Many of us have computers at home or in the workplace. We may type a
document or an email and this for example can be saved for future use. The
file would need to be stored in an appropriate format that is compatible
with the software or program we are using, if using Microsoft Word then it
would most likely be a document file and this would be best saved with the
style of font, layout and any images in full (uncompressed), thus using more
storage space on our device. By contrast we could save the document as a
standared text file in MS Notepad which would strip the font, layout and
remove images so a basic (compressed) level but would save a great amount of
storage space on our device but take away the splendour of our work.
the same applies to audio or sound files we have to choose or use the most
suitable type of format for future use. Most importantly the format should
be compatible with the software or equipment we are playing the audio file
on.
For example the standard CD Player uses either shop bought music CDs and 99%
of these players will also be fine for playing CDr (CD readable only) type
disks such as the ones we create ourselves (providing our computer has a CD
burner). The file format used in this case is .CDA which stands for CD
Audio.
In storage & playing back audio two main categories exist LOSSY or LOSSLESS.
Lossy is audio that has been compressed to save storage space on devices and
in compressing the files sound information is removed at a less significant
level such as high and low frequencies that thousands of listeners would not
detect however it is sometimes possible to compare two tracks on the lossy
and lossless types and hear a difference, it goes without saying you would
have to be playing on high end equipment probably via headphones and an
ideal listening environment (no external background noise) the most common
LOSSY file is MP3 these files also allocate a small amount of space for data
for identity information in showing music titles, artist, genre etc
providing the identity tagging function is incorporated.
LOSSLESS by comparison is an uncompressed audio file with the complete audio
frequency range where possible, nothing is removed and it will be a much
larger digital file and of course the best sound it is essentially the raw
recording and can be 10 times larger than the compressed type file.
.WAV file
Is a raw uncompressed audio format created by Microsoft and IBM. Without a
doubt it is the most popular lossless recording format in the studio and one
that we use here at mkvinyl2cd.co.ukwhen capturing the audio from analogue
media such as LPs, Audio Cassettes and Reel to Reel Tapes.
.MP3
Is a Lossy audio file that uses a compression type algorithm to reduce the
overall file size. You can get slightly better MP3 files if they are saved
in a higher bit rate we use a high 320 kbps which is the amount of bits per
second but again uses more storage than the much used 128 kbps. It is
important to remember though once you have saved a recording from lossless
to lossy there is no going back.
.FLAC
FLAC stands for Free Lossless audio Codec (CODEC simply relates to the
ability to either Compress or Decompress) Flac has probably become one of
the most popular lossless storage formats available since its introduction
in the early 2000s. the clever thing is that FLAC can compress an original
source file like .WAV by up to 60 percent without losing a single bit of
data. With this in mind if you have the facility to play .FLAC files your
listening experience is going to be fantastic providing you have the high
end equipment to make use of this format.
In summary we record the audio in the .wav waveform and it is stored in this
way on our hard drives. From there we edit and compile the files in that
same format. It is only when we come to move that recorded work we would
then alter it to make it compatible with the appropriate storage / playback
equipment and this is where we can tailor the audio to our customers needs.
In our use most popular is the CD compact Disk and this is probably due to
the abundance of CD playing devices. Some choose MP3 as quite possibly if
the captured media is a basic home recording from a reel to Reel Tape and
there is a few hours then MP3 is more than suitable however in comparison
very few customers have the audio supplied in a .FLAC format which can only
at this time relate to the lesser amount of equipment which plays that
format.
There are for those amongst us many very technical articles written on the
subject of file formats but if you are like me a just love to listen to
music person then I hope this short item offers an introduction to the file
formats used and if you want to read more then take a look at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format