-1

As we know, wave files can contain compressed audio data. I have some audio files with extension "*.wav". I checked their information with smplayer and it showed:

Initial Audio Stream
Format 85
Bitrate 32 kbps
Rate 22050 Hz
Channels 2
Selected codec mpg123

I tried several audio players in my android phone, but none of them can play it, such as "astro player", "ttpod". The weird thing about it is that if I change its extension to ".mp3", astro player can play it. I used some mp3 encoder to convert them to mp3 format with the same bitrate, rate, and channels, but the generated file is different from its counterpart ".wav" file.

What is the different?

frankli22586
  • 710
  • 6
  • 19

1 Answers1

-2

From this

Why we supply loops only in .WAV format and not in MP3 format

If you are looking for audio loops for your project or for Flash animations, you will notice that our loops are always delivered in the .WAV format – not as MP3 files. Why is that?

The short answer is simple: loops are always delivered in .WAV format and not MP3 format because the MP3 format is not good for creating seamless loops.

The long answer: A loop is a small audio file, usually 8-30 seconds long that is played over and over again for the duration of your choice or until the viewer does an action like a click to move on to the next section. To ensure that the music plays seamlessly without a pause, the beginning and end of the file is carefully edited to ensure that we don’t ‘hear’ the point where the music ends and begins.

MP3 files are the sound part of an MPEG file. They are incredibly popular with users because the audio files are compressed to about one tenth of the original size. As a result, they take up very little disk space and are quick to download. At the same time, they are able to deliver audio that is almost CD quality. This is why MP3 files are the natural choice when people want music for websites or multimedia presentations.

However, one of the big drawback of MP3 files is that they are just not good for looping. There is always a small silent gap at the beginning and the end of the file. This is because the MP3 compression algorithm leaves a silent space of 10ms to 50ms at the start and end of the file. So if you try to loop the audio, you can hear a short pause – a “hiccup” – at the looping point. In short, you don’t get a seamless loop.

Also called the encoder delay, this gap occurs because the MP3 standard does not define a way to record the amount of delay or padding for later removal. This delay may also vary from encoder to encoder. This makes automatic removal difficult. Worse, even if two tracks are decompressed and merged into a single track, a gap will usually remain between them.

Using .WAV files for looping

On the other hand, using .WAV format gives you a perfect loop. That’s because .WAV files are lossless uncompressed broadcast CD quality music files. Loops can be used to extend a full track or just by itself. WAV loops can also be easily processed with Flash for web animations.

If you use Flash, the process is very easy. All you have to do is import the .WAV file directly into Flash, and place the sound file on a layer. Flash will automatically compress the .WAV file into MP3 format while maintaining the integrity of the loop. Just use the .WAV quality audio format

Rajendra arora
  • 2,186
  • 1
  • 16
  • 23
  • You give me some interesting information, but it does not explain why some players can play it by just renaming the file extension. – frankli22586 Jun 16 '15 at 05:46