When digitization took over from analogue, the analogue signal was taken and sliced into 1s and 0s. In CD format the music is encoded at 16-bit (bit depth) and at 44.1kHz (sample rate). The sample rate is how many times the original signal has been 'sliced up' and the bit depth tells us how much information has been recorded in each slice. The bit depth is referred to as the resolution.
Higher the resolution and higher the sample rate the fewer "things" have to done to compensate for errors that occur when the signal is sliced up and converted from analogue into digital and back. Currently the higher end digital recordings are at 24-bit resolution or higher, and up to 192kHz. At this resolution it is virtually impossible for the human ear to perceive any difference between digital and analogue.
File Formats, Sampling rates and Bit Rates
? MP3 (.mp3 or .MP3)
MPEG-1/MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3 format with a sampling rate of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz and bitrates of between 8 kbps and 320 kbps.
? WMA (.wma or .WMA)
WMA stands for Windows Media Audio and is an audio compression technology developed by Microsoft Corporation. Audio can be encoded in WMA format by using Windows Media Player.
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, bitrates of between 5 kbps and 320 kbps and WMA DRM
? WMA Lossless (.wma or .WMA)
Sampling rates of 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz.
Quantization bit: 16 bit, 24 bit
? WAV (.wav or .WAV)
WAV files contain uncompressed PCM digital audio.
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 64 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz.
Quantization bit: 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit
? AAC (.aac/.m4a/.mp4/.3gp/.3g2/.AAC/.M4A/.MP4/ .3GP or .3G2)
AAC stands for MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio.
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 64 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz and bitrates of between 8 kbps and 320 kbps
? FLAC (.flac or .FLAC)
FLAC is a file format for lossless audio data compression.
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 64 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz.
Quantization bit: 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit
? Ogg Vorbis (.ogg or .OGG)
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz and bitrates of between 48 kbps and 500 kbps
? LPCM (Linear PCM)
Sampling rates of 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 12 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 24 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 64 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz.
Quantization bit: 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit