Audio Basics

Multimedia Digital Audio & Video
CSC1720 Introduction to Internet
Essential Materials
Outline
Audio / Video on the Web Basic Digital Audio Concepts

Streaming Audio Web Audio Formats
Basic Digital Video Concepts

Video compression/decompression methods. Video File Formats
Other Multi-media Formats Summary

2 All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.
AV on the Web?
It is part of the Internet.

Radio Stations Music, sound clips Streaming Audio / Video Video conferencing Digital Cameras Animation on the Web
Shockwave, Flash
Basic Terms
Term
Bit Kilobit (Kb) Byte Kilobyte (KB) Megabyte (MB) Gigabyte (GB) Binary value 0 or 1 1,000 bits (approx.) 8 bits 1,000 bytes 1,000,000 bytes 1,000,000,000 bytes
Definition
Kbps
KB/sec
Kilobits per second (1,000 bits in a second)

Kilobytes per second (1,000 bytes in a second)
Analog vs. Digital
Analog: A signal that has a continuous nature rather than a pulsed or discrete nature.
Note: Electrical or physical analogies, such as continuously varying voltages, frequencies, or phases, may be used as analog signals.
Digital: A signal in which discrete steps are used to represent information.

Digital Signal
Use Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) to represent an audio signal by digital data.
All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.
ADC & DAC

Figure 4.3 Conversion from Analog to Digital requires an Analog-to-Digital Converter
Figure 4.4 Conversion from Digital to Analog requires a Digital-to-Analog Converter
Basic Digital Audio Concepts
Sampling rate
Number of sample taken of a signal in a given time (usually one second)
Bit depth
Describes the accuracy of the audio data
Channels
E.g. Stereo has two channels
Bit rate
Measured in kilobits per second (Kbps) is a function of the bit depth and sampling rate
Sampling rate
The more sample taken per second, the higher the accuracy. Typically measured in kilohertz (KHz). CD audio has 44,100 samples per second (44.1KHz). 8 KHz produces lower quality radio sound. Standard sampling rates include 8KHz, 11.025KHz, The high-end 96K is used in DVD, but is not applicable to the Web.
Sampling Rate
demo
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Bit depth

Also called sampling resolution or word length. The more bits, the better is the quality of the audio (and a larger file of course). Common bit depths are 8-bit (telephone like), 16-bit (CD quality), and 20, 24, 32, 48-bit depths. How many signal can a 8-bit and a 16-bit data represent?
0000 0000 1111 1111 0000 0000 0000 0000 1111 1111 1111 1111
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Quantization
demo
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Channels
Audio file can support one to six channels of audio formats. Mono one channel Stereo two channels Some others three, four channels. Six channels 5.1-channel surround sound. More multi-channel formats announce in the coming years.
Channel Examples
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Bit rate
Audio files are measured in terms of bit rate which is measured in kilobits per second (Kbps). It can be calculated by dividing the file size by the time (in second) to play the audio clip.
E.g. 3Mb file play in 30 seconds 3000k / 30 = 100kbps.
Quality at different compression rates

Optimizing for the Web
Length of the audio clip

Keep the audio clip as short as possible. E.g. just keep the most sweetest part of your greeting.
Number of channels
A mono audio file is halved the space of a stereo file. Depends on your actual needs.
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Optimizing for the Web
Bit depth
Audio file on the Web are usually 8-bits. Half the size of a 16-bit file.
Sampling rate
Half the sampling rate will also halve the space needed. Voice only audio file can be reduced to 8KHz. 22 KHz music clips are acceptable.
Putting all things together: Mono, 8-bit, 22KHz, MP3 compression.

Calculate audio size
8-bit mono: seconds x KHz 16-bit mono: (seconds x KHz) x 2 8-bit stereo: (seconds x KHz) x 2 16-bit stereo: ([seconds x KHz] x 2)x2 E.g. the file size of 30 seconds of 16bit, 11KHz mono audio:
(30 x 11) x 2 = 660K.
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Streaming Audio
What is it?
Play almost immediately after the request, continues playing the transferring data.
Advantages:
Address the problem of long download time. Control distribution and protect copyright, because the user cannot get a copy of the file.
Disadvantages:
Sound quality may be be affected by low speed or unstable Internet connection.
Reference
What is Streaming?
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How does it work? Streaming audio

Packet are sent to a buffer on the receiving Computer, the RealPlayer will play the sound File when buffer full
Web browser
Web browser request a RealAudio from the web server Web server
CSC1720 Introduction to Internet 21
RealAudio Server
Quality Comparison
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/atc/itsupport/streamcompare.shtml
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Web Audio Formats
WAV/AIFF (.wav/.aif/.aiff)
The Waveform Audio File format (.wav) was developed by Microsoft, supports arbitrary sampling rates and bit depths. The Audio Interchange File format (.aif, .aiff) was developed for Macintosh platform. They are less likely used on the Web, because people use mp3 or streaming.
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http://www.nuance.com/prodserv/demo_vocalizer.html
WAV/AIFF
Try the Bell-lab synthesis link.

