Windows Media Audio

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Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a proprietary audio codec from Microsoft and part of the Windows Media platform.

WMA is used for audio data compression and generally used with lossy compression, similar to the MP3 process. The codec supports up to 24 bit/96 kHz with a variable bit rate of up to 768 kb / s and surround sound with up to 7.1 channels. There is also a version that is specifically designed for source material with voices (Windows Media Audio Voice, ACELP ), as well as the lossless codec Windows Media Audio Lossless.

The default lossy compression method of WMA based on the same principle as the MP3 compression: After a conversion to a frequency-amplitude domain masking effects (near frequencies that are distinguishable not ) or sounds that are not audible are generally ( hearing threshold ), deleted. This saves disk space.

WMA -encoded audio streams are usually embedded in ASF container. In the case of a pure audio file to have the bear mostly the ending. Wma. The content-type is audio / x - ms - wma.

WMA also supports the integration of DRM copy protection, which is why the format can be found in many music online stores.

In addition to the Windows Media Player and other software players DirectX - based hardware capable of a few independent players decoding WMA.

More audio codecs

Other methods and formats of digital audio data compression are: AAC, ATRAC, MP3, Musepack, Vorbis, Speex.