Guide to Audio Formats

Guide to commonly used Audio Formats

by The Beat Suite

© Copyright The Beat Suite 2004-05. All Rights Reserved

The Beat Suite is a Production Music Library specialising in high-quality, royalty-free production
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and sounds Reserved.broadcast
for the multimedia, www.beatsuite.com
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Guide to Audio Formats

Guide to commonly used Audio Formats

Introduction.
What is MP3? What is WAV? What is AIFF? What is AAC?

We are all used to accessing content in various file formats. Audio/

Music and Sound is no exception and is available in a number of varying
formats.

This document has been written to help you understand the main
differences of the various audio formats in common use today.
“We are all used to
accessing content in
various file formats. Audio formats vary from WAV, MP3, AIFF to CD-A. The main thing to
Audio/Music and Sound remember is that the higher the quality of the file, the higher the file size.
is no exception and is
Some modern day file formats simply compress these high quality files
available in a number
of varying formats” into an acceptable file size for worldwide distribution.

What is CD-A?
CD-A (Compact Disc Audio) is the format to which domestic and
commercial CD players adhere. When you create a music CD on a
computer it is burnt in the CD-A format. All music purchased from a
music store on CD is in the CD-A format.

This is the standard Audio CD format and is used by all manufacturers

of hi-fi, CD, Discman etc. Almost all CD burning software supports this
format enabling anyone with a modern computer to create Audio CD’s.

By default Audio CD’s can hold 74 minutes of audio regardless of sound

quality. All music on an audio CD is created as CD quality 44.1KHz, 16-
Bit, Stereo. File size of CD-A compares to that of other uncompressed
formats such as WAV and AIFF.

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Guide to Audio Formats

What is MP3?
MP3 was developed as a way of compressing the file sizes of traditional
audio formats (WAV/AIFF) for easier and faster Internet distribution. It is
in effect full quality music compressed to be as small as possible.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, digital audio compression format achieving

smaller file sizes by eliminating sounds the human ear can’t hear or
doesn’t easily pick up. MP3 Technology basically compresses audio by
removing unnecessary parts of the file. It optimizes the file to make it
smaller whilst retaining as much sonic quality as possible.

MP3 as a general rule is a tenth (1/10) the file size of CD Audio or

“MP3 was developed as
a way of compressing highest quality WAV or AIFF. MP3 was developed to make the file size
the file sizes of of music files smaller so that online users could download them quicker;
traditional audio
formats (WAV/AIFF) this enabled a new form of music distribution on the Internet.
for easier and faster
Internet distribution ”
Note - MP3 is short for MPEG Audio Layer 3. MPEG refers to the Moving
Pictures Experts Group, an organization that sets international standards
for digital formats for audio and video. The file-shrinking technology
itself was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.

As a rule near CD quality MP3 requires approx 2 MB per minute file

space (about 1/10th of uncompressed WAV or AIFF).

What is WAV?
WAV is the native audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM for the
Windows computer system. It stands for Windows Audio Version (WAV).
It is an uncompressed audio format. This means that it is much larger in
file size than MP3 but can support the highest possible audio recording
quality as well as lower quality settings.

Almost all audio files ending with .WAV can be played on PC platform
software. WAV supports the highest possible audio standards and
was made to enable music to be digitised for use in the digital domain
(Computers).

WAV can support music from the highest quality 48K recording through to
Internet live streaming at 11K (about the quality of a hand-held radio).

By default, WAV consumes around 10 MB of space per minute.

3 minutes of music = 30 MB file space (CD quality).

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Guide to Audio Formats

What is AIFF?
AIFF (Audio Integrated File Format) is the native audio file format
developed by Apple for the Macintosh computer platform. It is an
uncompressed audio format. This means that it is much larger in file size
than MP3 but can support the highest possible audio recording quality
as well as lower quality settings.

Many audio editors and software can handle both WAV and AIFF audio
formats. This format was developed as a way of putting audio files
into a digitised format for use on computers. The digitisation of sound
into a computer based file format has completely revolutionised music
production, recording, distribution, performance and consumption.

AIFF can support music from the highest quality 48K recording through
to lower quality recordings.

By default, AIFF consumes around 10 MB of space per minute.

3 minutes of music = 30 MB file space (CD quality).

What is AAC?
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the next generation of audio codec
developed by Fraunhofer that seeks to preserve audio quality at lower
bit-rates. It means that it can result in higher quality sound than MP3
whilst remaining the same file size. This is a fairly new format but it
supported by many of the new music players and media players.

What is Apple Lossless Encoding?

Apple Lossless (also known as Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE, or Apple
Lossless Audio Codec, ALAC) is an audio codec developed by Apple
Computer for lossless encoding of digital music.

Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename
extension .m4a. It is not a variant of AAC, but a totally new codec. iPods
with a dock connector and recent firmware can play Apple Lossless
encoded files. It does not utilize any digital restrictions management
scheme, but by the nature of the container, it is thought that DRM can be
applied to ALAC much the same way it can with other files in QuickTime
containers.

Apple claims that audio files compressed with its lossless codec will use
up “about half the storage space” that the uncompressed data would
require.

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Guide to Audio Formats

The Apple Lossless Encoder was introduced as a component of QuickTime

6.5.1 on April 28, 2004 and thus as a feature of iTunes 4.5. The codec is
also used in the AirPort Express’s AirTunes implementation.

What is ‘Real Audio’ (.RA)?

Real Networks developed the Real Audio file format as an audio format
for streaming music across the Internet. Like MP3 it retains high audio
quality whilst keeping file sizes as low as possible to maximise download
speed for Internet users. It is frequently used for Internet Radio as well
as auditioning music files and audio books. The end user must have the
Real Audio player installed on their machine to stream the .ra audio. A
plug-in is available for other media players so that you can play Real
Audio files with them.

Although most people do not actually play music in the .ra format it is
one of the most commonly used formats for streaming music and movies
live across the internet.

What is ‘Windows Media Audio’ (.WMA)?

WMA is a proprietary compressed audio file format used by Microsoft.
It was initially a competitor to the MP3 format, but with the introduction
of Apple’s iTunes Music Store, it has positioned itself as a competitor to
the advanced audio coding format used by Apple.

It is part of the Windows Media framework. An initial reason for the

development of WMA might have been that MP3 technology is patented
and has to be licensed from Thomson for inclusion in the Microsoft
Windows operating system.

Files in this format can be played using Windows Media Player, Winamp
and many other alternative media players. The FFmpeg project have
reverse-engineered and reimplemented the WMA format to allow its use
on POSIX compliant operating systems such as Linux.

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Guide to Audio Formats

What about file purchased from Beatsuite.com?

Although we sell a range of products we aim to provide you with the

highest possible audio quality.

Our Royalty Free Music Tracks are purchased as broadcast quality MP3
files. Some of our Flash Music Loops and Flash Sounds are sold as high
quality WAV files. This is to make them simpler to use with whichever
software your industry uses.

Audio formats can easily be converted into different file types. We

recommend using Apple’s iTunes. It can convert audio from CD-A, WAV,
MP3, AAC and into CD-A, WAV, MP3 and AAC.

The various settings within Audio formats and what they mean.

Sample Rate
Sample rate is the number of times per second that the music waveforms
are captured digitally. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality
and the larger the file size. Be sure to choose a sample rate that is no
higher than the rate used to originally store the music, or you’ll waste
space.

CD quality, for example, is 44.1 kHz, so choosing a higher rate when

you’re encoding from a CD is unnecessary. In general, the best choice
is Auto, which uses the same rate as the original music.

Examples: Audio CD - 44.1 kHz,

MP3 - 44.1 kHz, 22 kHz or 11kHz
Internet Radio typically - 11 kHz

Sample Bit Size

The sample size is the number of bits used to store each sample taken
as the music is encoded. The higher the sample bit size, the better the
quality and the larger the file size. Examples: 16-Bit / 8-Bit

Channels
Mono files are about half the size of stereo files. Mono is appropriate
if you don’t have stereo speakers or if your audio files are monaural. If
you’ll be listening to your song files using headphones or your stereo
system, choose Stereo or Auto. Auto converts tracks that are already

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Guide to Audio Formats

monaural into mono files, and stereo files into stereo files. Using music
online such as on a website it may be fine to use the Mono setting,
however, if you plan to use music where it will be amplified by a sound
system or large screen TV/Projector then you would want the highest
possible quality - Stereo.

Most modern day audio/video encoders and players support both Mono
and Stereo formats.

Stereo Bit Rate

The higher the mono or stereo kilobits per second (kbps), the higher the
audio quality and the larger the file size. The most common bit rates for
stereo AAC/MP3 files is 128 kbps. Lower bit rates are more appropriate
for sound files containing voice recordings (as opposed to music).

Converting Audio into different formats

There are a host of audio programs and media players/encoders on the

market for both the MAC and PC user. The most important fact when
using one of these programs is to find one that you are comfortable with
and therefore confident in its results.

We strongly recommend Apple’s iTunes for converting MP3/WAV or AIFF

audio files. It is easy to use; it’s a fantastic MP3, CD-burning, music
store and MP3 library program. It also has superb audio file conversion
options.

To download it
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download

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Guide to Audio Formats

Bibliography.
Apple Itunes help pages (offline)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
www.MP3cdburner.ne

Help and support

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes

For more information please contact us

Written by Steve Bainbridge
The Beat Suite

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