{"id":193017,"date":"2021-03-03T13:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T10:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/whats-sampling-rate-and-why-does-it-matter-for-music\/"},"modified":"2021-03-03T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T10:40:00","slug":"whats-sampling-rate-and-why-does-it-matter-for-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/whats-sampling-rate-and-why-does-it-matter-for-music\/","title":{"rendered":"#What\u2019s sampling rate? And why does it matter for music?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a30adc86fae3\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a30adc86fae3\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/whats-sampling-rate-and-why-does-it-matter-for-music\/#What_impact_does_sampling_rate_have_on_music\" >What impact does sampling rate have on music?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/whats-sampling-rate-and-why-does-it-matter-for-music\/#TLDR\" >TL;DR<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#What\u2019s sampling rate? And why does it matter for music?<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n                                Do you keep hearing people talk about sampling rate in music? But<span>\u00a0aren\u2019t certain what that actually is?<\/span>? Well, friend, you\u2019ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n<p>On a fundamental level, sampling rate is a result of the digitization of audio. While analog sound waves are continuous, digital music is made up from lots of small data points played one after another.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re getting ahead of ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Sampling rate in audio is literally the number of \u201csamples\u201d taken per second. This is measured in Hertz (Hz).<\/p>\n<p><em>[Read:\u00a0<span dir=\"auto\">How do you build a pet-friendly gadget? We asked experts and animal owners<\/span>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, the\u00a0common rate is that of CDs or FLAC, which is a lossless audio file. This clocks in at\u00a044.1kHz. What this means in practice is for every second of music, 44,100 samples are taken from a continuous analog signal in order to create a digital file.<\/p>\n<p>The higher this number is, the higher the quality of audio \u2014 up to a point, but we\u2019ll get to that soon. This graph is a good visualization tool for how that works:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1341209 size-featured_img lazy\" alt=\"what is sampling rate graph visualization audio music\" width=\"796\" height=\"448\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-796x448.jpg\" data-lazy=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-796x448.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-280x158.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-1592x896.jpg 1592w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/3-what-is-sampling-rate-graph-visualization-audio-music-1200x675.jpg 1200w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/03\/what-is-sampling-rate-audio-why-does-it-matter-analysis-explainer\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2021%2F03%2F03%2Fwhat-is-sampling-rate-audio-why-does-it-matter-analysis-explainer%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: This is useful visualization tool, because it clearly shows how a high sampling rate (the wave underneath the x-axis) produces a more precise wave.\u00a0A quick note here: graphs like this can be misleading because that jagged soundwave doesn\u2019t happen. In reality, the process of converting the digital file to an analogue sound smooths that out.\" data-title=\"Share This is useful visualization tool, because it clearly shows how a high sampling rate (the wave underneath the x-axis) produces a more precise wave.\u00a0A quick note here: graphs like this can be misleading because that jagged soundwave doesn\u2019t happen. In reality, the process of converting the digital file to an analogue sound smooths that out. on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share This is useful visualization tool, because it clearly shows how a high sampling rate (the wave underneath the x-axis) produces a more precise wave.\u00a0A quick note here: graphs like this can be misleading because that jagged soundwave doesn\u2019t happen. In reality, the process of converting the digital file to an analogue sound smooths that out. on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>This is useful visualization tool, because it clearly shows how a high sampling rate (the wave underneath the x-axis) produces a more precise wave.\u00a0A quick note here: graphs like this can be misleading because that jagged soundwave doesn\u2019t h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en. In reality, the process of converting the digital file to an analogue sound smooths that out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All that should have illuminated you on what sampling rate in audio is, but now we have another question\u2026<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_impact_does_sampling_rate_have_on_music\"><\/span>What impact does sampling rate have on music?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019ve already touched on the accuracy issue (i.e. the higher the sampling rate, the higher the quality), but it\u2019s not quite that simple. Sampling rate is directly related to frequency, in other words the highest sound that can be accurately reproduced.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the common 44.1kHz figure we discussed earlier.