Audioscapes Unveiled: Selecting the Optimal Audio Codecs and Formats

How to Choose Best Audio Formats

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The quality of sound that you hear depends on various factors, and an appropriate audio format is one of them. While each type of acoustic file has its own significance, choosing the best audio format as per the target player, expected audience, and/or supporting videos or images (if any) is something that needs much consideration to offer a flawless listening experience.

With that said, here you will learn about some of the most common sound file types, which among them could be the best audio format according to your requirements, and a couple of important points that you must keep in might while picking an extension for your media preparations.

• Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats
• Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?
• Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?
• Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Using Filmora to Record & Edit & Save Audio Easily

Wondershare Filmora is a simple yet robust video editing software that allows you to save a video to mp3 easily. Besides, if you want to remove background noise from audio, or change the audio volume or remove unwanted audio parts from the video, you should definitely try Filmora.

---

Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats

Before listing the most common audio file formats, it is important to understand the categories of the sound files. Every audio format that exists belongs to one (or more) category depending on the way it is being created and the characteristics it has.

In a nutshell, there are three major categories, including:

• Uncompressed Audio Format
• Lossless Compressed Audio Format
• Lossy Compressed Audio Format

Below is a brief introduction of each of the classes listed above along with the audio file types that belong to them:

1. Uncompressed Audio Format

Uncompressed audio is the original sound that has been recorded directly from the source in the analog form, and then converted to a digital signal without any modifications or compressions. Because an uncompressed sound is prepared with no retouching or manipulations, it gives an as-is listening experience. Since no compression is done on such a file either, it occupies a remarkably huge amount of space on your storage media.

Some sound files that fall under this category include:

1) Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)

A PCM file is the digital version of an analog waveform that is created by recording the audio samples, technically known as pulses. The PCM format is mostly used when creating optical media discs, typically the CDs and DVDs.

2) Waveform Audio File Format (WAV)

Generally used on the Windows platform, this audio format is not a file itself but a container that may contain both compressed or uncompressed files. However, in most cases, it is the latter that a WAV file has, and PCM format is one of them.

You may also interest: YouTube to WAV >>

3) Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

AIFF is almost identical to WAV format in its characteristics with the only difference that, unlike the latter, it was developed by Apple somewhere in 1988, and works as a container for both compressed and uncompressed audio files. While the compressed version of the format is called AIFF-C, the term Apple Loop is used when the scenario is otherwise. As it is with WAV, even AIFF files mostly contain uncompressed audio, that usually is PCM.

You may also like: Best AIFF to MP3 Converters >>

4) Data Stream Digital (DSD)

Used by Sony and Phillips, DSD is also not a format itself but a container that can store PCM files to provide decent sound quality. However, due to distortions in the composed audio, DSD files are not much in trend.

2. Lossless Compressed Audio Format

Lossless Compressed audio format is a type of file that is compressed using some advanced methods without compromising with the quality of the sound. This means that when played, you experience the same acoustic excellence as that of the source, i.e. uncompressed audio. However, even though the lossless compressed files are comparatively small in size, they still occupy decent amount of space on the hard drive or any other storage media in use.

Some formats that fall under the lossless compressed category include:

1) Free Lossless Audio Code (FLAC)

At around half the size of the source sound file, FLAC offers the original audio quality without removing any acoustic information during compression. Being an opensource and royalty-free audio format, FLAC is even easier to get, and in most cases is used as an alternative to MP3.

Check some of the best FLAC editor programs >>

2) Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Introduced by Apple Inc. and initially released as a proprietary product, ALAC was made royalty-free and opensource in 2011. Even though ALAC files are larger in size when compared to FLAC, the former format is used in iTunes and iOS as the latter isn’t supported by these platforms.

3. Lossy Compressed Audio Format

These are the highly compressed files that occupy significantly less amount of space on your storage media. However, during the compression process, some acoustic information is lost in order to reduce the file size. Nevertheless, if compressed correctly, the deterioration in the quality is almost negligible, and cannot be experienced unless the listener is quite experienced and the source recording is played next to the compressed audio simultaneously.

Some audio formats that fall under the lossy compressed category include:

1) MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

This is one of the most common file types and the best audio format for almost all media types that have sound. An MP3 file is free from the noises of the least significant in the composed audio. In addition, all the acoustic information with the frequency that normal human beings fail to catch (below 20Hz and above 20000Hz) is safely erased during compilation and compression. Furthermore, what makes MP3 the best audio file format is its ability to accommodate with almost all the devices of nearly any platform such as Android, Windows, iOS, Mac, etc.

Check this MP3 editor and convert video to MP3 easily.

2) OGG

This one, again, is not in fact an audio format but is a container for audio that generally stores Vorbis files. Although OGG files are way advanced in terms of sound quality and even offer higher compression ratio when compared with MP3, they are not much in use as many platforms and devices don’t support the format till date.

3) AU

AU is a format by Sun, DEC, and NeXT. It is yet another container that can hold both lossless and lossy files. AU files are mostly used in UNIX.

What’s the difference between common audio file formats like MP3, WAV, and FLAC? Watch the video below to learn more.

---

Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?

If you are a media creator, and are into the business of preparing audio and video content for your clients or directly for the audience, it is imperative to understand what could be the best audio file format to compose the audiovisual files. Here are a few tips that you must keep in mind in this context before proceeding:

• Uncompressed Audio

If the media type you are about to create is expected to be used for further editing before exporting to a different format, using an uncompressed audio format would be best as it offers a smooth and flawless post-production experience without giving much overhead to the processor.

• Lossless Compressed Audio

If your audiences own highly sophisticated audio players with Hi-Fi speaker systems, and they are also good at recognizing and understanding the differences between poor and optimal audio quality, using lossless compressed audio format would be a good choice as it gives decent sound quality in smaller file size.

• Compressed Audio

If you are preparing a media for home users and casual listeners, you can safely use an audio format that has been prepared using a higher compression ratio. In such a scenario, MP3 is the best audio format that not only offers the decent sound quality, it also occupies less amount of space on your storage media, thus enabling you to save more files at a given time.

Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?

At the time of this writing, YouTube supports two types of formats namely MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Although both of these are video containers, they also hold audio files. Details about both these types are as follows:

• MPEG-2
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above
  • Audio Codec: Dolby AC-3 or MPEG Layer II
• MPEG-4
  • **Video Codec:**264
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above

Since many people nowadays produce videos in MP4 due to its wide range of supported devices and players and the fact that the container is used by majority of users worldwide, MPEG-4 with audio format could be mostly seen on YouTube.

Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Being one of the most versatile post-production tools preferred by many professional editors worldwide, Filmora comes with a variety of audio formats from all the three categories discussed above. Furthermore, Filmora also displays relevant information about each of the file types it offers.

The following table shows a list of formats and the details that Filmora supports:

Video Format	Corresponding Audio Encoder	Audio Type
MP4	Lossy Compressed
WMV	WMA8, WMA9	Uncompressed
AVI	MP3, PCM	Lossy Compressed, Uncompressed
MOV	Lossy Compressed
F4V	Lossy Compressed
MKV	MP3	Lossy Compressed
TS	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
3GP	Lossy Compressed
MPEG-2	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
WEBM	Vorbis	Lossy Compressed

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The quality of sound that you hear depends on various factors, and an appropriate audio format is one of them. While each type of acoustic file has its own significance, choosing the best audio format as per the target player, expected audience, and/or supporting videos or images (if any) is something that needs much consideration to offer a flawless listening experience.

With that said, here you will learn about some of the most common sound file types, which among them could be the best audio format according to your requirements, and a couple of important points that you must keep in might while picking an extension for your media preparations.

• Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats
• Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?
• Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?
• Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Using Filmora to Record & Edit & Save Audio Easily

Wondershare Filmora is a simple yet robust video editing software that allows you to save a video to mp3 easily. Besides, if you want to remove background noise from audio, or change the audio volume or remove unwanted audio parts from the video, you should definitely try Filmora.

---

Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats

Before listing the most common audio file formats, it is important to understand the categories of the sound files. Every audio format that exists belongs to one (or more) category depending on the way it is being created and the characteristics it has.

In a nutshell, there are three major categories, including:

• Uncompressed Audio Format
• Lossless Compressed Audio Format
• Lossy Compressed Audio Format

Below is a brief introduction of each of the classes listed above along with the audio file types that belong to them:

1. Uncompressed Audio Format

Uncompressed audio is the original sound that has been recorded directly from the source in the analog form, and then converted to a digital signal without any modifications or compressions. Because an uncompressed sound is prepared with no retouching or manipulations, it gives an as-is listening experience. Since no compression is done on such a file either, it occupies a remarkably huge amount of space on your storage media.

Some sound files that fall under this category include:

1) Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)

A PCM file is the digital version of an analog waveform that is created by recording the audio samples, technically known as pulses. The PCM format is mostly used when creating optical media discs, typically the CDs and DVDs.

2) Waveform Audio File Format (WAV)

Generally used on the Windows platform, this audio format is not a file itself but a container that may contain both compressed or uncompressed files. However, in most cases, it is the latter that a WAV file has, and PCM format is one of them.

You may also interest: YouTube to WAV >>

3) Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

AIFF is almost identical to WAV format in its characteristics with the only difference that, unlike the latter, it was developed by Apple somewhere in 1988, and works as a container for both compressed and uncompressed audio files. While the compressed version of the format is called AIFF-C, the term Apple Loop is used when the scenario is otherwise. As it is with WAV, even AIFF files mostly contain uncompressed audio, that usually is PCM.

You may also like: Best AIFF to MP3 Converters >>

4) Data Stream Digital (DSD)

Used by Sony and Phillips, DSD is also not a format itself but a container that can store PCM files to provide decent sound quality. However, due to distortions in the composed audio, DSD files are not much in trend.

2. Lossless Compressed Audio Format

Lossless Compressed audio format is a type of file that is compressed using some advanced methods without compromising with the quality of the sound. This means that when played, you experience the same acoustic excellence as that of the source, i.e. uncompressed audio. However, even though the lossless compressed files are comparatively small in size, they still occupy decent amount of space on the hard drive or any other storage media in use.

Some formats that fall under the lossless compressed category include:

1) Free Lossless Audio Code (FLAC)

At around half the size of the source sound file, FLAC offers the original audio quality without removing any acoustic information during compression. Being an opensource and royalty-free audio format, FLAC is even easier to get, and in most cases is used as an alternative to MP3.

Check some of the best FLAC editor programs >>

2) Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Introduced by Apple Inc. and initially released as a proprietary product, ALAC was made royalty-free and opensource in 2011. Even though ALAC files are larger in size when compared to FLAC, the former format is used in iTunes and iOS as the latter isn’t supported by these platforms.

3. Lossy Compressed Audio Format

These are the highly compressed files that occupy significantly less amount of space on your storage media. However, during the compression process, some acoustic information is lost in order to reduce the file size. Nevertheless, if compressed correctly, the deterioration in the quality is almost negligible, and cannot be experienced unless the listener is quite experienced and the source recording is played next to the compressed audio simultaneously.

Some audio formats that fall under the lossy compressed category include:

1) MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

This is one of the most common file types and the best audio format for almost all media types that have sound. An MP3 file is free from the noises of the least significant in the composed audio. In addition, all the acoustic information with the frequency that normal human beings fail to catch (below 20Hz and above 20000Hz) is safely erased during compilation and compression. Furthermore, what makes MP3 the best audio file format is its ability to accommodate with almost all the devices of nearly any platform such as Android, Windows, iOS, Mac, etc.

Check this MP3 editor and convert video to MP3 easily.

2) OGG

This one, again, is not in fact an audio format but is a container for audio that generally stores Vorbis files. Although OGG files are way advanced in terms of sound quality and even offer higher compression ratio when compared with MP3, they are not much in use as many platforms and devices don’t support the format till date.

3) AU

AU is a format by Sun, DEC, and NeXT. It is yet another container that can hold both lossless and lossy files. AU files are mostly used in UNIX.

What’s the difference between common audio file formats like MP3, WAV, and FLAC? Watch the video below to learn more.

---

Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?

If you are a media creator, and are into the business of preparing audio and video content for your clients or directly for the audience, it is imperative to understand what could be the best audio file format to compose the audiovisual files. Here are a few tips that you must keep in mind in this context before proceeding:

• Uncompressed Audio

If the media type you are about to create is expected to be used for further editing before exporting to a different format, using an uncompressed audio format would be best as it offers a smooth and flawless post-production experience without giving much overhead to the processor.

• Lossless Compressed Audio

If your audiences own highly sophisticated audio players with Hi-Fi speaker systems, and they are also good at recognizing and understanding the differences between poor and optimal audio quality, using lossless compressed audio format would be a good choice as it gives decent sound quality in smaller file size.

• Compressed Audio

If you are preparing a media for home users and casual listeners, you can safely use an audio format that has been prepared using a higher compression ratio. In such a scenario, MP3 is the best audio format that not only offers the decent sound quality, it also occupies less amount of space on your storage media, thus enabling you to save more files at a given time.

Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?

At the time of this writing, YouTube supports two types of formats namely MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Although both of these are video containers, they also hold audio files. Details about both these types are as follows:

• MPEG-2
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above
  • Audio Codec: Dolby AC-3 or MPEG Layer II
• MPEG-4
  • **Video Codec:**264
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above

Since many people nowadays produce videos in MP4 due to its wide range of supported devices and players and the fact that the container is used by majority of users worldwide, MPEG-4 with audio format could be mostly seen on YouTube.

Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Being one of the most versatile post-production tools preferred by many professional editors worldwide, Filmora comes with a variety of audio formats from all the three categories discussed above. Furthermore, Filmora also displays relevant information about each of the file types it offers.

The following table shows a list of formats and the details that Filmora supports:

Video Format	Corresponding Audio Encoder	Audio Type
MP4	Lossy Compressed
WMV	WMA8, WMA9	Uncompressed
AVI	MP3, PCM	Lossy Compressed, Uncompressed
MOV	Lossy Compressed
F4V	Lossy Compressed
MKV	MP3	Lossy Compressed
TS	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
3GP	Lossy Compressed
MPEG-2	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
WEBM	Vorbis	Lossy Compressed

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The quality of sound that you hear depends on various factors, and an appropriate audio format is one of them. While each type of acoustic file has its own significance, choosing the best audio format as per the target player, expected audience, and/or supporting videos or images (if any) is something that needs much consideration to offer a flawless listening experience.

With that said, here you will learn about some of the most common sound file types, which among them could be the best audio format according to your requirements, and a couple of important points that you must keep in might while picking an extension for your media preparations.

• Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats
• Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?
• Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?
• Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Using Filmora to Record & Edit & Save Audio Easily

Wondershare Filmora is a simple yet robust video editing software that allows you to save a video to mp3 easily. Besides, if you want to remove background noise from audio, or change the audio volume or remove unwanted audio parts from the video, you should definitely try Filmora.

---

Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats

Before listing the most common audio file formats, it is important to understand the categories of the sound files. Every audio format that exists belongs to one (or more) category depending on the way it is being created and the characteristics it has.

In a nutshell, there are three major categories, including:

• Uncompressed Audio Format
• Lossless Compressed Audio Format
• Lossy Compressed Audio Format

Below is a brief introduction of each of the classes listed above along with the audio file types that belong to them:

1. Uncompressed Audio Format

Uncompressed audio is the original sound that has been recorded directly from the source in the analog form, and then converted to a digital signal without any modifications or compressions. Because an uncompressed sound is prepared with no retouching or manipulations, it gives an as-is listening experience. Since no compression is done on such a file either, it occupies a remarkably huge amount of space on your storage media.

Some sound files that fall under this category include:

1) Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)

A PCM file is the digital version of an analog waveform that is created by recording the audio samples, technically known as pulses. The PCM format is mostly used when creating optical media discs, typically the CDs and DVDs.

2) Waveform Audio File Format (WAV)

Generally used on the Windows platform, this audio format is not a file itself but a container that may contain both compressed or uncompressed files. However, in most cases, it is the latter that a WAV file has, and PCM format is one of them.

You may also interest: YouTube to WAV >>

3) Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

AIFF is almost identical to WAV format in its characteristics with the only difference that, unlike the latter, it was developed by Apple somewhere in 1988, and works as a container for both compressed and uncompressed audio files. While the compressed version of the format is called AIFF-C, the term Apple Loop is used when the scenario is otherwise. As it is with WAV, even AIFF files mostly contain uncompressed audio, that usually is PCM.

You may also like: Best AIFF to MP3 Converters >>

4) Data Stream Digital (DSD)

Used by Sony and Phillips, DSD is also not a format itself but a container that can store PCM files to provide decent sound quality. However, due to distortions in the composed audio, DSD files are not much in trend.

2. Lossless Compressed Audio Format

Lossless Compressed audio format is a type of file that is compressed using some advanced methods without compromising with the quality of the sound. This means that when played, you experience the same acoustic excellence as that of the source, i.e. uncompressed audio. However, even though the lossless compressed files are comparatively small in size, they still occupy decent amount of space on the hard drive or any other storage media in use.

Some formats that fall under the lossless compressed category include:

1) Free Lossless Audio Code (FLAC)

At around half the size of the source sound file, FLAC offers the original audio quality without removing any acoustic information during compression. Being an opensource and royalty-free audio format, FLAC is even easier to get, and in most cases is used as an alternative to MP3.

Check some of the best FLAC editor programs >>

2) Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Introduced by Apple Inc. and initially released as a proprietary product, ALAC was made royalty-free and opensource in 2011. Even though ALAC files are larger in size when compared to FLAC, the former format is used in iTunes and iOS as the latter isn’t supported by these platforms.

3. Lossy Compressed Audio Format

These are the highly compressed files that occupy significantly less amount of space on your storage media. However, during the compression process, some acoustic information is lost in order to reduce the file size. Nevertheless, if compressed correctly, the deterioration in the quality is almost negligible, and cannot be experienced unless the listener is quite experienced and the source recording is played next to the compressed audio simultaneously.

Some audio formats that fall under the lossy compressed category include:

1) MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

This is one of the most common file types and the best audio format for almost all media types that have sound. An MP3 file is free from the noises of the least significant in the composed audio. In addition, all the acoustic information with the frequency that normal human beings fail to catch (below 20Hz and above 20000Hz) is safely erased during compilation and compression. Furthermore, what makes MP3 the best audio file format is its ability to accommodate with almost all the devices of nearly any platform such as Android, Windows, iOS, Mac, etc.

Check this MP3 editor and convert video to MP3 easily.

2) OGG

This one, again, is not in fact an audio format but is a container for audio that generally stores Vorbis files. Although OGG files are way advanced in terms of sound quality and even offer higher compression ratio when compared with MP3, they are not much in use as many platforms and devices don’t support the format till date.

3) AU

AU is a format by Sun, DEC, and NeXT. It is yet another container that can hold both lossless and lossy files. AU files are mostly used in UNIX.

What’s the difference between common audio file formats like MP3, WAV, and FLAC? Watch the video below to learn more.

---

Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?

If you are a media creator, and are into the business of preparing audio and video content for your clients or directly for the audience, it is imperative to understand what could be the best audio file format to compose the audiovisual files. Here are a few tips that you must keep in mind in this context before proceeding:

• Uncompressed Audio

If the media type you are about to create is expected to be used for further editing before exporting to a different format, using an uncompressed audio format would be best as it offers a smooth and flawless post-production experience without giving much overhead to the processor.

• Lossless Compressed Audio

If your audiences own highly sophisticated audio players with Hi-Fi speaker systems, and they are also good at recognizing and understanding the differences between poor and optimal audio quality, using lossless compressed audio format would be a good choice as it gives decent sound quality in smaller file size.

• Compressed Audio

If you are preparing a media for home users and casual listeners, you can safely use an audio format that has been prepared using a higher compression ratio. In such a scenario, MP3 is the best audio format that not only offers the decent sound quality, it also occupies less amount of space on your storage media, thus enabling you to save more files at a given time.

Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?

At the time of this writing, YouTube supports two types of formats namely MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Although both of these are video containers, they also hold audio files. Details about both these types are as follows:

• MPEG-2
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above
  • Audio Codec: Dolby AC-3 or MPEG Layer II
• MPEG-4
  • **Video Codec:**264
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above

Since many people nowadays produce videos in MP4 due to its wide range of supported devices and players and the fact that the container is used by majority of users worldwide, MPEG-4 with audio format could be mostly seen on YouTube.

Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Being one of the most versatile post-production tools preferred by many professional editors worldwide, Filmora comes with a variety of audio formats from all the three categories discussed above. Furthermore, Filmora also displays relevant information about each of the file types it offers.

The following table shows a list of formats and the details that Filmora supports:

Video Format	Corresponding Audio Encoder	Audio Type
MP4	Lossy Compressed
WMV	WMA8, WMA9	Uncompressed
AVI	MP3, PCM	Lossy Compressed, Uncompressed
MOV	Lossy Compressed
F4V	Lossy Compressed
MKV	MP3	Lossy Compressed
TS	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
3GP	Lossy Compressed
MPEG-2	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
WEBM	Vorbis	Lossy Compressed

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The quality of sound that you hear depends on various factors, and an appropriate audio format is one of them. While each type of acoustic file has its own significance, choosing the best audio format as per the target player, expected audience, and/or supporting videos or images (if any) is something that needs much consideration to offer a flawless listening experience.

With that said, here you will learn about some of the most common sound file types, which among them could be the best audio format according to your requirements, and a couple of important points that you must keep in might while picking an extension for your media preparations.

• Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats
• Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?
• Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?
• Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Using Filmora to Record & Edit & Save Audio Easily

Wondershare Filmora is a simple yet robust video editing software that allows you to save a video to mp3 easily. Besides, if you want to remove background noise from audio, or change the audio volume or remove unwanted audio parts from the video, you should definitely try Filmora.

---

Part 1: 10 Most Common Audio Formats

Before listing the most common audio file formats, it is important to understand the categories of the sound files. Every audio format that exists belongs to one (or more) category depending on the way it is being created and the characteristics it has.

In a nutshell, there are three major categories, including:

• Uncompressed Audio Format
• Lossless Compressed Audio Format
• Lossy Compressed Audio Format

Below is a brief introduction of each of the classes listed above along with the audio file types that belong to them:

1. Uncompressed Audio Format

Uncompressed audio is the original sound that has been recorded directly from the source in the analog form, and then converted to a digital signal without any modifications or compressions. Because an uncompressed sound is prepared with no retouching or manipulations, it gives an as-is listening experience. Since no compression is done on such a file either, it occupies a remarkably huge amount of space on your storage media.

Some sound files that fall under this category include:

1) Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)

A PCM file is the digital version of an analog waveform that is created by recording the audio samples, technically known as pulses. The PCM format is mostly used when creating optical media discs, typically the CDs and DVDs.

2) Waveform Audio File Format (WAV)

Generally used on the Windows platform, this audio format is not a file itself but a container that may contain both compressed or uncompressed files. However, in most cases, it is the latter that a WAV file has, and PCM format is one of them.

You may also interest: YouTube to WAV >>

3) Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)

AIFF is almost identical to WAV format in its characteristics with the only difference that, unlike the latter, it was developed by Apple somewhere in 1988, and works as a container for both compressed and uncompressed audio files. While the compressed version of the format is called AIFF-C, the term Apple Loop is used when the scenario is otherwise. As it is with WAV, even AIFF files mostly contain uncompressed audio, that usually is PCM.

You may also like: Best AIFF to MP3 Converters >>

4) Data Stream Digital (DSD)

Used by Sony and Phillips, DSD is also not a format itself but a container that can store PCM files to provide decent sound quality. However, due to distortions in the composed audio, DSD files are not much in trend.

2. Lossless Compressed Audio Format

Lossless Compressed audio format is a type of file that is compressed using some advanced methods without compromising with the quality of the sound. This means that when played, you experience the same acoustic excellence as that of the source, i.e. uncompressed audio. However, even though the lossless compressed files are comparatively small in size, they still occupy decent amount of space on the hard drive or any other storage media in use.

Some formats that fall under the lossless compressed category include:

1) Free Lossless Audio Code (FLAC)

At around half the size of the source sound file, FLAC offers the original audio quality without removing any acoustic information during compression. Being an opensource and royalty-free audio format, FLAC is even easier to get, and in most cases is used as an alternative to MP3.

Check some of the best FLAC editor programs >>

2) Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

Introduced by Apple Inc. and initially released as a proprietary product, ALAC was made royalty-free and opensource in 2011. Even though ALAC files are larger in size when compared to FLAC, the former format is used in iTunes and iOS as the latter isn’t supported by these platforms.

3. Lossy Compressed Audio Format

These are the highly compressed files that occupy significantly less amount of space on your storage media. However, during the compression process, some acoustic information is lost in order to reduce the file size. Nevertheless, if compressed correctly, the deterioration in the quality is almost negligible, and cannot be experienced unless the listener is quite experienced and the source recording is played next to the compressed audio simultaneously.

Some audio formats that fall under the lossy compressed category include:

1) MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)

This is one of the most common file types and the best audio format for almost all media types that have sound. An MP3 file is free from the noises of the least significant in the composed audio. In addition, all the acoustic information with the frequency that normal human beings fail to catch (below 20Hz and above 20000Hz) is safely erased during compilation and compression. Furthermore, what makes MP3 the best audio file format is its ability to accommodate with almost all the devices of nearly any platform such as Android, Windows, iOS, Mac, etc.

Check this MP3 editor and convert video to MP3 easily.

2) OGG

This one, again, is not in fact an audio format but is a container for audio that generally stores Vorbis files. Although OGG files are way advanced in terms of sound quality and even offer higher compression ratio when compared with MP3, they are not much in use as many platforms and devices don’t support the format till date.

3) AU

AU is a format by Sun, DEC, and NeXT. It is yet another container that can hold both lossless and lossy files. AU files are mostly used in UNIX.

What’s the difference between common audio file formats like MP3, WAV, and FLAC? Watch the video below to learn more.

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Part 2: How to Choose Best Audio Format?

If you are a media creator, and are into the business of preparing audio and video content for your clients or directly for the audience, it is imperative to understand what could be the best audio file format to compose the audiovisual files. Here are a few tips that you must keep in mind in this context before proceeding:

• Uncompressed Audio

If the media type you are about to create is expected to be used for further editing before exporting to a different format, using an uncompressed audio format would be best as it offers a smooth and flawless post-production experience without giving much overhead to the processor.

• Lossless Compressed Audio

If your audiences own highly sophisticated audio players with Hi-Fi speaker systems, and they are also good at recognizing and understanding the differences between poor and optimal audio quality, using lossless compressed audio format would be a good choice as it gives decent sound quality in smaller file size.

• Compressed Audio

If you are preparing a media for home users and casual listeners, you can safely use an audio format that has been prepared using a higher compression ratio. In such a scenario, MP3 is the best audio format that not only offers the decent sound quality, it also occupies less amount of space on your storage media, thus enabling you to save more files at a given time.

Part 3: Which Audio File Formats Does YouTube Support?

At the time of this writing, YouTube supports two types of formats namely MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Although both of these are video containers, they also hold audio files. Details about both these types are as follows:

• MPEG-2
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above
  • Audio Codec: Dolby AC-3 or MPEG Layer II
• MPEG-4
  • **Video Codec:**264
  • Audio Bitrate: 128kbps or above

Since many people nowadays produce videos in MP4 due to its wide range of supported devices and players and the fact that the container is used by majority of users worldwide, MPEG-4 with audio format could be mostly seen on YouTube.

Part 4: Audio Format in Filmora

Being one of the most versatile post-production tools preferred by many professional editors worldwide, Filmora comes with a variety of audio formats from all the three categories discussed above. Furthermore, Filmora also displays relevant information about each of the file types it offers.

The following table shows a list of formats and the details that Filmora supports:

Video Format	Corresponding Audio Encoder	Audio Type
MP4	Lossy Compressed
WMV	WMA8, WMA9	Uncompressed
AVI	MP3, PCM	Lossy Compressed, Uncompressed
MOV	Lossy Compressed
F4V	Lossy Compressed
MKV	MP3	Lossy Compressed
TS	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
3GP	Lossy Compressed
MPEG-2	MPEG-2 Audio	Lossy Compressed
WEBM	Vorbis	Lossy Compressed

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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Audio Dynamics in Motion: Blending Auditory Data with Kinetic Graphics in Adobe Premiere Pro’s Environment

By using waveform of the sound waves in Premiere Pro, we can better edit audio. In the following article, we’ll learn how the audio waveform auto-sync feature in Premiere Pro helps automatically align and merge clips in the Project panel, in the timeline, and when setting up a multicamera project and how to insert audio waveform on your clips using Premiere Pro.

Part 1. How to show Audio Waveform on clips in Premiere Pro? (2 ways)

Users frequently complain that the audio waveform can suddenly disappear while editing audio in Premiere Pro, which is quite annoying to deal with. In the following tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make the audio waveforms visible.

1. Click the wrench icon on settings button

If you are not seeing them on audio clips on your timeline, then you drag on an audio clip to your timeline or your sequence and just click on the wrench and check to show audio waveform.

Once you check that you should see the audio waveforms on your clip you can click it again you should see a checkmark and it is highlighted in blue and if you don’t want to see them all you have to do is click it again.

That will toggle off the audio waveforms and that is how to show the audio waveforms on your audio clips in adobe premiere pro.

2. Automatic generate audio waveform

Make sure “Automatic audio waveform creation” is selected by going to “Edit > Preferences > Audio” first. When importing files, no waveforms are generated if option is unticked. Only clips you import moving forward will be impacted by this; clips already imported won’t be affected.

Second, for creating audio waveforms on clips that don’t have them, select the clips in the Program panel and go to “Clip > Generate Audio Waveform”.

Part 2. How to add audio waveform animation in Premiere Pro?

If you want to simply add a dynamic effect to your audio, just follow the tutorial below.

Step1Click After Effects Composition

First, make sure both the video and audio are selected. Right-click and select replace with After Effects composition.

Step2Create a new solid in After Effects

After creating a new project in After Effects, you need to choose a new solid of any color in your composition.

Step3Open audio waveform effect

Search audio waveform and drag and drop this effect on your solid. The waveform will now respond to the audio in your film if you use the audio layer option for your clip in the effect parameters for your solid change.

Step4Adjust the audio waveform effect

The position of the waveform on your video can be changed by utilizing the start and end point settings. Make sure the last values for each selections are the same to maintain an even level. Next, you can change the characteristics to give your waveform the desired appearance. Here, I applied some fundamental settings that are effective for singing. Using the two-color picker options and the display options, you may also change the waveform’s inner and outer colors.

Step5Check the animation and export the video

Back in Premiere, you can pick whether you want the traditional analog lines to appear or a more contemporary digital waveform. Your clip will now be replaced with an After Effects composition that is dynamically tied to the audio waveform.

Part 3. How to change the incorrect audio waveform in Premiere Pro?

These problems typically result from corrupted cache/peak files. If you have cleared the cache from the application. I will recommend cleaning them manually by going to the location specified in “Preferences > Media Cache”.

Clean the contents of the folder named Media Cache, Media Cache files, and Peak files (Before cleaning them, please ensure to open these folders once and verify if they have any of the media files in them to avoid any accidental deletion of required media or asset).

Please make sure that the option “Save.cfa and.pek cache files next to the original media files when possible” is unchecked. If it is ticked, you will have to remove them by hand from the folders where the media files are kept.

The Audio previews can also be cleaned (File > Project Settings > Scratch Disks > Audio Previews).

The following time you open the project, these files will be cleared. Rebuilding the necessary cache and peak files could take some time.

Part 4. How to add audio waveform animation to video with Premiere Pro alternative?

In reality, based on the above process, it is clear that you must use After Effects to add audio waveform animation effects in Premiere Pro. Although you can further modify the animation, this approach is very difficult for beginners to understand, and it has a high learning cost. In this situation, we strongly advise you to try Filmora Audio Visualizer . We provide more than 25 animation effects and fixed pre-made waveform elements, and you can also adjust the color and frequency in Advanced Settings. Come and give it a try!

