An audio format is a medium for sound recording and reproduction.
The term is applied to both the physical recording media and the recording formats of the audio content—in computer science it is often limited to the audio file format, but its wider use usually refers to the physical method used to store the data.
A piano roll is digital as it has discrete values, that being a hole for each key, unlike a phonograph record which is analog with a fluctuating groove.
Music is recorded and distributed using a variety of audio formats, some of which store additional information.
This audio format famously caused controversy among recording companies when released due to the potential of perfect digital copies to increase piracy[2]
In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the first recorder that could also play back
A piano roll used in a player piano
8'' disc for playback on a music box
A collection of brown wax cylinders, vertical-groove
A Dictaphone cylinder for voice recording
The vertical-groove pathé cylinder
A Peirce 55-B dictation wire recorder from 1945
78rpm record - playable on modern turntables
Edison's "gold moulded" black wax cylinder record
A phonograph post card, playable on 78rpm turntables
A modern vinyl LP with a centre-start cut
The vertical-groove pathé disc
Indestructible Record cylinder, vertical groove. Constructed of black celluloid on a cardboard core with metal bands at each end
The Edison "Amberol" cylinder record, vertical groove
The Edison vertical-groove "diamond disc"
The Edison vertical-groove "Blue Amberol" cylinder
A red Filmophone record
A brown Durium 78rpm record
Studio master tape reel
Green, vertical groove Sound Scriber disks
A 7'' 45rpm record
A stand-alone Tefifon player with cartridge loaded
A label close-up on a 16rpm vinyl
Minifon cassette
An early stereo record label
Cassette for the Dictaphone Dictet dictation machine
The cassette format created by RCA
The cartridge known as a "Fidelipac"
Variants of the Compact Cassette
The micro pack recording system, intended for dictation
The inside of an 8-track cartridge
DC-International cassette
Two PlayTape cartridges
A comparison of sizes for the Microcassette and Minicassette
A Quadraphonic 8-Track Cartridge
An SQ quadraphonic record
Elcaset (left) compared to a typical compact cassette (right)
The underside of a compact disc
An HDCD album
A DAT tape
A Digital Compact Cassette
A red, translucent MiniDisc cartridge
A photo of a theatrical DTS CD-ROM disc used for the original 1993 release of Jurassic Park
A SlotMusic microSD card: an early attempt to sell pre-recorded music on an SD card
