answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

If you're not worried about filespace: .WAV files.

If you'd rather conserve space & still maintain quality: .FLAC files (.ALAC for Apple devices)

User Avatar

Wiki User

9y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What audio file format has the best quality?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about Performing Arts

What is the best audio format?

Today there are a variety of different digital audio formats to choose from. Enough to cause confusion amongst new users who wish to convert their CD library into digital form for easy listening on their computers or portable audio device such as the iPod. This guide is designed to help newer users on deciding on a format to rip his or her music to. The first thing you should consider is what you need from an audio format. Compatibility? Quality? Playable on your portable device? There is no right or wrong answer on which format you should use. It's a personal choice and it depends on your needs. There are two types of audio formats: lossy and lossless. Lossy formats throw out audio information when encoding to lower the file size of the song so no lossy format is technically CD quality. However, perceivable quality is more important and lossy formats can provide audio that is indistinguishable from the original CD. Lossless formats work like Zip files. It compresses your audio as much as it can without throwing out any audio information. When the losslessly compressed file is decompressed it will have the same quality it had before it was compressed. In other words, lossless formats retain the CD quality audio on your CDs. There is no quality loss. The bit rate of a file is the data rate that the audio is compressed at. There is no clear answer to which is best, it all depends on your hearing. Do some comparison tests between the CD quality audio and encoded files at various bit rates and determine which sounds best to you. Bit rates are used in the following ways: * CBR (constant bit rate) - The file is encoded using the same bit rate throughout the entire file. * VBR (variable bit rate) - The bit rate changes throughout the file according to the complexity of the music to offer the best quality. * ABR (average bit rate) - This is a simple VBR mode where the bit rate fluctuates through out the song and averages out to be a certain bit rate. Note: This guide was created with the iPod user in mind as it is the most popular portable audio device on the market. That is the reason for the many iTunes references and iPod references in the guide. Now let's start reviewing the various audio formats.MP3 is by far the most popular audio format in use today. It was the first lossy compression codec which means it is also the oldest lossy compression format. MP3 can achieve transparent, or indistinguishable from CD, quality at around 192kbps-256kbps to most people on most samples. The LAME encoder is highly recommended when encoding MP3s by the folks at Hydrogenaudio.org. It is the highest quality MP3 encoder available. If you are concerned about compatibility with software and portable audio players then this is the format to use.AAC or Advanced Audio Coding, is a relatively new format. AAC has been made popular by Apple because of its integration into Apple's iTunes music software and its iPod portable audio player. At any bit rate, AAC should sound better than MP3. Likewise, a 128 kbps AAC file should sound better than a 128 kbps MP3 file. AAC is gaining popularity and so it is becoming compatible with more media players but currently the iPod is the only major portable audio device that can playback MPEG-4 AAC. Note that AAC is not owned by Apple. It is defined in the MPEG-4 standard which means any portable audio device has the capability to add support for the format. The iTunes Music Store uses AAC at 128kbps. However, the iTunes Music Store wraps the FairPlay DRM protection around the MPEG-4 AAC files it sells. FairPlay is proprietary to Apple and currently Apple does not license it to other companies so the iPod remains the only player to be able to play files bought from the iTunes Music Store. Any music ripped to AAC in iTunes does not have any DRM protection attached to it.Ogg Vorbis is an open-source and patent free audio format. MP3 and AAC are patented formats that must be licensed in order to be used. The advantage to Ogg Vorbis is that it is free to use without any restrictions. Ogg Vorbis should sound better than MP3 at the same bit rate. Ogg Vorbis has a few portable audio players that play it and media player software is beginning to support it more. A lot of game developers are using the format to avoid paying licensing fees. Ogg Vorbis is not supported by the iPod.MPC is considered the best lossy audio format today. It excels at bitrates above 160 kbps and can achieve transparency in the 160 - 200 kbps range to most people on most samples. However, MusePack doesn't have much support. No portable audio device yet plays this format and only a handful of media players support playback of MusePack natively. Most media players require a plug-in to support MusePack. iTunes does not support this format and neither does the iPod.WMA is Microsoft's answer to MP3. Exclusive to the Windows platform, WMA offers better sounding files at lower bit rates but currently WMA is not the best audio format. Better tuned MP3 encoders, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and MusePack all beat WMA's quality at 128kbps and above. This format is not supported by the iPod but iTunes does offer a feature to convert WMA files to AAC/MP3 files for playback on the iPod.FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec which is exactly what it is. It is non-patented and open-source. It supports multiple computing platforms and is considered the best lossless codec available by many. Encoding and decoding are both fast, compression is good, and seeking throughout a file is also fast. Currently, iTunes and iPod do not support FLAC.APE is another lossless compression format. It generally compresses better than FLAC using the highest setting, however, having the best compression isn't the best thing when talking about a lossless codec. Monkey's Audio is a Windows-only format and encoding, decoding, and seeking is slower than FLAC. WAV is the main format used for raw and typically uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) format.Uncompressed WAV files are quite large in size, so, as file sharing over the Internet has become popular, the WAV format has declined in popularity. However, it is still a commonly used, relatively "pure", i.e. lossless, file type, suitable for retaining "first generation" archived files of high quality, or use on a system where high fidelity sound is required and disk space is not restricted.


