What's MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG, WAV, AC3, APE, WMA
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What's MP3
MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer III. It is not a separate format, but a part of MPEG-1 video encoding format, developed by MPEG group in early 1990's. Too often people refer MP3 as MPEG-3, which is incorrect, because such format doesn't even exist.
MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3) is a method to store good quality audio into small files by using psychoacoustics in order to get rid of the data from the audio that most of the humans can't hear.
MP3's bitrates vary from 8kbps (that is 8 kilobits per second, not kilobytes) to 320kbps. When MP3 phenomenon began in 1996, most of the audio files were encoded using 128kbps bitrate, which is still the most popular bitrate in the world -- although most of the people agree that by using slightly higher bitrates, like 192kbps or 256kbps, the audio quality can be compared with the CD quality.
How to convert DVD to MP3 on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to MP3 on Mac OS X
What's M4A
Files in .M4A format are actually the audio layer of (non-video) MPEG 4 movies. M4A is slated to become the new standard for audio file compression. This format is also known as Apple Lossless, Apple Lossless Encoder, or ALE. It is a new codec designed to provide lossless encoding in less storage space. More info: en.wikipedia.org
How to convert DVD to M4A on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to M4A on Mac OS X
What's AAC
Advanced Audio Coding, or AAC, is a MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) audio standard first adopted as part of the MPEG-2 family of standards. Like its predecessor, MP3, AAC is a Lossy Compression format capable of delivering relatively high quality at relatively low bitrates. There are actually two AAC specifications. In addition to the MPEG-2 version of AAC, which was also referred to early on as NBC for Non Backwards Compatible, there's a newer specification developed for MPEG-4. This version is normally found in the MP4 Container, either with or without accompanying video.
How to convert DVD to AAC on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to AAC on Mac OS X
What's AC3
Dolby Digital (AC-3) is Dolby's third generation audio coding algorithm. It is a perceptual coding algorithm developed to allow the use of lower data rates with a minimum of perceived degration of sound quality.
This coder has been designed to take maximum advantage of human auditory masking in that it divides the audio spectrum of each channel into narrow frequency bands of different sizes optimized with respect to the frequency selectivity of human hearing. This makes it possible to sharply filter coding noise so that it is forced to stay very close in frequency to the frequency components of the audio signal being coded. By reducing or eliminating coding noise wherever there are no audio signals to mask it, the sound quality of the original signal can be subjectively preserved. In this key respect, a coding system like AC-3 is essentially a form of very selective and powerful noise reduction.
How to convert DVD to AC3 on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to AC3 on Mac OS X
What's OGG
Ogg is a free, open standard container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The Ogg format is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.
The name ‘Ogg’ refers to the file format which can multiplex a number of separate independent free and open source codecs for audio, video, text (such as subtitles), and metadata.
How to convert DVD to OGG on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to OGG on Mac OS X
What's WAV
WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is an application of the RIFF bitstream format method for storing data in “chunks”, and thus also close to the IFF and the AIFF format used on Amiga and Macintosh computers, respectively. It is the main format used on Windows systems for raw and typically uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) format.
How to convert DVD to WAV on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to WAV on Mac OS X
What's APE
A file with the extension .ape, is an audio file compressed using Monkey's Audio. Monkey's Audio is a lossless compression, which means it does not permanently discard data during compression. It achieves compression rates of around 40%.
How to convert DVD to APE on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to APE on Mac OS X
What's WMA
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high resolution audio.A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity.And WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates.
How to convert DVD to WMA on Mac OS X
How to convert video and other audio formats to WMA on Mac OS X
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