digital audio

multimedia, file format A sequence of discrete samples taken

from a continuous sound (audio) waveform. Tens of thousands

of samples are taken each second. Each sample represents the

intensity of the sound pressure wave at that instant. Apart

from the sampling frequency, the other parameter is the

digital encoding of each sample including the number of bits

used. The encoding may be linear, logarithmic or mu-law.

Digital audio is typically created by taking 16-bit samples

over a spectrum of 44.1 thousand cycles per second (kHz), this

means that CD quality sound requires 1.4 million bits of data

per second. Digital telephone systems use lower sample rates.

Filename extension: .au (Unix), .snd (MS-DOS, MSWindows).

See also Audio IFF, MP3, wav.

Usenet newsgroups: alt.binaries.sounds.*.

A FAQ on audio file formats is available. Part 1, Part 2.

(1999-07-30)