How to run the audio file copied from a CD on a computer using windows operating system?

It depends on what you mean by "run the audio file copied from a CD." If you mean you copied a track straight off a CD onto your computer's hard drive then you have two choices: create a virtual CD-ROM drive to play the track; or, two, convert the audio file to a format the media player you have on your PC can play (mp3, wma, etc.). In either case you'll need special software to create the virtual drive or to convert the audio file for playing. If neither option is for you then you should still be able to play your audio CD from your CD-ROM drive using the default audio software that came with Windows.


How do you rename mp7 to mp4?

A MP7 is not a video or audio file. It is a National Instruments Multisim Version 7 file for prototyping circuit boards.


How do you setup spi digital audio player?

If you keep gettings "File system Error" and you don't know how to fix it well its easy all you have to do is go to "setup" and then scrow down to "Sys Tools" and then "Reset it" and there you go but first format it...if u have songs on it then drag them to your desktop and save them until you format it and then put all your songs back and then reset it and it should work....Oh and ur gonna have to reset it everytime you turn it on...i know its annoying but its worth listing to your music right? hahahah anyways i still haves mines for a very long time now...at least it lasted longer then my Ipod Nano witch lasted mi more then 2 months then it just started to fail on me.... Spi Mp3 might be cheap but they work and they lasts...


The last characters after the period in a file name?

Are called a file extension. They typically describe the function of the file. .exe stands for an executable file, a .jpg is an image compression, .doc is a Microsoft Word document, etc.

Related questions

What is the best audio file format for listening to scanned text?

mp3 file format


What is the best audio file format to convert textbooks into audio files?

.mp3


When was Audio Interchange File Format created?

Audio Interchange File Format was created on 1988-01-21.


What is the heaviest audio file format?

a PHAT file


What ipod video format?

There is only one file format that works with the iPod. Though you may be able to use other formats, the quality is very horrible and the audio is even worse. The file format is called an 'm4v' file format which shows as the extension .m4v.


MP3 format much of the original quality of the sound?

Reduces an audio file to about one-tenth its original size, and preserves


How to change mp3 songs to audio songs?

Mp3 is a file format commonly used for audio files. This is not the only format but is a very common one. An MP3 file, an audio file, is already a song. There is no possible way of converting an MP3 song to an audio song because 'audio' is not a format to convert to.


Wav stands for?

.wav an extension file . mean ( waveform audio file )


What does the file format AIFF stand for in power point?

Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)


What is wav in audio?

wav is a file format or more precicely a container for audio files, it 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".


How do you convert dss audio file to wma file format?

Go onto your internet and type in 'Audio File Converter'


What does the computer term WAV mean?

WAVE or WAV is short for Waveform Audio File Format. It is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs.