Sound Formats

MP3

MP3

• Very portable can be played by any audio software and used to share audio online

• Lossy compression

• Quality can be so close to original that human ears can’t hear the difference

• Most portable audio devices use MP3

MIDI

• Can only be played through software that interprets MIDI formats

• Digital signals are recorded

• Can be played back as a range of sampled sound

• Does not actually sample sounds- cannot be used to record real audio

WAV

• Very portable can be played by any audio software

• Lossless compression

• Used by audio professionals and CDs to record sounds

• Large files sizes - rarely used online/portable devices

WMA

• Fairly portable - play on most audio devices but not all

• Developed by Microsoft to compete with MP3

• Not very popular

• Lossy compression and can can be varied