<\/p>\n<p>This allows sounds of up to\u00a022kHz to be played back. The reason it\u2019s this frequency and not\u00a044.1kHz is all down to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem\">the Nyquist\u2013Shannon Theorem<\/a>. Those brainboxes had this to say about it:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf a system uniformly samples an analog signal at a rate that exceeds the signal\u2019s highest frequency by at least a factor of two, the original analog signal can be perfectly recovered from the discrete values produced by sampling.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you want to know more, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutcircuits.com\/technical-articles\/nyquist-shannon-theorem-understanding-sampled-systems\/\">you can go and read about it here<\/a>. The easiest way to remember it is the sampling rate of audio needs to be double that of the highest frequency that needs to be reproduced.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a picture, because why not?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1341217 size-featured_img lazy\" alt=\"what is sampling rate frequency frequencies\" width=\"796\" height=\"448\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-796x448.jpg\" data-lazy=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-796x448.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-280x158.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-1592x896.jpg 1592w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/2-sampling-rate-frequency-frequencies-1200x675.jpg 1200w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/03\/what-is-sampling-rate-audio-why-does-it-matter-analysis-explainer\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2021%2F03%2F03%2Fwhat-is-sampling-rate-audio-why-does-it-matter-analysis-explainer%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: An easy way to remember what impact it has on audio.\" data-title=\"Share An easy way to remember what impact it has on audio. on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share An easy way to remember what impact it has on audio. on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>An easy way to remember what impact it has on audio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Do you remember earlier when I said sampling rate impacts quality, but only up to a point? Now\u2019s the time to resolve that.<\/p>\n<p>The limits of human hearing stretch from\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hearing_range\">20Hz to 20kHz<\/a>. The truth is though that the majority of people cannot hear anywhere near these high. The average upper limit for adults is between\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK10924\/\">between\u00a015kHz and 17kHz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What this means is that CDs and many FLAC files play music with frequencies\u00a0<em>beyond what humans can hear.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is a contentious topic. If you browse forums, you\u2019ll find plenty of people arguing the case for\u00a048kHz (which I think makes sense),\u00a096kHz, and even\u00a0192kHz sampling rates.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to get into this too much (a lot of my view with music is that if it makes you happy, then it\u2019s fine \u2014 who am I to judge?), but the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> supporting the importance of high sampling rates to listeners is shaky at best, and non-existent at worst.<\/p>\n<p>I will say this though: I\u2019m talking about this from the perspective of a music consumer. For recording, high sampling rates <em>can\u00a0<\/em>be a useful tool, mainly due to a whole load of technical details that\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sonicscoop.com\/2016\/02\/19\/the-science-of-sample-rates-when-higher-is-better-and-when-it-isnt\/\">you can read more about here<\/a> .<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"TLDR\"><\/span>TL;DR<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sampling rate can be seen as the audio version of frames per second. It is the number of \u201cclips\u201d taken from an analogue sound wave in order to make it a digital file.<\/p>\n<p>On top of this, sampling rate also controls the highest frequency that can be accurately reproduced by a digital file.<\/p>\n<p>There we go, people! Some analysis on what sampling rate is,\u00a0<em>just for you.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>Did you know we have a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>letter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013<br \/>\n            <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/thenextweb\/plugged-in\">and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>.<br \/>\n            <\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-post-pubDate\">\n                                    Published March 3, 2021 \u2014 10:40 UTC\n                                <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script data-src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;appId=378011798897423&amp;version=v2.6\" id=\"socialSrcFacebook\" type=\"text\/template\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/03\/what-is-sampling-rate-audio-why-does-it-matter-analysis-explainer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#What\u2019s sampling rate? And why does it matter for music?&#8221; Do you keep hearing people talk about sampling rate in music? But\u00a0aren\u2019t certain what that actually is?? Well, friend, you\u2019ve come to the right place. On a fundamental level, sampling rate is a result of the digitization of audio. While analog sound waves are continuous,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/plugged?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/header-image-what-is-sampling-rates-what-are-sampling-rates-impact-music.png&signature=76b32856291ac0c8768b88d75e9029f4","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}