Top 5 digital audio formats

Top 5 digital audio formats

Top 5 digital audio formats

Advanced computer users and music lovers deal with various audio formats on everyday basis. Audio file formats are so different that nobody can tell you exactly how many formats are there in total. All of them can be used by certain media software or digital players like iPod and Zune. Nowadays the most popular audio formats are MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and FLAC.

MP3 is dominating audio file format for music and audio books. In today's world, every digital player, mobile phone and audio software is able to play MP3 tunes. Most Internet radio stations stream MP3 music. MP3's are easy to share and upload. It's possible to convert music and video to MP3 format using online conversion websites, freeware and shareware converters that you can find online. After conversion to MP3 format, the user guarantees audio compatibility with 99% of all music players.

M4A (AAC) or MPEG4 audio is related to Apple iPod, iPhone and iPad audio. Digital players by Apple use M4A as their proprietary digital audio format. You can download M4A songs from Apple iTunes store. Besides M4A format for music files, Apple applies M4B extension for audio books, M4R - for ringtones and M4V for movies and TV shows. Not long ago iTunes music was protected with DRM and the songs were offered with M4P extension. But soon after Big Four labels abandoned DRM, the music was converted to M4A unprotected format. IPod music needs to be converted to play on Zune and some other digital audio players.

WMA is proprietary digital audio format created by Microsoft. WMA songs and audio books are used steadily because most digital players and Windows software can play them. A great number of digital audio stores distribute music in WMA format. The most popular ones are Napster, Nokia Ovi store, Kazaa, iMesh and TDC Play. Their music is still protected with DRM. Audio DRM protection is the way to restrict the songs' playback allowing media usage on limited number of computers and digital audio players. Nevertheless, the subscription to Napster or Nokia Ovi offers unlimited music downloads for a small monthly fee. DRM-protected WMA music files can be easily converted with Convert WMA to MP3 software. After that you can play your WMA songs and audio books without inconvenience.

Quite a lot of people in the world are tied to lossless music. They play, store and share music as uncompressed FLAC, WAV, APE, WV and WMA lossless tracks. The term "lossless" refers to huge audio files that fully preserve sound quality of audio CD music. Lossless FLAC songs are supported by impressive number of digital audio players e.g. Cowon, SanDisk Sansa, iRiver, Samsung and some others. Some people take advantage of uncompressed audio files to share their high-quality music online. If you make a quick google search for lossless music, you will find a number of Internet communities but I'm not sure if they are legal in US. Some paid services still offer band-sanctioned music in FLAC format as well. They usually provide both studio works and high-quality live show recordings.

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