There are literally dozens of common media file formats supported by general programs and specific, proprietary software. Media formats fall into different types of categories, including lossless or lossy formats, compressed and uncompressed formats and audio and video formats. Some media formats are so proprietary that only a single manufacturer or software program uses them, while other formats are popular enough to become standard in most media player software.
Lossless audio formats
Lossless audio formats provide high-quality audio because they don't loose data during the save process. Lossless audio formats are a good choice if you're listening to audio on a very high-quality system, or in audio recording and production applications. Uncompressed lossless audio formats are typically very large, and include the following file extensions: AIFF, AU, CDDA, IFF, RAW and WAV.
Compressed lossless audio formats provide a better balance between file size and high-quality audio, although they are still typically larger than lossy audio formats. The typical compression ratio of compressed lossless audio files is 2:1, so you can reduce a file size by half and still retain lossless audio quality. The most common compressed lossless audio formats are: FLAC, LA, PAC, M4A, APE, OptimFROG, RKA, SHN, TTA, WV and WMA.
Lossy audio formats
Lossy audio formats offer drastically reduced file sizes at the cost of compromised audio quality. Lossy audio formats are some of the most popular file formats for downloading audio, streaming audio and using portable audio on the go, because the compromise in quality usually isn't noticeable on small systems or systems designed for portable use. However, you probably wouldn't want to use a lossy audio format on an advanced home theater system. Popular lossy audio formats include: MP2, MP3, Speex, OGG, GSM, AAC, MPC, VQF, RA, RM, OTS, SWA, VOX, VOC, DWD and SMP.
Video formats
Video formats focus less on lossless compression and more on conveying video appropriate to different software types. While some multimedia players play multiple video types, different video formats are developed specifically for individual video software. Formats inlcude AAF, 3GP, GIF, ASF, AVCHD, AVI, DAT, DSH, FLV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, SWF, FLA, FLR, MKV, WRAP, MNG, MOV, MXF, NSV, OGM, TARKIN, THEORA, RM, SVI, WMV and DivX.
Popular applications and media formats
With every developer and product manufacturer looking for an edge, most media developers have their own proprietary media formats. These are a few of the most popular media programs and the media formats they support:
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