What is the difference between wma and wav files

Most people who are familiar with digital audio have heard the word "bitrate," and have some kind of an idea of what that term means. In general, the higher the bitrate of your audio file, the higher the quality of the sound.

The word "bitrate" actually refers to the amount of data in bits that is processed in one-second. The bitrate is measured in kbps kilobits per second. In essence, when the bitrate is reduced using lossy compression, audio data is removed — which results in reduced sound quality. Because a higher bitrate results in more audio data, it also results in a larger file size. This is the reason it has become so common to compress audio files — so you can fit more music files on your device.

With audio file formats, there are two types of audio quality: lossless and lossy. Lossless formats retain all of the original audio data. Typically, these are large, uncompressed files with lots of information and very high bitrates. There are also some compressed audio formats that retain lossless audio quality more on that in a moment. Lossy formats are compressed files that lose audio quality as the bitrate and file size is reduced. The files are made smaller by removing audio data that exists beyond a certain frequency range such as hums and feedback and by reducing the quality of certain sounds such as cymbals and high-hats.

The higher the bitrate, the more of the original data that is retained. This means that with a higher bitrate, you'll have higher audio quality but a larger file size. To make this easier to understand, we've made a couple of very basic diagrams to help you visualize the difference between lossy and lossless compression.

Referring to the diagrams below, think of an audio file as a stack of different colored blocks. The different colors in the diagram below represent different audio frequency ranges.

Referencing the diagram below, you'll see that lossy compression removes the less audible frequency ranges represented by yellow and green blocks to make the overall file smaller. The audio data that is read back in by your music player no longer processes the deleted data. This results in a smaller file size at the cost of audio quality.

The main benefit of lossy compression is file size. Guest Guest. If you are trying to produce an audio CD for playing on a hifi cd player I think WAV is the only way to go because the WAV file is very similar to the native file format used on commercial CD albums cda?

However, you may be referring to a different WMA. Thanks for the response! I am referring specifically to the newest "WMA Lossless" files I cannot find much info on the subject Try both. I did not realize that they were identical as far as sound quality.

It seems like the general consensus is that WAV is the way to go. I will always sacrifice disk space for files with complete audio information and higher sound quality. The difference between lossless and lossy files is clear to my ears even while using portable and cheaper equipment. Thanks for all of the info and help! Audio 40 Dec 26, C Solved! Audio 1 Feb 20, C looking for atv speakers.

Audio 1 Jul 27, H 7. Post thread. Started by Wdawg Nov 3, Replies: 2. Laptop Tech Support. Android Smartphones. Question Does a docking station that bridges peripheries and monitors to a laptop and computer exist? Started by hodzic Oct 24, Replies: 4.

Tom's Guide is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number Top Bottom. WAV the only lossless format? I'm keeping it specific to these two formats because they are my options.

I remember looking this up a while ago, but forget what the result was. I think that wma is a wave file, just set to a standard 16bit, Not sure, but I know I didn't care enough about the answer to commmit it to memory, so it must have not been important. Later Albert. Wma is not lossless.

Flac is lossless. You could test this by convert a wave file to wma and import both files to 2 tracks in Sonar side by side. Then invert the phase on the one of the tracks. If the tracks are identical the resault should total silence.

EyjolfurG Wma is not lossless. Thanks, I don't doubt you one bit. It gives you the option to select. Not sure here, but I hope I explaned what I was talking about well enough. I know. WMA Lossless as it's listed? I'm not doubting you one bit, I don't know or I wouldn't have asked. I'm sorry, but that's incorrect. WMA is a lossless compressed file. If you're going to turn it into a loop and use it in another recording, go with standard wave files.

But if you're just going to listen to it for enjoyment, either on your computer or on a portable player, then WMA is better due to its smaller file sizes. You shouldn't be able to hear any difference between a wave and any lossless compression scheme. Beagle, I was under the impression that WMA is normally a lossy compressed format. However, the WMA spec does allow for a true lossless mode. You won't get the same compression ratios in that mode, but the files will still be much smaller than waves.

I can't imagine how you'd achieve that much size reduction in a truly lossless format. Audio data isn't like other types of data, where you often have sections of repeating values that compress well under standard data compression algorithms e. I use WMA as well for a lot of applications. The problem with WMA is the nomenclature.