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AAC file format

Extension.aac
Categoryaudio
Programs
Microsoft Windows Media Player
VLC media player
MPlayer
Foobar2000
Winamp
Apple iTunes
Audacity
Description

A proprietary format with lossy compression, which have been created as an alternative for MP3 with a higher quality of coding. Overtones out of human perception are being removed. AAC is two times less than MP3, which means 1/10 of CD digital data.

The format has been widely used since 1997 as the seventh release of the MPEG-2 family. As hardware players supply it, the format is highly demanded by music fans. It has been widely spread in Apple production and is being used by default in iTunes.

Technical details

The format conception is similar to MP3, but it is more advanced. Being able to execute larger compression, it is represented as a separate segment of MPEG-4 standard used to create compact audio files. AAC is highly efficient with variable and continuous bitrate, with a sampling frequency of 8-96 kHz.

The current version complies with the standard of ISO/IEC 14496-3. Compression is performed based on an auditory masking effect that provides data reduction with no deterioration for sound quality.

MIME type
audio/aac
audio/aacp
audio/3gpp
audio/3gpp2
audio/mp4
audio/mp4a-latm
audio/mpeg4-generic
audio/x-aac
audio/x-m4a
audio/x-m4p
audio/x-m4b
audio/mp4a
audio/mpga