Conclusion

This article will help you in resolving various audio waveform issues in Premiere Pro. Additionally, you can discover how to create waveforms in your audio clips. You should try Wondershare Filmora to add the waveform animation even if Premiere Pro is one of the greatest audio and video editing programs. Beginners will find it more convenient and simpler. If you simply want to quickly polish your music video or podcast video, the Filmora audio visualizer is a better option.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Conclusion

This article will help you in resolving various audio waveform issues in Premiere Pro. Additionally, you can discover how to create waveforms in your audio clips. You should try Wondershare Filmora to add the waveform animation even if Premiere Pro is one of the greatest audio and video editing programs. Beginners will find it more convenient and simpler. If you simply want to quickly polish your music video or podcast video, the Filmora audio visualizer is a better option.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

How to Remove Audio From Video on Windows 10? Free and No-Download Way

You might need to remove sound from video windows 10. However, you may be confused about which tools you should you. Indeed, plenty of video editing tools have complicated user interfaces, which is not good if you are a beginner. Fortunately, in this article, we will recommend some of the reliable tools you can use to remove audio from video windows 10—additionally, a simple guide on how to do it.

Method 1: Use online and free solutions to mute audio in videos (500 words)

1. Kapwing

Kapwing is an easy-to-use but powerful online tool for remove sound from video windows 10. Furthermore, Kapwing has many different features you can use for all sorts of things. Such as making videos, adding subtitles to videos, filtering videos, adding watermarks to videos, and many more.

How to mute audio in videos with Kapwing

Step1 To begin, launch your web browser and search the website Kapwing.com. After that, select “Tool” from the menu.

Step2 in the search bar, type “Mute video” and click on it when the mute video feature pops up.

Step3 Click “upload video” in the next window to add the video you want to mute.

Step4 Once you upload your video, click your video, and you will see the volume feature. You just need to drag the volume to the most left to mute the audio.

Step5 Once you mute the movie audio, click “Export project.”

Step6 When the exporting project is done, you can save your video on your computer by clicking “download file.”

2. Veed.io

VEED is a windows video editor remove audio that makes it easy to remove the sound from a video. You can mute the whole video or just a part of it. There’s no software to install. You can do it right in your browser. VEED, on the other hand, is free and very simple to use.

How to remove mute audio from video with VEED.io

Step1 Open your browser and type “Remove audio mute VEED” into the search bar. After that, click “Choose video” to import the video you want to mute.

Step2 When you’re on the editing page, you’ll see a sound icon. Click that, and then drag the sound bar down to remove the sound. Once you remove the sound, click “Export” in the top right of your screen.

Step3 When the video exporting process is done, you can save the video you edited on your computer by clicking “Download.”

3. Adobe Express

Adobe Express is another tool for remove audio from video windows. You can use to remove sound from your videos. has an easy-to-use interface that makes removing sound in a video only a few steps.

How to remove audio from the video with Adobe Express

Step1 Open your browser and search for “Remove audio with Adobe Express”. In the next window, click “Upload your video” to import your video.

Step2 On the next page, you will see your video, and you will see the option “Mute” press that button to remove the sound on your video. Once you remove the audio from your video, click “download” to save your video.

Method 2: Use Filmora to remove audio from video

Step1 Before going any further, you need to download Filmora and open it on your computer. When you’re done, click “new project.”

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step2 In this step, you need to find the video you want to mute on your computer and import it to Filmora. Then, drag your video onto Filmora’s timeline.

Step3 Once you’ve dragged your video onto Filmora’s timeline, click on your video in the timeline and then right-click. Afterwards, choose “detach audio.”

Step4 Now, you will see the audio track below the video track. Simply, click on the audio track and click the “delete” icon. Finally, you are successful in muting the audio from your video.

Step5 Click “Export” to save your video on your computer.

Beside Filmora allow you to mute audio from entire of the video, Filmora also has another audio modify feature called “Silence detection”. Silence Detection is a special add-on for Filmora users, making it easier to cut out silent parts of a video. Silence Detection is a unique Filmora add-on that makes it easier for users to remove silent pauses from a film. The add-on examines the full video to detect all the silent pauses and eliminates them instantly, saving you time and simplifying the editing process.

How to use silence detection?

Step1 Right-click on the clip in the resource, select the video clip on the timeline, and choose the silence detection option to open up the silence detection window.

Step2 The silent detection tool will automatically detect the silent and low sound points.

Furthermore, you can adjust the parameters to recalculate the silence detection or manually fine-tune what the feature has already detected

once everything sounds good, export the video into the Filmora timeline so you can continue editing your video.

Moreover, Filmora also has another feature called “Audio ducking”. Audio ducking is a way to turn down the volume of the background when one voiceover comes on.

How to use audio ducking with Filmora

Step1 Let’s say you already have your voiceover and the audio in your video. If you want you to use duking voice feature, firstly, you need to decide which part of the audio you want to lower. After that, double-click the selected part until the ducking voice feature comes out.

Step2 Next, you just need to drag the audio ducking bar to the left or right. Indeed, if you drag to the right, it will lower the audio. Once you are done adjusting the audio, click “Ok”, and you can preview the result.

Last but not least, Filmora has other features called TTS and STT. Speech to Text (STT) allows you to transcript voice to subtitles in one click. Using speech-to-text will save you a lot of time on subtitling and speed up the editing process. Meanwhile, Text to Speech (TTS) is a feature in Filmora that lets you turn text files into voiceover and add more elements to your video.

How to use STT with Filmora

Step1 Firstly, right-click on the audio track and choose “Speech-to-Text”.

Step2 In the STT parameter setting bar, you can choose the language of the audio to be transcribed and the files to be converted. You can also choose to match automatically to the timeline.

How to use TTS with Filmore

Step1 Go to the “Tittle” and add you default Title. After that, write anything you want.

Step2 Select the title box in the timeline, then right-click. After that, click on “Text-to-Speech”.

Step3 In the TTS parameter setting bar, choose the language this title is in and the voice’s name.

