Preparing Audio

Article Summary: This article briefly looks at audio recordings and the different formats in use.

This section deals with the recording of digital audio that you can use on your website, as opposed to analog recordings (sounds recorded on tapes). Digital audio recording has many advantages over analog files - perhaps the biggest advantage is that audio can be used on the internet without any significant loss in quality. Audio files come in many different format, the most commonly used format is listed below:

**Common File Format Used in Audio Editing**
FILE FORMAT	PROPERITIES
MP3	A popular format on the internet
WAV	Windows file - Large uncompressed files
AIFF	Apple file - Large uncompressed files
RM, RA	RealMedia file - .ra files are just for audio, newer the newer .rm files are for audio and video.
MIDI	A standardized protocol used to between electronic music devices and computers

To play these audio file formats properly, a special plug-in software needs to be installed on your visitors computer. Most popular media players that are available for download will play many of the sound files listed above. This means that you can safely create a sound file in any of the formats listed above, and put it up on your website.

For a listing of recommended Audio recording software see the Audio Recorders, in Other Software Tools for Website Design.

Next: Adding Video