Lossless file format

For files that will remain on your computer, you should select a lossless file format. This means that the file will retain 100 percent of the quality and will not be compressed. Any file format on the Save as type list that you can save to can also be played back on your computer . aif,. sfa,. pca,. w64, and. wav formats are all appropriate selections. 

Macintosh AIFF (. aif) is the standard audio file format for Macintosh computers, just as. wav is for Windows. It is a lossless file format that preserves the quality of your audio, hut it creates rather large files. 

Material that will remain on your computer or be backed up to CR-ROMs as archives need to maintain 100 percent of the quality and can use Sonic Foundry s. pca format. Since archives are for your use only, compatibility is not important, but quality is. Files using this format can be 70 percent as large as other lossless file formats, giving you some degree of space savings without compromising quality. 

Sonic Foundry Perfect Clarity Audio (. pca) is another proprietary format from Sonic Foundry. This is a newer and more advanced format that compresses files losslessly. This means that the file size of a. pca file is considerably smaller than standard uncompressed file formats while retaining 100 percent of the original file quality. For audio files that will remain on your computer, this is an excellent choice, since you can save disk space without sacrificing quality. Use caution when distributing. pca files to others, because they won t be able to use them unless they have Sonic Foundry software installed. The amount of lossless compression depends on the complexity of the project and the source media used, but it can typically result in a file-size savings of 30 percent or so. 

Lossless means no loss of audio information. It is possible in many situations to eliminate unnecessary data from a computer audio file without losing audio information. This means that an audio file can be compressed in size while still maintaining 100 percent of the original file s audio quality. The Sonic Foundry Perfect Clarity Audio (. pca) format is an example of a lossless yet size-compressed file format. 

Regardless of whether you choose a lossless or a compressed file format, any files that you intend to make available to listeners using another computer need to employ a format that is compatible with their software. The following is a summary of recommendations on which formats and codec are appropriate for which destinations ... 

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