The Wide World of Multimedia
Playing Back Sound, Video and Animation Files
Part I: Getting To Know Your Computer
171
Playing Back Sound, Video and Animation Files
Multimedia files are stored in a variety of formats depending on
the type of file.
Sound Files
Traditionally, sound is recorded in an analog form. For example, a
magnetic tape recorder uses electrical signals to create a single
model of a given sound or waveform.
Most multimedia computers support two types of sound files,
wave files and MIDI files.
Digital Audio Wave Files
Digital audio uses computer-based technology to record, handle
and recreate sound. Digital audio systems sample the waveform at
fixed time intervals, for example, at 30 times per second, and
reduce the sound to a sequence of numbers.
When you play back a digital waveform or wave file, the software
transforms the numeric data back into its original acoustic wave-
form.
If you use the microphone to record sounds, the computer stores
them as wave files.
Wave files have the extension .WAV.
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