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A historical journey of audio coding: from its invention in 1950 to the miracle of modern times!
In the digital age, audio coding technology has paved a convenient way for our music enjoyment. Starting with Bell Labs' patent in 1950, audio coding has spread like wildfire and evolved into the formats we are familiar with today, such as MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc. In this article, we will review the development of audio coding and explore its profound impact on the music industry.
What is audio encoding?
Audio coding format, in simple terms, is the content representation format used to store or transmit digital audio. They are commonly found in digital television, digital radio, and music and video files, and examples of audio encoding formats include MP3, AAC, etc.
The core of audio coding lies in the "audio encoder (Codec)", which is a professional tool for compressing and decompressing audio. In most cases, users do not have access to the original AAC files, but have a packaged AAC file. .m4a files of audio.
Lossy and Lossless Audio Coding Formats
Audio coding formats can be divided into two categories: lossy and lossless. Lossy formats reduce the bit resolution of the sound, usually sacrificing some sound quality for ease of transmission. Representatives of this format include MP3 and AAC. Lossless formats, on the other hand, preserve the original sound quality and allow the audio to be restored to its original state, although their file sizes are larger than lossy formats.
Among them, lossless formats such as FLAC and Apple Lossless are the favorites of music enthusiasts, allowing people to enjoy music while ensuring sound quality.
The development of audio coding
When it comes to the development of audio coding, we have to go back to 1950, when Bell Labs submitted a patent for Differential Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM). Subsequently, in 1973, adaptive DPCM (ADPCM) was introduced by P. Cummiskey et al. With the advancement of technology, the initial concept of speech coding compression - linear predictive coding (LPC) was developed in 1966.
In the 1970s, Bishnu S. Atal and Manfred R. Schroeder at Bell Labs introduced a perceptual coding algorithm called Adaptive Predictive Coding (APC), which laid the foundation for the subsequent MP3 and AAC formats. The foundation.
The impact of technology and future prospects
Technological evolution has not only improved audio compression capabilities, but also given audio encoding formats greater flexibility. Modern audio coding formats such as MP3 and AAC utilize modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT), the implementation of which facilitates lossless transmission of music and provides users with a better listening experience.
With the rise of streaming media, we've seen the emergence of more efficient encoding formats. Audio coding has become an indispensable technology in the world of digital music.
Current and potential future challenges
Although audio coding technology has made significant progress, future challenges still exist as people's requirements for sound quality increase. As the demand for lossless audio increases, how to balance file size and sound quality will continue to dominate the audio coding field.
From the early DPCM to today's various audio coding formats, the history of audio coding is a microcosm of the development of science and technology. It has not only influenced the advancement of technology, but also changed the way music is delivered in our daily lives.
So, in the face of future technological challenges, where will the spread of audio coding go?
