Is a .wma file the same as a .wav file?

No, a .wma is a compressed file, not a .wav, whatever any info screen tells you. For CD you want to use the broadcast wav like you intended. The burner program converts the .wav files to .cda for the disk.

You *can* use mp3 and wma too, but that's obviously less quality than the real mccoy.

peggy, you say for broadcast? as in audio? you make the output file as audio normally if it's just a normal cd player..

If they have facilities for computer playlists and things are stored on hard drives (instead of the old days of 8 track / dat) .. either WAV format or MP3 is something they can work with moreso.

even if the broadcast place is digitally based, they can import cd audio normally, and convert it to whatever format they prefer. so thats the best way normally.. or mp3 is the next best way.

if you put a burned cd with either wav / mp3 / wma on, then put it in a cd player, it's gonna play a load of noise (the data that a pc will normally read)

if it's less that 74 minutes, I'd say use audio format (44.1 stereo 16 bit, cda ).. and if it's more mp3 but at a high bit rate.

personally I prefer the vorbis OGG format, out of mp3 / wma etc.

but mp3 is pretty much standard everywhere and regardless of the computer (mac / pc etc)

put a burned cd with either wav / mp3 / wma on, then put it in a cd player, it's gonna play a load of noise (the data that a pc will normally read)

You've got to be kidding..

haddox only reason I know is where I used to go years ago, someone left a cdr in the office , you could tell it had been burned and no one had written on it what it was. Someone was tidying up the place ,put it in the normal audio cd player they used to listen to demos to find out what it was and well it was just a bunch of noise. I'm not suggesting she actually does it. if thats what your hinting at.

ORIGINAL: Haddox Hopefully FOG, you understand that cds are data storage devices and cd players are data converters.

no but I'm getting quite used to your sarcastic remarks from previous posts aimed at me

thanks for your concern , I was rather happy I figured out where the power switch was on my pc last week after hhmm 15+ years alas the 8088 with state of the art ega 16 colour wasn't up to running windows xp, so I rushed out and bought a new one.

ORIGINAL: corrupted

To clarify, a WAV file won't play in a CD player. Programs that burn audio CD's convert WAV/MP3/WMA files into CDA.

WAV is just another data file that happens to be of the same quality of CDA.

Don't believe us? Pop a commercial audio CD into your PC and explore it. They are not WAV files.

I think what Haddox is trying to say is that these days CD players are not so limited. I haven't tried it with a wave file but if I burn a cd with MP3 files (not converted to CDA) I can put it into the CD player on my stereo, or the one in my car, and it plays fine. It's good for the car because you can get about 10 hours of music without having to change the disc.

Yep..I might night to retract that about the wav data files. but an MP3 data file will play in a cd player that has the little mp3 logo on the front. And like previously stated 10 hours of music on a disc. I'm pretty sure they stay mp3 files though, put that cd full of mp3s in a pc and explore it. mp3? or cda? I'd still be interested in hearing the noise that Fog is talking about. my experience is that if the cd is not in a format that the player can play..it simply does not play.

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue

Is any body gonna say that even the .wav file is compressed? As in... it's all compressed? As in... .wav files are not "uncompressed"?

best regards,
mike

Absolutely - a 16bit 44.1kHz wav is limited to a series of 16bit numbers 44100 times a second.

ORIGINAL: Roflcopter

As in... .wav files are not "uncompressed"?

It's my understanding that wav files *can* be compressed, but that 'normal' pulse-code modulation (PCM) wavs were uncompressed, in the normal parlance. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

If you want to really be picky, you can say that any bounced track is a compression of the pre-bounced tracks. So technically an export to WAV compresses the tracks into one track. Think about the size of the file in comparison to the size of the individual tracks added together. A mix, by nature, is compressing tracks together.

Then consider that Sonar runs at 64 bit internally, yet to export for CD you have to dither.

Then consider that most people record at much higher than 16 bit, and higher than 44.1 KHz.

And then on a CD you've got a 40 MB file that's 16 bit 44.1 KHz, Although your project was recorded at 24 bit, 96 KHz, and the Audio directory is about 3 gigs in size.

As far as an analogy to graphic files...

Is there a vector based audio format?

Is there a vector based audio format?

I think basically all normal sound files are more 'bitmap' than vector, although there can be some intrapolation probably.

Only thing that qualifies in the sense of being a 'calculation' in the vector-sense, more than a direct 'sample' or even an attempt at direct representation would be midi. Has the same benefits and drawbacks as vector vs bitmap, in a way.