Table of Content
1. The Most Common Audio Formats
2. Which Audio Formats Should You Choose?
3. How To Convert Lossless Audio From One Format To Another?
4. How To Use The Lossy Conversion Audio Formats?
5. A Few Good Options For The Best Uncompressed Conversion
6. The Closing Thoughts
Just like video formats, there are several audio formats used in our day to day life. In case you are downloading the audio files from the same source, playing them on the same device and using the same software, you would perhaps not need to worry about the audio formats. However, there are a few scenarios where you want to convert your music and audio files from one format to another. How to convert one audio file lossless from one format into another?
There are several options available for the best experience in terms of the perfect audio use. Let us analyse a few of the most widely used audio formats. A few of the audio file formats are more popular than a few others.
Lossy audio formats tend to lose quality during transmission. They are quite smaller in size and thus take up quite less space in terms of storage. They do not decompress the audio files to their original size.
MP3 is one of the most common audio formats and quite widely used for almost all practical purposes. The audio format comes with a lossy compression. That would mean you will find a degrading audio quality over subsequent edits. There are quite large in size The file can have either variable or non-variable bit rate. The constant bit rate ensures a consistent audio quality, but can increase in size.
AAC refers to Advanced Audio Coding and one of the lossy audio formats. However, in their original format, they are of much better audio quality than most of the other formats. They are almost equivalent in size to MP3, but offers a lightly better quality. You can use either constant or variable bit rate.
These are yet another options for the open-source audio formats and provides you access to a lossy compression. The file system uses the variable bit rate and thus cuts down on the file size to a considerable extent. However, despite that, you would not find any issues in terms of audio quality. They may not be supported on most of the devices.
Lossless audio formats decompress the audio files to their original size. This will be helpful in improving the sound quality in an effective manner. The lossless audio formats can be a great option for the audio professionals. Of course, these files would be larger in size.
Related: Things You Need to Know About Lossless Audio Formats
The M4A format is an Apple-based format and corresponds to MPEG 4 standards. They offer you a lossless compression. You can go with multiple edits without any loss in quality. It can be comparable to most of the audio formats listed here, but comes with a smaller file size which should be an added advantage.
FLAC is one of the most powerful lossless audio formats. It is an open-source format and comes with a more powerful compression algorithm. The effective and efficient algorithm can reduce the file size by around 50 to 70 per cent of the original size. This can be a great option if you are a music lover. Being open-source, the format is supported on most of the devices. It is completely free and open source.
A short form for Apple’s Lossless Audio Codec, the lossless audio file format is equivalent to FLAC, but comes with compatibility only with Apple devices and iTunes.
A few other formats worthy of mention can include PCM, WAV and AIFF. AIFF is yet another popular format that is used in a wrapper form except on Mac devices.
PCM refers to Pulse Code Modulation and normally used on CDs and DVDs. The format makes use of the concept called the sampling rate. This format makes use of analogue signals and converts them into digital signals. This had been one of the excellent options a perfect audio quality before the launch of DSD format.
WAV or Waveform Audio Format is a wrapper used for storing the PCM files. The file format is best suited for Windows computers. It is one of the excellent options for the sound engineers. It provides you access to the better dynamic range and a greater depth of bits. It can be one of the excellent options for your needs in video projects which need a better synchronisation.
AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format. These are the files like WAV which were originally created by Apple. It is designed to retain all the original sound quality and will take up more space than MP3. These AIFF files come with the compatibility with both Mac and PCs. However, they may be suitable for editing or mixing.
DSD stands for Direct Stream Digital. It has been one of the excellent options for the uncompressed and high resolution file format. The file format uses the pulse density modulation for encoding sound. They can be extremely large file formats. They would consume a huge space and thus would be suitable only for the high end audio systems.
Those were just a few of the prominent audio file format that can prove to be one of the excellent options that can indeed prove to be something you would find much impressive.
Having understood the different audio formats and how effective they have been in providing you access to a perfect music experience, let us check which formats are best designed for an enhanced experience.
Of course, picking the best audio format can definitely prove to be a difficult task, and we just hope we have helped you understand the different aspects of each of those formats and which areas do they focus on -
● MP3 – This is one of the widely used audio formats and is known for an enhanced compression ratio and capability. The best part with the format is that it works on almost all software solutions and platforms.
● AIFF – This is an uncompressed format and stands for Audio Interchange File Format. The format occupies more space than most other lossy audio formats and is used on macOS and a wide range of iOS devices.
● AAC – The codec was developed as a successor MP3 and employs a powerful lossy audio compression. You can expect a better audio quality than on MP3
● WAV – The format is widely used on Windows PCs. They are compatible with macOS and Linux; the file format has been primarily used on Windows. The uncompressed audio format has been used in editing your audios.
● FLAC – The lossless compression format supports high-resolution sample rates. It just takes half of the space taken by WAV. It is hugely royalty-free.
● WMA – This is the lossless audio format option and provides you with a high resolution. However, the format is not supported by smartphones or tablets.
Here are a few good options for an assured experience in converting your audio files from one format to another. We will check out individual conversion options from one popular audio format into another format with ease.
If you are on iOS devices or iPhone devices, you would have come across the ALAC audio format. The regular FLAC format does not work on Apple devices as the operating system makes use of its own format called ALAC.
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec and has been used extensively for compressing digital audio without the need to lose any quality. AALC is used in Apple devices and stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec. It is similar to FLAC, and it comes with an efficient lossless compression of digital audio.
Sine FLAC files cannot play on iTunes; you need to for the FLAC to ALAC converter. However, there aren’t many services that can help you do that. We picked a few good online converters that could convert the FLAC into ALAC with ease.
