The Art of Synchronized Streams: Implementing Smooth Volume Level Changes Using OBS

How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

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

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

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

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

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

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

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

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Unveiling the Essence of Sound: Pairing Waveforms with Dynamic Animations for Adobe Premiere Pro Creatives

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

The Sound Choice Handbook: Understanding & Selecting Superior Audio 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.

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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.

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.

---

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

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