http://www.bell-labs.com/project/tts/voices.html
Select the Audio format
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MP3 (.mp3)
Able to maintain excellent sound quality at very small file sizes. The compression reduces an audio file to one-tenth of its original size.
E.g. 40MB file 3.5MB
MP3 is actually MPEG-1 Layer-III Good for distribution of HQ audio. Demo: www.mp3.com
What is MP3 digital encoding?
MP3 is actually the file extension for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2, and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses perceptual audio coding and psychoacoustic compression to remove all superfluous information. (More specifically, it removes the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal--the stuff the human ear doesn't hear anyway). It also adds a MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) that implements a filter bank, increasing the frequency resolution 18 times higher than that of layer 2.
MP3 Players
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Apple QuickTime Audio (.mov)
QuickTime is a well-known video format, but it can create audio-only movies. QuickTime is a container format, which is able to store still images, movie formats,
Excellent compression, true streaming
Netscape and IE have Plug-in now. Quicktime : demo
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MIDI (.mid/.midi)
MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface which is developed for electronic musical instruments. MIDI files are very compact and very good for low-bandwidth delivery. Instruments are piano, drums, bass, orchestral strings, It is very attractive for adding MIDI file to your website with very little download time. Demo: www.findmidis.com
MIDI
http://www.findmidis.com/
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RealMedia/RealAudio (.rm/.ra)
RealAudio is a server-based streaming audio format. The RealServer responses to the requests and delivers the streaming packets, including the bandwidth negotiation. A robust RealServer can support thousands of simultaneous listeners. Good for continuous-playing audio and live broadcasts to a large group of people. Example: RTHK Radio
RealMedia/RealAudio
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Windows Media (.wma/.asf)
Windows Media is a streaming system. It wraps all media elements into a Active Streaming File (.asf). Audio may be saved as non-streaming Windows Media Audio format (.wma). Good for continuous-play audio. The encoder and player is Free, shipped with Windows OS.
Windows Media
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Choosing an audio format

Audio Needs Short voice greetings News broadcasts Background music Music samples for some audience Radio-style or Live broadcasting Musical E-greeting card Suggested formats WAV, AIFF, MP3 Streaming solutions (RealAudio, Windows Media) MIDI, WAV MP3 or QuickTime RealMedia System MIDI, WAV
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Add Audio to your Web Page
A simple link
<A HREF=audio/song.wav>Play the song </A> <A HREF=music.mp3><IMG SRC=buttons/play.gif></A>
Background Sound
<BGSOUND SRC=audio/song.mid LOOP=3>
Link to RealMedia
<A HREF=song.ram>Link to the song</A> pnm://domainname.com/song.rm
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Break Time 15 minutes
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Basic Digital Video Concepts
Movie length Frame size Frame rate Quality Color bit depth Data rate (bit rate)
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Movie length
File size is proportional to the movie length. Videos longer than 1 or 2 minutes cause long download times. If it is a long video, consider to use streaming video.
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Frame size
Full-screen video is 640x480 pixels. The most common frame size for web video is 160x120 pixels. Not recommend to use a frame size larger than 320x240. The size depends on the CPU power and the Internet connection bandwidth.
Image and Video?
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Frame rate
Frame rate is measured in number of frames per second (fps). Standard TV-quality video uses 30 fps. For the web, 15 or even 10 fps is more appropriate and produces fair smooth quality for the user. Commercial Internet Broadcasts are using 0.5, 0.25 frames per second.
Quality
Many video-editors allow you to set the overall quality of the video. The degree of compression controls the target quality. The low or medium setting results a fairly high compression which is appropriate for web delivery. Frame rate and quality are usually tradeoff in different applications.
Color bit depth
The number of pixel colors in each frame affects the size of the video. The file size of the video will be greatly reduced by changing the number of colors from 24-bit to 8-bit. It sacrifices the image quality of the video.
Data rate (bit rate)
This is the rate that the data must be transferred in order to ensure the video can play smoothly without interruption. It is measured in kilobytes per second (K/sec or Kbps). It can be calculated by dividing the size of the file (in K) by the movie length (in seconds).
E.g. the video file size is 1.9MB 1900K Play 40 seconds long, Data rate = 47.5K/sec
Consider the Internet bandwidth!

