2. The FLAC audio file format

The abbreviation FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, which aptly describes files in the FLAC audio format. These are audio files that have been compressed and are smaller than the original file. The sophisticated file type is rarely used as an audio format. Because although it has its advantages, it often requires special downloads to make it work.

If you also consider that audio files are often streamed, this can be associated with considerable inconvenience for any new user receiving such a file.

A .FLAC file is a lossless audio format.

The most important aspect of FLAC is that lossless compression saves size and makes it easy to publish an audio file while maintaining the original quality. Compared to the original audio file, the .flac file requires only sixty percent of storage space. This saves a lot of hard drive space and time to upload and download.

3. The MP3 audio file format

The .mp3 file extension indicates audio files that use the MPEG-Audio Layer 3 format. The most important feature of MP3 files is their compression, which saves valuable storage space while maintaining the sound quality of the original almost flawless. Compression makes the MP3 audio format extremely popular with all portable audio players, especially the Apple iPod.

Due to its high quality and small file size, the .MP3 format also keeps up with newer types of audio files.
Today’s digital landscape is indispensable without MP3, as it is compatible with almost any device that can read types of audio files. Due to its compact size, the MP3 file format is especially suitable for exchanging a large number of audio files. It also works well for websites that host audio files. The popularity of the MP3 format relies heavily on its overall sound quality. Although this is not the highest quality level, MP3 offers enough other advantages to outweigh it.

4. The MP4 audio file format

The MP4 audio format is often mistakenly viewed as an evolution of the MP3 file. But that is a fallacy. Both types of audio files are fundamentally different; the supposed similarities result only from their names, not from their functionality. So, among other things, you should be aware that .mp4 files are sometimes called video files, not audio files. This is not an error because, in fact, the format refers to both audio and video files.

There are many differences between the .MP4 and .MP3 file formats.
The .mp4 audio file type is a full multimedia file extension that can contain audio, video, and other media. In MP4 format, the data is stored in the file, not in the code. This must be taken into account as MP4 files require different codecs to artificially implement the code so that it can be read.

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.

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.