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OTHER
AUDIO FILE TYPES: |
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CD-DA
(compact disc-digital audio) |
standard
format for compact discs; 70-80 minutes of storage time
...since audio is uncompressed CDs are considered
full fidelity |
WAV
(waveform files) |
standard
system for recording uncompressed digital audio
on Microsoft® Windows computers...the
second most common type of audio file found on the
Internet behind MP3 |
BWF
(Broadcast Wave Form) |
format
used at some radio stations to provide a seamless exchange
of audio among different types of equipment...these files
contain metadata, or basic info about the file contents,
so they are suitable for automation or software databases
that need to extract song titles, artists, length and
other info |
MP3
(MPEG audio layer 3) |
most
personal computers and CD burners use this format that
can store 14 hours on a single disc. MP3 files are
compressed by a factor of 10 or higher by using a
mathematical technique known as perceptual noise shaping;
it removes parts of a sound that the human ear can't easily
hear. MP3 files are the most common found on the Internet
because they are much smaller than WAV files. |
WMA
(Windows Media Audio) |
a
compressed format found on Microsoft®
computers; may have trouble transferring to a mobile phone
or portable device. |
AIFF
(Audio Interchange File Format) |
uncompressed
format developed by Apple in 1988, commonly found on Apple
Macs |
AU |
introduced
by Sun Microsystems and commonly found on early web pages...also
found on Unix & Java systems |
RA
or RM (Real Audio) |
proprietary
Real Audio streaming files |
Musical
Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) |
a
way of communicating performance information from one
piece of software/hardware to another or from an external
device like an electronic keyboard |