| Lesson 4 | Including sound in a Web Page |
| Objective | Describe common formats used for audio elements on a website. |
Including Sound in a Web Page
Music on the Web is revolutionizing how music fans personalize traditional radio play lists.
Today, audio can be embedded in Web pages. Audio (or sound) files use file extensions with a unique format. There are many music formats available on the Internet.
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is a common audio format for storing high-quality sampled sound and musical instrument data.
Files end with a .AIF or .IEF extension and run on Macintosh systems. AIFF files are large since the format does not support data compression.
AU
Short for audio file, this is the most common sound format used on the Web for UNIX machines. AU files end with a .au extension. Most Java programs use AU files because the Java programs usually run on UNIX.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a standard for transmitting information between computers and digital devices that simulate musical instruments. A MIDI file is small, takes up little disk space, and runs on both Macintosh and Windows/NT.
MP3
MP3 is an audio compression technology and a file extension for MPEG, audio layer 3. It's compressed audio files and provides the same fidelity as a CD. MP3 runs on Macintosh and Windows/NT.
WAV
An extension for Wave Form Audio File Format (WAV) that stores sound in files built into Windows--making it the standard on PCs.
WAV sound files end with a .wav extension and take up a great amount of disk space.
In the next lesson, you will learn about common file formats used for video in a Web site.