Some good example that can convert FLAC to ALAC can include
● Freeconvert.com
● Onlineconverter.com
● Flactoalac.com
Here is how to convert FLAC to ALAC–
● Visit the site freeconvert.com. We picked this tool just as an example. You can use any other tool that you are comfortable with.
● Choose the music converter option to ALAC
● Add your files. You can drag and drop or add files manually.
● Click on convert to ALAC to begin converting the file.
The Windows Media Audio (WMA) files are one of the most common options for almost all the media players and other content built within Windows. However, many other players do not support the WMA format. It would be a wiser option to convert WMA to MP3 files for a complete compatibility across the devices and platforms.
There are plenty of options for WMA to MP3 converter that can prove to be effective in handling your WMA to MP3 files-
● VLC Media Player
● Zamzar
● Convertio.io
● Cloudconvert.com
The steps here should help you understand how to convert WMA to MP3 with ease –
● DVDFab Toolkit is an excellent option for converting your files. Launch it and move to Audio Tools.
● Pick Converter option under Audio tools
● Add your files to the program. You can use the drag and drop feature to add your files. You can even add multiple files using the Add from Local.
● Pick the output folder and click on START.
That does it. You have successfully converted WMA to MP3. Of course, you can even convert WMA to MP3 online easily.
The lossy audio formats such as AAC and MP3 have been one of the excellent options for saving space on your computer or any other similar storage devices.
AAC has been one of the widely used lossy compression options and has been quite widely used for a perfect audiophile experience. Given the fact that MP3 has been one of the most popular audio formats and works with almost every device or platform, it can be your best bet for an all-round performance.
DVDFab Toolkit has been a great tool that can help you convert your AAC files into MP3 without the need to go into any hassles. In fact, the toolkit is developed, keeping the diverse requirements you may have. The tool packs in a wide range of features a wide range of options in handling videos, audio files and other content.
Here is how you can work with DVDFab Toolkit can help you convert AAC to MP3 –
● Launch your DVDFab Toolkit installation
● Under Audio Tools, choose Converter option.
● Add your AAC file to the interface
● Pick the output format as MP3 as in the previous example.
● Choose your conversion options, and you are good to go.
A few other good tools that can help you in how to convert AAC to MP3 online can include
● Zamzar
● Onlineconverter.com
● Cloudconvert.com
● Audio-online-convert.com
The FLAC to MP3 conversion can be one of the excellent options for achieving the best possible audio enhancement ever. Since FLAC is a lossless configuration, it may not be the right option for most of the operating systems and platforms. MP3, though a lossy audio format, has been a compatible format that works seamlessly with almost all the popular and widely used platforms.
Other than a few standard tools, you can also use other FLAC to MP3 converter options online. A few of the best tools that can prove to be extremely helpful in helping you convert FLAC to MP3 online can include
● Freeconvert.com
● Freemake video converter
● Flac-mp3.org
Uncompressed audio formats such as WAV have been the best options for the excellent functionality across all Microsoft related products. A few other popular uncompressed audio file formats include BWF, AIFF, PCM and AU. These formats are all about what an audio file should be all about. This will provide you with an unaltered form of sound.
FLAC has been one of the excellent options for the best lossless compression and has been widely used in different scenarios. The lossless audio codec has been quite popular for a wide range of reasons.
You have plenty of options to convert FLAC to WAV without hassles. You can either go with an online tool or go with a standalone software for the purpose. Some of the excellent choices for converting FLAC to WAV can include
● Onileconverter.com
● Audio online convert.com
● Cloud convert.com
● Convertio.co
Here are the steps that can help you get access to the best conversion options from FLAC to WAV converter–
● Launch Online converter.com. We have picked online converter as an example only, and you have the liberty to pick the one that best meets your requirements.
● Among several conversion options, pick the Audio Converter option.
● From the Convert To option choose WAV and click on Go
● Add your file and click on Convert.
Wait till the conversion of your file is completed. The tool can be used for a wide range of source audio files such as MP3, AAC and even videos to extract the audio from video files.
WAV and MP3 are the two audio formats that have created a unique niche for themselves. WAV or Waveform Audio Format is a raw audio format and comes with an uncompressed file format feature. The RAW audio format is created by Microsoft and IBM together. Since the file is uncompressed and is in RAW format, it can take up a considerably huge space.
Primarily used in the professional music recording industry, most of the people have been moving away from the WAV format and opting for other formats such as FLAC or MP3. It makes use of the excellent compression technology while not affecting the level of quality.
If you are looking for info on how to convert WAV to MP3, the steps here should be one of the excellent options you can check out –
● Lunch DVDFab Toolkit. It is a complete solution for working with most of your audio and video files.
● Pick Converter option under Audio tools
● Add your WAV file to the program window.
● Customise your output audio file as per your preferences. Choose MP3 as the output file folder.
● Pick the output folder and begin conversion by clicking on START
That should do it. You have successfully converted WAV files into MP3 with one of the best WAV to MP3 converter options.
Other tools that can prove practical enough in wav to mp3 converter online can include
● Online audio converter
● Zamzar
● Cloudconvert
● Audio online convert
● Freeconvert.com
Well, having to convert your audio files from one format int another is one of the most common aspects of your day to day activities of dealing with media formats. If you have more than one devices or need to use different platforms, converting the audio files from one format to another can prove to be one of the excellent options.
DVDFab has been a clear leader in providing you access to excellent audio and video formatting requirements. Of course, other tools are indeed promising, but the versatility offered by the DVDFab tools has been quite impressive.