Category: 4. Sound Reinforcement & Recording

4d.

Lossless audio files retain all original audio data during compression, resulting in no quality loss and a larger file size. Lossy audio files, on the other hand, discard some audio data to achieve smaller file sizes, but this process can lead to a noticeable reduction in audio quality.

  • Lossless file types: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), WAV (Waveform Audio File Format), AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format). 
  • Lossy file types: MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), OGG Vorbis, WMA (Windows Media Audio). 

  • Normalization adjusts the overall loudness of an audio file without affecting the dynamic range, while compression reduces the dynamic range by making louder parts quieter and quieter parts louder.