Method 3: Use Windows 10 officially recommend video editor

1. Climpchamp

Clipchamp is an online video editor that makes it easy for anyone to make videos, even if they have never edited before. It lets you combine your videos, images, and audio files, remove audio from the video and then save the finished video to your computer. On the Climpchamp homepage, you can sign up for a free account and start editing your videos right away.

How to mute audio from the video with Climpchamp

Step1 First, open up your browser and search for Climpchamp.com. You must sign up and make an account on the next page first. Please note that creating an account doesn’t cost anything. Once you have an account, you just need to click “Create your first video”.

Step2 In this part, you just need to drag the video file you want to mute into the Clipchamp.

Step3 Once you import your video into Clipchamp. Then, go to “Audio” and simply drag the bar to the most left to remove the audio. When you are done, click “Export” on your top screen.

Step4 When exporting the video is done, click “Save to your computer” to save the video.

Part4: FAQ

Why do we need to mute audio from the video?

Getting rid of the audio from some clips might be necessary for a variety of reasons: perhaps the background noise is too loud, maybe you want to censor something from it, or maybe you simply don’t need it because you plan to use the video as B-roll or play music over it.

Conclusion

Basically, it’s easy to remove sound from video windows 10. You can use the tools mentioned above and follow the step-by-step instructions on how to do it. Out of all the tools listed above, Filmora is the best one to use. Filmora can not only take the sound out of your video but also has many ways to change the sound. Like ducking video or detaching audio

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step2 In this step, you need to find the video you want to mute on your computer and import it to Filmora. Then, drag your video onto Filmora’s timeline.

Step3 Once you’ve dragged your video onto Filmora’s timeline, click on your video in the timeline and then right-click. Afterwards, choose “detach audio.”

Step4 Now, you will see the audio track below the video track. Simply, click on the audio track and click the “delete” icon. Finally, you are successful in muting the audio from your video.

Step5 Click “Export” to save your video on your computer.

Beside Filmora allow you to mute audio from entire of the video, Filmora also has another audio modify feature called “Silence detection”. Silence Detection is a special add-on for Filmora users, making it easier to cut out silent parts of a video. Silence Detection is a unique Filmora add-on that makes it easier for users to remove silent pauses from a film. The add-on examines the full video to detect all the silent pauses and eliminates them instantly, saving you time and simplifying the editing process.

How to use silence detection?

Step1 Right-click on the clip in the resource, select the video clip on the timeline, and choose the silence detection option to open up the silence detection window.

Step2 The silent detection tool will automatically detect the silent and low sound points.

Furthermore, you can adjust the parameters to recalculate the silence detection or manually fine-tune what the feature has already detected

once everything sounds good, export the video into the Filmora timeline so you can continue editing your video.

Moreover, Filmora also has another feature called “Audio ducking”. Audio ducking is a way to turn down the volume of the background when one voiceover comes on.

How to use audio ducking with Filmora

Step1 Let’s say you already have your voiceover and the audio in your video. If you want you to use duking voice feature, firstly, you need to decide which part of the audio you want to lower. After that, double-click the selected part until the ducking voice feature comes out.

Step2 Next, you just need to drag the audio ducking bar to the left or right. Indeed, if you drag to the right, it will lower the audio. Once you are done adjusting the audio, click “Ok”, and you can preview the result.

Last but not least, Filmora has other features called TTS and STT. Speech to Text (STT) allows you to transcript voice to subtitles in one click. Using speech-to-text will save you a lot of time on subtitling and speed up the editing process. Meanwhile, Text to Speech (TTS) is a feature in Filmora that lets you turn text files into voiceover and add more elements to your video.

How to use STT with Filmora

Step1 Firstly, right-click on the audio track and choose “Speech-to-Text”.

Step2 In the STT parameter setting bar, you can choose the language of the audio to be transcribed and the files to be converted. You can also choose to match automatically to the timeline.

How to use TTS with Filmore

Step1 Go to the “Tittle” and add you default Title. After that, write anything you want.

Step2 Select the title box in the timeline, then right-click. After that, click on “Text-to-Speech”.

Step3 In the TTS parameter setting bar, choose the language this title is in and the voice’s name.

Method 3: Use Windows 10 officially recommend video editor

1. Climpchamp

Clipchamp is an online video editor that makes it easy for anyone to make videos, even if they have never edited before. It lets you combine your videos, images, and audio files, remove audio from the video and then save the finished video to your computer. On the Climpchamp homepage, you can sign up for a free account and start editing your videos right away.

How to mute audio from the video with Climpchamp

Step1 First, open up your browser and search for Climpchamp.com. You must sign up and make an account on the next page first. Please note that creating an account doesn’t cost anything. Once you have an account, you just need to click “Create your first video”.

Step2 In this part, you just need to drag the video file you want to mute into the Clipchamp.

Step3 Once you import your video into Clipchamp. Then, go to “Audio” and simply drag the bar to the most left to remove the audio. When you are done, click “Export” on your top screen.

Step4 When exporting the video is done, click “Save to your computer” to save the video.

Part4: FAQ

Why do we need to mute audio from the video?

Getting rid of the audio from some clips might be necessary for a variety of reasons: perhaps the background noise is too loud, maybe you want to censor something from it, or maybe you simply don’t need it because you plan to use the video as B-roll or play music over it.

Conclusion

Basically, it’s easy to remove sound from video windows 10. You can use the tools mentioned above and follow the step-by-step instructions on how to do it. Out of all the tools listed above, Filmora is the best one to use. Filmora can not only take the sound out of your video but also has many ways to change the sound. Like ducking video or detaching audio

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