Difference between revisions of "Windows Media Audio"

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WMA is Microsoft's compressed audio format. It's actually a generic name for several codecs that can be used inside it:
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'''Windows Media Audio''' ('''WMA''') are Microsoft's compressed audio formats; "WMA" is a generic name for several [[codec|codecs]]. 
  
=Windows Media Audio=
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Use of these codecs largely depend on Windows components, and support has waned over the years to the point where they might be considered abandonware: by 2011, Microsoft's own music store abandoned WMA lossy completely in favour of MP3<ref>https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/support-for-rights-managed-purchases-in-zune-69161d07-acae-1fdf-f98f-e0916758e49b</ref>, and certain Windows versions have been shipped with broken WMA Lossless decoding.<ref>https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=121732</ref><ref>https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?39459-WMA-Lossless-Encoder-is-BROKEN</ref>
  
Also known as WMA Standard or WMA Std, it was created by Microsoft to compete against [[MP3]], that was quickly becoming the de-facto standard format for lossy compression.
 
  
Even though Microsoft claims it is able to deliver the same quality as MP3 at half the bitrates, that statement is certainly false. A more realistic number would be same quality at around 25% smaller bitrates - and that applies to low bitrates only. At 128kbps, it is easily bested by [[LAME]].
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== Windows Media Audio ==
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Also known as WMA Standard or WMA Std, it was created by Microsoft to compete against [[MP3]], that was quickly becoming a de-facto standard format for lossy compression. Once the second-most widespread lossy format, there is as of 2021 only one major music store that even offers WMA lossy downloads<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_music_stores</ref>.  There are still around hardware WMA players - including in-car units.
  
WMA Standard is the second most widespread lossy format (only losing to the ubiquitous MP3), mostly thanks to Microsoft's aggressive marketing tactics.
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Upon release, WMA was aggressively pushed by Microsoft with promises of MP3 quality at half the bitrate, a claim debunked by independent listening tests<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec_listening_test#Results</ref>.
  
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== Windows Media Audio Professional ==
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Windows Media Audio Professional (WMA Pro) was recently released in the early 2000s to address limitations in WMA Standard. It supports [[multichannel]] encoding and high resolutions (24bit, high [[sampling rate]]s).  Improving over WMA standard, WMA Pro scored as statistically tied with top encoders in independent listening tests at the time (without lending credibility to Microsoft's claim of MP3 quality at half bitrate), but like WMA Standard it is largely abandoned.
  
==Windows Media Audio Professional==
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== Windows Media Audio Lossless ==
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This is the mathematically [[lossless]] codec in the Windows Media family. Compression efficiency-wise, it doesn't come close to the default settings of [[FLAC]], [[WavPack]], [[Monkey's Audio]] and [[ALAC]], see [[Lossless comparison]] for more details. [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=117275.0 Several releases of Windows 10 had faulty decoders built-in] and, lacking a specification, few independent implementations exist and [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=121732 decoding is not always lossless].
  
Windows Media Audio Professional (WMA Pro) was recently released to address limitations in WMA Standard. It supports [[multichannel]] encoding and high resolutions (24bit, high [[sampling rate]]s)
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== Windows Media Audio Voice ==
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This codec, among the first ones to be added to the Windows Media portfolio, is VoiceAge's [[ACELP]].net. It delivers very acceptable voice quality at bitrates around 4 and 20 kbps.
  
Since it's backwards incompatible with WMA Std, Microsoft took the opportunity to make a high quality encoder out of it. Meanwhile WMA Std lost even to MP3 in an informal public listening test, WMA Pro was ranked at the top (next to other high quality formats) in a similar test.
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== Additional Reading ==
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<references/>
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* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx Description of Windows Media Audio codecs] at Microsoft
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* [[Lossless_comparison|HA Wiki's Lossless Codec Comparison]]
  
These days, Microsoft is pushing the Pro codec for inclusion in the next generation DVD standard as standard audio format.
 
  
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{{navbox audio codecs}}
  
==Windows Media Audio Lossless==
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[[Category:Codecs]]
 
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This is the matematically [[lossless]] codec in the Windows Media family. It's a welcome addition since it was the first lossless codec backed up by a major player in the multimedia compression field. Compression efficiency-wise, it's on par with [[WavPack]] high and between [[Monkey's Audio]] fast and normal.
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==Windows Media Audio Voice==
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This codec, among the first ones to be added to the Windows Media portfolio, is VoiceAge's [[ACELP]].net. It delivers very acceptable voice quality at bitrates around 4 and 20kbps.
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==Addional Reading==
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* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx Description of Windows Media Audio codecs] at Microsoft
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* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim
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Revision as of 14:02, 9 January 2022

Windows Media Audio (WMA) are Microsoft's compressed audio formats; "WMA" is a generic name for several codecs.

Use of these codecs largely depend on Windows components, and support has waned over the years to the point where they might be considered abandonware: by 2011, Microsoft's own music store abandoned WMA lossy completely in favour of MP3[1], and certain Windows versions have been shipped with broken WMA Lossless decoding.[2][3]


Windows Media Audio

Also known as WMA Standard or WMA Std, it was created by Microsoft to compete against MP3, that was quickly becoming a de-facto standard format for lossy compression. Once the second-most widespread lossy format, there is as of 2021 only one major music store that even offers WMA lossy downloads[4]. There are still around hardware WMA players - including in-car units.

Upon release, WMA was aggressively pushed by Microsoft with promises of MP3 quality at half the bitrate, a claim debunked by independent listening tests[5].

Windows Media Audio Professional

Windows Media Audio Professional (WMA Pro) was recently released in the early 2000s to address limitations in WMA Standard. It supports multichannel encoding and high resolutions (24bit, high sampling rates). Improving over WMA standard, WMA Pro scored as statistically tied with top encoders in independent listening tests at the time (without lending credibility to Microsoft's claim of MP3 quality at half bitrate), but like WMA Standard it is largely abandoned.

Windows Media Audio Lossless

This is the mathematically lossless codec in the Windows Media family. Compression efficiency-wise, it doesn't come close to the default settings of FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio and ALAC, see Lossless comparison for more details. Several releases of Windows 10 had faulty decoders built-in and, lacking a specification, few independent implementations exist and decoding is not always lossless.

Windows Media Audio Voice

This codec, among the first ones to be added to the Windows Media portfolio, is VoiceAge's ACELP.net. It delivers very acceptable voice quality at bitrates around 4 and 20 kbps.

Additional Reading

  1. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/support-for-rights-managed-purchases-in-zune-69161d07-acae-1fdf-f98f-e0916758e49b
  2. https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=121732
  3. https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?39459-WMA-Lossless-Encoder-is-BROKEN
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_music_stores
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec_listening_test#Results