Guest | Media Streaming
Which are the compression methods for audio formats?
Compressed audio formats are of 2 kinds: lossy and lossless. In lossy formats some audio quality is lost during compressions. Once you compress your original uncompressed wav to that format, you will not get back the same exact quality wav file by reversing the process. The lossless formats allow conversion back to the uncompressed wav with no loss whatsoever. The mp3, m4a and Real formats are lossy. The wma and Flac format may be lossy or lossless. Lossless formats cannot be compressed much more than about 50% and Lossy formats allow compressions to some amazing levels however.
Lossy compression works by changing the bitrate of the audio file to a value much lower than that corresponding to the uncompressed wav (which is about 1100kbps). For example, mp3 files bitrates in the order of say 32kbps up to a maximum of 320kbps. The lower the bitrate used, the smaller the resulting compressed file and the lower the audio quality, thus "lossiness". How lossy a lossy format is is a matter perception and taste. You just decide it.
However it is debatable whether the human year can detect the lossiness in an audio file encoded at a 320kbs bitrate. In fact even at 192kbps it will be very hard to notice. A bitrate of 192kbps is considered to be CD quality, whereas 128kbps is near-cd quality, for mp3 files. Bitrates that are suitable for web applications are 128kbps to 192kbps for ultra high-speed internet connections, 64kbps to 96kbps for regular high-speed connections and 20kbps to 48kbps for dial-up connections.
You can convert your audio file with proper compression techniques by means of audio convertors (eg: dBpowerAMP Music Converter). Visit our download section for these applications.
