In this series of articles I am discussing some technology terms that you may or may not be familiar with. In this post, I will discuss the various audio file formats. If you’re uncertain what a file format is, check out this post.
What is an audio file Format?
An AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is a typical uncompressed audio file format used on the Macintosh operating system. Because AIFF files are not compressed, it is not recommended you publish them to the web. Since they aren’t compressed, AIFF’s (and WAV’s) are great for editing audio using and an editor like Audacity or Adobe Audition. However, their file sizes are usually much larger than compressed file formats and are not recommended for sharing or publishing to the web.
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An MP3 is a digital file format for encoding audio files. MP3 is a lossy or compressed file format so it is great for publishing to the web. Most modern web browsers can play MP3′s as well as common audio players found on any computers and mobile devices.
An M4A file is an MPEG4- audio file. The M4A is a higher quality file than the MP3, and is compressed to a smaller file size. The advantage that MP3′s have over M4A’s is that since it is an older format for compressing and saving audio, an MP3 is more compatible than an M4A. Of the two (MP3′s and M4A’s), MP3′s are considered more universal, however since it is a compressed file format, it is suitable for publication to the web. M4A’s are becoming more common, but they are still not as common as MP3′s.
Similar to an AIFF file for the Macintosh, a WAV file is the audio file format used on Windows operating systems. However, most Macintosh computers can also open and play these files. WAV files are audio files that are not compressed and can sometimes be quite large – too large for publishing to the web. However, they are great to use in audio editing applications like Audacity and GarageBand.
Audio File Formats that are Software Specific
There are a few software specific audio file formats that are created by audio editing applications. Until the files are published as one of the generic audio file formats listed above, if you come across one of these files, they must be opened by the application that created them.
.AUD files are Audacity files. Audacity is a free audio editing software that can be used for both the MAC and PC. If you want to use Audacity to publish MP3 files, you’ll also need to download and install the LAME MP3 encoder.
.BAND files are raw audio files created by Apple’s GarageBand, a free audio editing application for the Macintosh operating system.
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