Calculate space requirements of Video
NTSC video (640 x 480 and 29.97 fps)

Frame size = ([Pixel width x pixel height x bit depth]/8)/1024 E.g. 200KB/Frame : 6.0 MB/sec 200KB x 30 fps = 6000KB/s, 6 MB/sec
PAL video (768 x 576 and 25 fps)

E.g. 200KB/Frame : 5.0 MB/sec 200KB x 25 fps = 5000KB/s, 5 MB/sec
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Video CODECs
CODEC is Compression/Decompression algorithms. The sound and frame images of a digital video must be compressed.
The vast amount of data
Compressed in a number of ways

Lossless and Lossy compression Spatial and Temporal compression
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Video Clip Demo
reference
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Lossless and Lossy compression
Lossless compression means no information is lost and the final file is the same as the original. Most compression methods are lossy.
Sacrifices some data from the file in order to achieve higher compression rates. Use complicated algorithm to toss out some data that is not discernible to the human eye or ear.
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Spatial and Temporal compression
Spatial (Intraframe) compression takes place on each individual frame of the video. Temporal (Interframe) compression applies on a series of frames, it takes advantages of areas of the image remain unchanged from frame to frame.
Relies on the key frames and delta frames. A key frame is placed once every second. E.g. 15 fps, a key frame once 15 frames.
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Delta frame
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Video File Formats
QuickTime Movie (.mov)

Introduced by Apple Computer in 1991. First developed for Macintosh, now also supports the PCs. Also supports streaming.
How to create?
Most video editor, QuickTime Pro.
How to play?
QuickTime plug-in or QuickTime player.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/gallery/cubicvr/times_square.html
Quicktime
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RealMedia (.rm)

Industry standard streaming format. RealPlayer for playback. RealServer for serving streams. RealProducer for creating .rm files. Good for
Long-playing video or broadcast to many people.
How to create?
RealSystem Producer
How to play?
RealPlayer (Free), RealPlayer Plus (Commerical)
Windows Media (.wmv/ .asf)
Created by Microsoft, closely integrated with Windows OS. Support Windows Media Video (.wmv) and Advanced Streaming Format (.asf) and other formats (.avi, .mpeg, ) Also support streaming. How to create?
Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Author
How to play?
Media Player in Windows OS
AVI (.avi)

Stands for Audio/Video Interleaved. Introduced by Microsoft in 1992. In a AVI file, the audio and video information are interleaved every frame. Good for
Short web clips, high-quality video
How to create?
Most video editing tools.
How to play?
Windows Media, QuickTime, etc.
Video Clip Demo
reference
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MPEG (.mpg/ .mpeg)

Created by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Supports 1) Video, 2) Audio, 3) Streaming. Extremely high compression rates with small quality degradation (lossy). MPEG-1 : VHS quality MPEG-2 : HQ standard for TV broadcast MPEG-4 : Very HQ for AV compression MPEG can be compressed by using three schemes: Layer-I, Layer-II, Layer-III.
Official MPEG page
reference
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MPEG Comparison
MPEG-1 Standard since Default Video resolution (NTSC) Max. Audio Frequency range Max. audio Channel Regular data rate Frames per sec (NTSC) Video Quality Hardware requirement for encoding/decoding 1992 352 x 288 48 KHz 2 1380 kbit/s 30 Satisfactory Low MPEG-2 1995 640 x 480 96 KHz 8 6500 kbit/s 30 Very good Medium MPEG-4 1999 640 x 480 96 KHz 8 880 kbit/s 30 Very Good High
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Flash & Shockwave
Advantages:
File sizes are small Image quality is high It uses streaming technology It uses high-quality streaming audio It is scriptable
Disadvantages:
A plug-in player is required Expensive authoring software Problems on printing their content
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Summary
Discuss the basic digital audio/video terminology. Introduction to different formats: WAV, MP3, QuickTime, RealMedia, Windows Media, AVI, MPEG. To deliver long-playing audio/video or live broadcasts, you should choose one of the streaming media. Flash and shockwave are popular and appropriate format for the Web.
References
Design Web Audio (J. Beggs, D. Thede), Oreilly. E-Video (H. Peter Alesso), Addison-Wesley. Audio Video Knowledge Center Bible in MP3 format MPEG Musiq Luke Video
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Audio Basics

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Audio Basics

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Multimedia Digital Audio & Video

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

Audio / Video on the Web Basic Digital Audio Concepts

Basic Digital Video Concepts

Other Multi-media Formats Summary

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

It is part of the Internet.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

Kilobits per second (1,000 bits in a second)

Analog vs. Digital

Digital: A signal in which discrete steps are used to represent information.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

ADC & DAC

Figure 4.4 Conversion from Digital to Analog requires a Digital-to-Analog Converter

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Basic Digital Audio Concepts

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Quality at different compression rates

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

Optimizing for the Web

Length of the audio clip

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Optimizing for the Web

Putting all things together: Mono, 8-bit, 22KHz, MP3 compression.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

Calculate audio size

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

How does it work? Streaming audio

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Web Audio Formats

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Try the Bell-lab synthesis link.

Select the Audio format

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

What is MP3 digital encoding?

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

CSC1720 Introduction to Internet

All copyrights reserved by C.C. Cheung 2003.

Apple QuickTime Audio (.mov)