Audio Formats & MIDI

1. Introduction

Digital audio can be stored in various file formats. Each format differs in quality, compression, and file size. MIDI is different from audio formats as it stores musical performance data.

• Audio formats store sound samples
• MIDI stores musical instructions

2. Audio File Formats

Audio file formats store digitized sound data for playback and processing.

• Lossless formats
• Lossy formats

3. Lossless Audio Formats

Lossless formats preserve original audio quality without losing any data.

• WAV
• FLAC
• AIFF

4. Lossy Audio Formats

Lossy formats reduce file size by removing audio data that is less audible to human ears.

• MP3
• AAC
• OGG

5. Lossy vs Lossless

Lossless                     Lossy
---------------------------  -------------------------
No quality loss              Some quality loss
Large file size              Small file size
Used for editing             Used for streaming

6. What is MIDI

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a standard protocol that records musical events such as notes, pitch, and duration instead of sound waves.

• Stores performance data
• Very small file size

7. MIDI Components

• Notes and velocity
• Instruments
• Timing and tempo

8. MIDI vs Digital Audio

MIDI                         Digital Audio
--------------------------   --------------------------
Stores instructions          Stores sound samples
Small file size              Large file size
Editable instruments         Fixed sound

9. Advantages

• Efficient storage
• Flexible editing
• Wide device support

10. Applications

• Music production
• Games and animations
• Mobile devices
• Multimedia systems

Practice Questions

1. What are audio file formats?
2. Differentiate lossy and lossless formats.
3. What is MIDI?
4. How does MIDI differ from digital audio?
5. Where are MIDI files used?

Practice Task