Digital sound is nothing more than numbers. What separates one container from another is how those numbers are packed, how much data (if any) is thrown away, and which devices understand the result.

In previous installments of the AudioFile, we’ve talked about basic PCM audio, which encodes audio into a series of numbers that a computer can play or manipulate. We’ve also discussed the process of ...

Audio files come in different formats, sizes, and quality. Many media players cannot play every type of format, and there are certain functionalities that are limited to a few audio formats. Thus, it ...

While the format works well with Windows Media Player, it isn’t the best for other media players, many of which do not support the format. Thus, users prefer to convert the WMA format files format to ...

Scenario: You’ve obtained an audio or video file that’s either in a format unsupported by the device you intend to play it on—an iOS device, traditional iPod, or your Mac, for example—or in a form ...

Quite possibly the best free audio converter available, Freemake Audio Converter is certainly the easiest to use. Not everyone needs to convert their audio files, but if you do, you’ll be hard-pressed ...

Audio files come in a number of different formats. Some are lossy, such as AAC and MP3; they save space compared to the original files, but some of the original data is lost during compression. Some ...

John is a professional author, currently publishing evergreen and feature articles for Android Police. He discovered his passion for writing when he was very young, and enjoys how it challenges him ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. A file’s format—the way that it’s saved and encoded ...

Like many music lovers today, I have a huge digital library and even though I've now converted much of my vinyl collection to MP3, I still return to my racks often. I've not really considered the ...