Fundamentals of Digital Audio

Part 3
File Size, File Compression, and File
Types of Digital Audio

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 In this lecture, you will learn:
• The effects of sampling rate, bit depth, and
number of channels on the audio file size

• The general strategies to reduce audio file size

• How to choose sampling rate and bit depth

• How to choose an audio file type

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 Choices of Sampling Rate and Bit Depth

Higher sampling rate and bit depth:

• deliver better fidelity of a digitized file
• result in a larger file size (undesirable)

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Let's estimate the file size of a 1-
minute CD-quality audio file

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 1-minute CD Qualtiy Audio
• Sampling rate = 44100 Hz
(i.e., 44,100 samples/second)
• Bit depth = 16
(i.e., 16 bits/sample)
• Stereo
(i.e., 2 channels: left and right channels)

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 File Size of 1-min CD-quality Audio
• 1 minute = 60 seconds

• Total number of samples

= 60 seconds  44,100 samples/second
= 2,646,000 samples

• Total number of bits required for these many samples

= 2,646,000 samples  16 bits/sample
= 42,336,000 bits
This is for one channel.

• Total bits for two channels

= 42,336,000 bits/channel  2 channels
= 84,672,000 bits

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File Size of 1-min CD-quality Audio
84,672,000 bits
= 84,672,000 bits / (8 bits/byte)
= 10,584,000 bytes
= 10,584,000 bytes / (1024 bytes/KB)
 10336 KB
= 10336 KB / (1024 KB/MB)
 10 MB

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 Estimate Network Transfer Time
Suppose you are using 1.5Mbps (mega bits per
second) broadband to download this 1-minute
audio.

The time is no less than

84,672,000 bits / (1.5 Mbps)
= 84,672,000 bits / (1,500,000 bits/seconds)
 56 seconds
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File Size of 1-hour CD-quality Audio
 10 MB/minute  60 minutes/hour
= 600 MB/hour

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 General Strategies to Reduce Digital
Media File Size
• Reduce sampling rate
• Reduce bit depth
• Apply compression

• For digital audio, these can also be options:

– reducing the number of channels
– shorten the length of the audio

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 Reduce Sampling Rate
• Sacrifices the fidelity of the digitized audio
• Need to weigh the quality against the file size
• Need to consider:
– human perception of the audio
(e.g., How perceptibe is the audio with lower
sampling rate?)
– how the audio is used
• music: may need higher sampling rate
• short sound clips such as explosion and looping ambient
background noise: may work well with lower sampling rate

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 Sampling Rate Examples
• 11,025 Hz AM Radio Quality/Speech
• 22,050 Hz Near FM Radio Quality (high-end
multimedia)
• 44,100 Hz CD Quality
• 48,000 Hz DAT (digital audio tape) Quality
• 96,000 Hz DVD-Audio Quality
• 192,000 Hz DVD-Audio Quality

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Estimate Thresholds of Sampling
Rate Based on Human Hearing
Let's consider these two factors:
1. Human hearing range
2. A rule called Nyquist's theorem

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 Human Hearing Range
• Human hearing range: 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz
• Most sensitive to 2,000 Hz to 5,000 Hz

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 Nyquist Theorem
We must sample at least 2 points in each sound
wave cycle to be able to reconstruct the sound
wave satisfactorily.

Sampling rate of the audio  twice of the

audio frequency (called a Nyquist rate)

Sampling rate of the audio is higher for audio

with higher pitch
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 Choosing Sampling Rate
Given the human hearing range (20 Hz to 20,000
Hz) and Nyquist Theorem, why do you think
the sampling rate (44,100 Hz) for the CD-
quality audio is reasonable?

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 Choosing Sampling Rate
If we consider human ear's most sensitive range of frequency
(2,000 Hz to 5,000 Hz), then what is the lowest sampling
rate may be used that still satisfies the Nyquist Theorem?

