Music File Formats - MP3, WAV, Midi - And A Free MP3 To WAV Solution!

Music file formats based on sound waveforms ...

These file formats are essentially digital sound recordings - the digital equivalents of tape or disk recordings.

You can easily make your own digital sound recordings using only a microphone and a sound recorder or editor program.

A digital sound recording may be mono or stereo, have 8 or 16 bits, and may have any of several sampling rates. Each of these has an influence on the size of the resulting computer music file and on the quality of the sound.

Stereo recordings have two channels (left and right) and take up about twice the disk space of a mono (single channel) recording.

A 16 bit recording takes about twice the disk space of an 8-bit recording, but the sound quality and dynamic range is better.

The most common sampling rates are 11, 22, and 44 KHz; the larger the sampling rate, the larger the file size and the better the audio fidelity. For the best sound quality for music downloads, use 16 bits and 44 KHz. Voice recordings can get by with 22 or even 11 KHz in order to produce smaller files.

Non-compressed music file formats: some examples are WAV, AU, and AIFF.

These are the oldest and largest music file formats. A 3-minute song of CD-quality music (stereo, 16 bits, 44 KHz sampling rate) may take up 30 Megabytes. These file types can be played by virtually all current sound players. A sound editor program such as Cool Edit can read and write and convert between these music file formats.

Compressed music file formats: These formats use special compression algorithms to reduce the file size of a digitized recording without affecting the audio quality.

The most popular music file format is MP3.

A 3-minute song of CD-quality music (stereo, 16 bits, 44 KHz sampling rate) may be only about 3 Megabyte MP3 file. Some recorder programs that can record sound files directly in MP3 format or can convert non-compressed sound files into MP3.

You can also use a CD-recorder program (such as Music Match) to automatically read an audio CD and convert its tracks into MP3 files and save them on your hard disk. MP3 files can be played by your computer's sound player or on portable MP3 players.

Note: Go here to learn more about the free MP3 to Wav music file tool.

Music file formats based on musical notes ...

These formats specify the music notes played in a musical performance. They are the digital equivalents of sheet music; they do not record the actual sound of a particular performance.

These music file formats are used mainly for instrumental music and some sound effects.

MIDI format (file extension ".MID"): This is the most generic note-based music file format. It includes the notes, their duration and loudness, and the instruments used.

Compared to the sound-based files of the same music, MIDI files are very compact - much smaller than any other music file format; a 3-minute song may be only 2 or 3 Kbytes. MIDI files can be played by most sound players of contemporary computers (e.g. MediaPlayer, Quicktime, WinAmp). The sound quality depends on the quality of the computer's sound card.

Very old computers may not be able to play MIDI files. Some MIDI players allow you to change the tempo, musical key, and the instruments assigned to each part.

KAR format: A specialized music file format used for karaoke; it includes the song lyrics and the music accompaniment, usually in MIDI format. A karaoke player application will read this music file format and display the lyrics synchronized with the music accompaniment.

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