Wave
|
Member name | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 0 | Wave format type is undefined. |
PCM | 1 | Standard pulse-code modulation audio format |
ADPCM | 2 | Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation encoding algorithm |
IeeeFloat | 3 | Floating point PCM encoding algorithm |
ALaw | 6 | A-law encoding algorithm (used in Europe and the rest of the world) |
MuLaw | 7 | μ-law encoding algorithm (used in North America and Japan) |
DTS | 8 | Decode Timestamp encoding algorithm (used in MPEG-coded multimedia) |
DRM | 9 | Digital Rights Management encoded format (for digital-audio content protected by Microsoft DRM). |
Mpeg | 80 | MPEG Audio is a family of open standards for compressed audio that includes MP2, MP3 and AAC. |
MpegLayer3 | 85 | ISO MPEG-Layer 3 audio format. |
WaveFormatExtensible | 65,534 | Use WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE structure. |
Microsoft defines more than 130 different audio encoding formats for WAVE files. Only the more common formats are defined here.
Note that PCM (i.e., Pulse Code Modulation) is a universal audio encoding format. It is a very common method of storing and transmitting uncompressed digital audio. Since it is a generic format, it can be read by most any audio application similar to the way a plain text file can be read by any word-processing program. PCM is used by Audio CDs and digital audio tapes (DATs). PCM is also a very common format for AIFF and WAV files.