Digital Audio Files
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Digital Audio Files[edit | edit source]
Digital audio is technology that can be used to record, store, generate, manipulate, and reproduce sound using audio signals encoded in digital form.[1]
History[edit | edit source]
Technical Details[edit | edit source]
Conservation Practices[edit | edit source]
Digital archivists [2] realized it was important to offer guidelines but offer individuals and institutions to interpret these guidelines for their collections. These guidelines are listed in 7 points:
- Digital technology is a given: the analog era has ended.
- Linear pulse code modulation is a given; digital audio files should be transparent, i.e., audibly indistinguishable from the original.
- Preservation transfers must be flat, that is, without any imposed equalization of the frequency range or use of restoration techniques to mitigate defects or limitations in the recording.
- Digital audio preservation files must be produced at high sampling and bit rates, and be uncompressed.
- Storage must be planned for the long term.
- Rich metadata must accompany preservation files.
- Professionalism is an essential component of audio preservation.