Audio Codecs

An audio codec is a hardware device or a computer program that compresses/decompresses digital audio data according to a given audio file format or streaming audio format

There are very many audio codecs which you can use for your computer, here are a few that we reccomend:

Windows Media Audio Codec

The windows media audio codec samples audio at 44.1 or 48 kilohertz (kHz) using 16 bits, similar to the current CD standard, offering CD quality at data rates from 64 to 192 kilobits per second (Kbps). The resulting sound quality is 20 percent better than audio sampled with Windows Media Audio 8 at equivalent data rates.

It is highly reccomended that you download the latest version of Windows Media Player instead of using this codec, as it is bundled with the media player. To Windows Media Player.

FLAC Audio Codec

FLAC is a very high quality form of audio, competing with OGG and Losless. It is said to be the best audio format for quality, but there are not very many media players that use this format.

OGG vorbis Audio Codec

Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source.
If you would like to learn about the OGG vorbis audio format, you can visit the sites FAQs Page, which has every bit of info you would need.


Media Players

Windows Media Player (this media player comes bundled with every windows install, and is very nicely organized)

iTunes Media Player (Possibly one of the most popular media players, very well organized, and has some advanced features like mobile library synchronization)

VLC Media player  (nicknamed the play-it-all media player, this media player supports the most amount of audio and video formats, and works on almost every operating system, including linux)

Winamp (this media player is very popular, and has an exellent media orginizational style, and is extremely customizable in terms of appearance)