[ C694 Home Page | C694 Assignment 4 ]
For experimentation, a 1.38MB sound file* containing "voice with background music" was saved in different formats using Cool Edit for comparing file sizes (and sound quality) by manipulating sample rate and format (WAVE vs. MPEG 3 vs. REALMEDIA).
| Format | From the 44 KHz WAV File | FROM the 22 KHz WAV File |
|---|---|---|
| WAV | This is Brian's original sound file in WAV format (<lian8bitmono.wav>; 44kHz/8bit/mono):
lian8.wav (1.38MB). (See GIF file (39k) of the waveform.)** | Brian's original WAV file converted to 22kHz: lian8-22k.wav (.69MB).
|
| MP3 | Brian's WAV file saved in MP3 format at 128 kbps:
lian8.mp3 (.50MB).
| Brian's 22kHz-WAV file saved in MP3 format at 40 kbps: lian8-22k.mp3 (.16MB). |
| RM | Brian's WAV file saved in RM format for playing over 28kbps modems : lian8.rm(.20MB).*** | Brian's 22kHz-WAV file saved in RM format for playing over 28 kbps modems:
lian8-22k.rm (.20MB).
|
* The sound files included here were converted by Marjorie Chan from one student's sound clip, a 1.38MB WAV file, on 15 and 16 June 2000. These files have been generated strictly for experimentation for educational purposes, as an extension of Chinese 694: Chinese Computing (Spring Quarter 2000), after the course had ended. The initial WAV file was part of Brian Bare's Assignment 4 coursework for C694 Assignment 4 (Recording and Review / Analysis of Sound Files / Review of Speech Analysis Software). As indicated by Brian, the singer is Wang Fei (a.k.a. "Faye Wong"), and the file is a short clip from her song, "Lian" (Face), that is in her CD, Chang You (Sing and Play). The sound clip was extracted by Brian from the CD using GoldWave, a digital audio editor, and saved as a WAV file at 44KHz and as a mono, 8-bit sound file in order to reduce file size and downloading time. The sound clip is included here for downloading from this web subdirectory, together with the rest of the files created here, in case Brian decides to replace his large WAV file some time in the future with a smaller file in a different format! (As with Cool Edit 2000, the current version of GoldWave (version 4.16) can convert files from a number of different formats to MP3 format. Both Cool Edit and GoldWave are non-expiring shareware, with registered versions capable of accessing the respective software's full editing functions.)** The sound file was played back in Cool Edit 2000. The waveform generated by Cool Edit was then captured via "Print Screen" (PrtSc) on the computer keyboard, and LView Pro 2.8 was used to paste in the image, which was then cropped and saved as a GIF file. (Older, non-expiring, versions of LView Pro (LView Pro 1.x) can also capture, crop, and save an image as GIF, JPG, BMP, and other formats. MS Paint that comes bundled with Windows 98, for example, can save to GIF, JPG as well as BMP format (the version with Windows 95 cannot save to GIF and JPG); however, it does not have the handy cropping function, whereas LView Pro 1.x/2.x does.)
Note: Manipulating increase in amplitude (loudness) of Brian's WAV file, as displayed in the waveform in the GIF file of the amplified waveform, did not alter file size; it remained 1.38MB after amplitude increase. The WAV file is not included here to save web server space.
*** The two RealMedia (RM) output files are the same in file size, both having been created with selection of "voice with background music" for streaming over 28 kbps modems. The two files can be played with RealPlayer 5 or higher. For further comparison, the 44 KHz WAV file was converted to the much smaller, RealAudio (RA) format using RealEncoder 3 for playing over 28kbps modems with RealPlayer 3 or higher: lian8.ra (.06MB). (Note that Cool Edit 96 is also able to convert files to RA format, whereas Cool Edit 2000 converts files to the higher sound quality RealMedia G2 (RM) format.)
Note: At this time, no comparison is made of the above formats with Microsoft's new Windows Media (WMA) format for internet audio and video streaming. (Current and beta versions of the Windows Media Player and Windows Media Encoder are freely-downloadable at their website.)
This webpage was created by M. Chan on 15 June 2000 as an extension of Chinese 694 (Spring 2000). Last update: 06/19/00.
Copyright © 2000 Marjorie K.M. Chan.