Audio File Format
An Audio File Format is a data file format for audio data.
- Context:
- It can (typically) support only one Audio Coding Format.
- It can range from (typically) being a Digital Audio File Format to being an Analog Audio File Format.
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- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Container Format (Digital), File Format, Digital Audio, Computer, Audio Coding Format, Audio Compression (Data), Lossy Compression, Bitstream.
References
2017
- (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format Retrieved:2017-3-28.
- An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. The bit layout of the audio data (excluding metadata) is called the audio coding format and can be uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size, often using lossy compression. The data can be a raw bitstream in an audio coding format, but it is usually embedded in a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer.
2017
- (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format#Format_types Retrieved:2017-4-20.
- It is important to distinguish between the audio coding format, the container containing the raw audio data, and an audio codec. A codec performs the encoding and decoding of the raw audio data while this encoded data is (usually) stored in a container file. Although most audio file formats support only one type of audio coding data (created with an audio coder), a multimedia container format (as Matroska or AVI) may support multiple types of audio and video data.
There are three major groups of audio file formats:
- Uncompressed audio formats, such as WAV, AIFF, AU or raw header-less PCM;
- Formats with lossless compression, such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (filename extension
.ape), WavPack (filename extension.wv), TTA, ATRAC Advanced Lossless, ALAC (filename extension.m4a), MPEG-4 SLS, MPEG-4 ALS, MPEG-4 DST, Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMA Lossless), and Shorten (SHN). - Formats with lossy compression, such as Opus, MP3, Vorbis, Musepack, AAC, ATRAC and Windows Media Audio Lossy (WMA lossy).
- It is important to distinguish between the audio coding format, the container containing the raw audio data, and an audio codec. A codec performs the encoding and decoding of the raw audio data while this encoded data is (usually) stored in a container file. Although most audio file formats support only one type of audio coding data (created with an audio coder), a multimedia container format (as Matroska or AVI) may support multiple types of audio and video data.