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Concepts of digital audio
A short primer on the ideas behind every setting in Sound Editor Pro.
Free to edit and save WAV · Windows 11 & 10 (64-bit)
From air to numbers
A microphone turns air pressure into voltage. A converter measures that voltage many thousands of times per second (sampling) and stores each measurement as a number with a fixed resolution (bit depth).
Key terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sample rate | Measurements per second, e.g. 48 kHz |
| Bit depth | Resolution of each measurement, e.g. 24-bit |
| dBFS | Level relative to the digital maximum (0 dBFS) |
| Channels | Mono (1) or stereo (2) |
| Bitrate | Data per second in compressed files, e.g. 192 kbps |
Format families
| Family | Examples | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Uncompressed | WAV, AIFF | Exact |
| Lossless | FLAC, ALAC | Exact, smaller |
| Lossy | MP3, AAC, Opus | Approximation, much smaller |
Waveform and spectrum
The waveform shows level over time; the Spectrogram editing shows which frequencies are present over time. Different problems are easier to see in each.
Hear The Difference On Your Own Material
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Download Sound Editor ProFree to edit and save WAV · Windows 11 & 10 (64-bit)