A. 11,025 Hz AM Radio Quality/Speech

B. 22,050 Hz Near FM Radio Quality (high-end multimedia)
C. 44,100 Hz CD Quality
D. 48,000 Hz DAT (digital audio tape) Quality
E. 96,000 Hz DVD-Audio Quality
F. 192,000 Hz DVD-Audio Quality

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Effect of Sampling Rate on File Size
File size = duration  sampling rate  bit depth 
number of channels

• File size is reduced in the same proportion as

the reduction of the sampling rate

• Example: Reducing the sampling rate from

44,100 Hz to 22,050 Hz will reduce the file size
by half.
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 Effect of Bit Depth on File Size
File size = duration  sampling rate  bit depth 
number of channels

• File size is reduced in the same proportion as

the reduction of the bit depth

• Example: Reducing the bit depth from 16-bit

to 8-bit will reduce the file size by half.
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 Most Common Choices of Bit Depth
• 8-bit
– usually sufficient for speech
– in general, too low for music
• 16-bit
– minimal bit depth for music
• 24-bit
• 32-bit

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 Audio File Compression
• Lossless
• Lossy
– gets rid of some data, but human perception is
taken into consideration so that the data removed
causes the least noticeable distortion
– e.g. MP3 (good compression rate while preserving
the perceivably high quality of the audio)

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 Effect of Number of Channels on File Size

File size = duration  sampling rate  bit depth 

number of channels

• File size is reduced in the same proportion as

the reduction of the number of channels

• Example: Reducing the number of channels

from 2 (stereo) to 1 (mono) will reduce the file
size by half.
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 Common Audio File Types
File Type Acronym For Originally File Info & Platforms
Created By Compression
.wav IBM compressed, Windows
Microsoft uncompressed
.mp3 MPEG audio layer 3 Moving Pictures Good compression Cross-platform
Experts Group rate with
perceivably
high quality sound
.mov QuickTime movie Apple • Not just for video Cross-platform;
• supports audio requires QuickTime
track and a MIDI player
track
• a variety of sound
compressors
• files can be
streamed
• "Fast Start"
technology

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 Common Audio File Types
File Type Acronym For Originally File Info & Platforms
Created By Compression
.aiff Audio Interchange Apple compressed, Mac, Windows
File Format uncompressed
.au Sun compressed Sun, Unix, Linux
.snd
.ra Real Audio Real Systems compressed; can be Cross-platform;
.rm streamed with Real requires Real player
Server
.wma Window Media Microsoft
Audio

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 Choosing an Audio File Type
Determined by the intended use

• File size limitation

• Intended audience
• Whether as a source file

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 File Size Limitations
• Is your audio used on the Web?
– file types that offer high compression
– streaming audio file types

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 Intended Audience
• What is the equipment that your audience will
use to listen to your audio?

• If they are listening on computers, what are

their operating systems?
– cross-platform vs. single platform

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 Whether as a Source File
If you are keeping the file for future editing,
choose a file type:
• uncompressed
• allows lossless compression

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Review Questions

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 Review Question
True/False: 8-bit is generally considered to be
adequate for recording music.

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 Review Question
True/False: MP3 is a good file format to keep as
a source file for further editing.

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 Review Question
Which of the following file extensions indicate audio files?
BMP
WAV
JPEG
AIFF
MP3
GIF
JPG
PSD
TIFF
WMF

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 Review Question
According to Nyquist’s theorem, we must
sample at least ___ points in each sound wave
cycle to be able to reconstruct the sound wave
satisfactorily.
In other words, the sampling rate of the audio
must be at least ___ of the audio frequency.

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 Review Question
The reduction of a digital audio file size can be
achieved by ___.

A. reducing the sampling rate

B. reducing the pitch of the audio
C. reducing the bit depth
D. reducing the amplitude of the audio
E. applying file compression techniques

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 Review Question
Higher ___ will result in larger file size.

A. amplitude
B. frequency
C. sampling rate
D. bit depth
E. dynamic range

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 Review Question
Reducing the bit depth from 16-bit to 8-bit will
___.

A. have no effect on the file size

B. decrease the file size by half
C. decrease the file size to 1/8-th
D. decrease the file size to 1/16-th

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 Review Question
Reducing the sampling rate from 44,100 Hz to
22,050 Hz will ___.

A. have no effect on the file size

B. decrease the file size by half
C. decrease the file size to about 1/22-th
D. decrease the file size to about 1/44-th

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 Review Question
Reducing the number of channels from 2
(stereo) to 1 (mono) will ___.

A. have no effect on the file size

B. decrease the file size by half
C. decrease the file size to about 1/5-th
D. decrease the file size to about 1/10-th

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