Audio Formats

The Formats

Wave (or WAV)

The standard audio file format for the PC is the wave file. There are different quality settings of wave files, from CD quality stereo, down to telephone quality in mono, and many combinations in between. These sounds can be played using any of the following programs: Windows Media Player, Sound Recorder, or the QuickTime Player. The file extension is .wav

Example - hello.wav, size:310kb

AIF/AIFF

The equivalent sound file on the Macintosh is AIF/AIFF and it has similar quality settings to the wave files. The QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player 7.1 for Macintosh will play these files. The file extension is .aif or .aiff

Example - RwWhistle.aiff, size:56kb (a Red-winged Blackbird)

MP3

A widely popular format today is the MP3 format. Originally this format was conceived to be audio and video, however, the video portion was dumped and the MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio format was born. These files are popular because they are compressed (smaller) in comparison to wave files, but the sound quality can be virtually indistinguishable. This makes them good for transferring over the internet because of their relatively small size. These files can be played using Windows Media Player, Musicmatch, WinAmp, or QuickTime. The file extension is .mp3

Example1 - hello.mp3, size:30kb (the same sound as the wave file from above, but 1/10 the size- that's MP3 compression!)

Example2 - speed_128.mp3, size:697kb (a 45 second "song" at the 128kbps bit rate)

Real

There are other compressed audio formats. The first one is known as Real Audio from Real.com. You need the Real Audio player to play these files. The company pushes their RealOne player, but it can be so annoying in its pop-up ads and windows that it takes away from the music experience. If you can, get the Real Player version 8. The file extensions are .ra, .rm, or .ram

Example - hello.rm, size:23kb (the same sound as above)

Windows Media

Another type of compressed audio comes from Microsoft. The Windows Media Audio format is another direct competitor to MP3. Microsoft claims that this format is CD quality at half the size of MP3. Well not quite. When audio files are compared at the same bit rate, or the measure of how many bits represent a given sound, the files are essentially the same in terms of quality and file size. Windows Media Player plays Windows Media Audio files. Microsoft has just released their Media Player 9 Series player. The file extension is .wma

Example - hello.wma, size: 43kb (the same sound as above)

MIDI

MIDI is a file format unlike any of the others we have mentioned. It isn't really a sound file, but rather a description of a sound file. It relies on your sound card to interpret the data and play the song. The higher the quality of MIDI interpreter on your sound card, the more realistic the sound will be. Since it is only a description and not a full sound, it is a relatively small file. Windows Media Player, QuickTime, along with countless other programs will play MIDI files. The file extension is .mid

Example - getting_to_know.mid, size:13kb