Everything you need to know about digital audio files<article>
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If you use iTunes or if you buy and download digital music, you’ll have come across a number of terms and abbreviations that describe digital audio files. This alphabet soup can be quite confusing. What are codecs or audio file formats? What is a bit rate, and what’s a sample rate? What does it mean when music is “high-resolution?”</p><p>
This article covers what you need to know about digital audio files. I’ll tell you the difference between lossy and lossless files, I’ll explain why bit rates matter (or don’t), and I’ll help you understand the various file formats you may encounter.</p><h2>Compression: lossy and lossless</h2>
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When you buy a CD, the audio on the disc is uncompressed. You can rip (or import) CDs with iTunes or other software, turning the CD’s audio into digital audio files to use on a computer or a portable device. In iTunes, you can rip in two uncompressed formats:
WAV and
AIFF (other software allows for other formats). Both formats simply encapsulate the PCM (pulse-code modulation) data stored on CDs so it can be read as audio files on a computer, and their bit rate (you’ll learn what the bit rate is below) is 1,411 kbps.</p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="/article/3020689/software/everything-you-need-to-know-about-digital-audio-files.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here[/url]</p></section></article>
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Everything you need to know about digital audio files
