{"id":196731,"date":"2021-03-08T13:17:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T10:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/whats-bit-depth-and-how-does-it-impact-music\/"},"modified":"2021-03-08T13:17:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T10:17:11","slug":"whats-bit-depth-and-how-does-it-impact-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/whats-bit-depth-and-how-does-it-impact-music\/","title":{"rendered":"#What\u2019s bit depth? And how does it impact music?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 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-6a2c78847323f\" 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-6a2c78847323f\" 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-bit-depth-and-how-does-it-impact-music\/#What_impact_does_bit_depth_have_on_music\" >What impact does bit depth have on music?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#What\u2019s bit depth? And how does it impact music?<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n                                If you\u2019ve started to get into audio, you\u2019ve probably seen something called \u201cbit depth.\u201d The thing is\u2026 what the hell\u00a0<em>is\u00a0<\/em>it? Well, we\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n<p>First off, bit depth is one of two metrics involved in measuring the quality of a piece of digital music. The first of these is sampling rate. We\u2019ve covered what this is here, but for a short summary it\u2019s the number of \u201csamples\u201d taken per second from an analog sound wave to turn it digital.<\/p>\n<p>Think of it like the audio version of a TV\u2019s frame rate: lots of individual points played one after to give the impression of ever-flowing sound. And, if we continue this metaphor, bit depth is the resolution, effectively\u00a0how much data there is in one of these points or samples.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Audio_bit_depth\">bit depth<\/a> isn\u2019t the same as television resolution, but it is a useful way of visualizing the term.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, let\u2019s dive a little deeper. There are several bit depths, as this wonderful diagram shows:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1341612 size-featured_img lazy\" alt=\"most common bit depths lossless 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\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-796x448.jpg\" data-lazy=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-796x448.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-280x158.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-1592x896.jpg 1592w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/6-most-common-bit-depths-lossless-music-1200x675.jpg 1200w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/08\/what-is-bit-depth-audio-music-impact-analysis\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2021%2F03%2F08%2Fwhat-is-bit-depth-audio-music-impact-analysis%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: LOOK AT THOSE SWEET BIT DEPTHS!\" data-title=\"Share LOOK AT THOSE SWEET BIT DEPTHS! on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share LOOK AT THOSE SWEET BIT DEPTHS! on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>LOOK AT THOSE SWEET BIT DEPTHS!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most common bit depth is 16-bit, this is the CD-standard and what you\u2019ll find with the majority FLAC files, which are a lossless music format.<\/p>\n<p>What this means is the digital audio file has\u00a016 bits of information in every sample. When this is combined with the CD sample rate\u00a0(44.1kHz), this means that every second there are\u00a044,100 samples taken and each of them contain 16 bits of data. Simple, right?<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_impact_does_bit_depth_have_on_music\"><\/span>What impact does bit depth have on music?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Well, if a bit depth is too low, the quality will suffer. Specifically, you\u2019ll find a fair chunk of the quiet sounds will be lost. On records or files with a high bit depth, you\u2019ll have a far more accurate playback \u2014 up to a point. But we\u2019ll get to that shortly.<\/p>\n<p>Something bit depth controls is the dynamic range of a sound. This is the difference between how quiet and loud respective parts of the audio is. And, the higher the bit depth (8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit being the most common), the more dynamic range is available.<\/p>\n<p>But\u2026 this is where we come to the fork in the road.<\/p>\n<p>Apologies, audio nerds, but it\u2019s incredibly unlikely anyone will hear the different between a 16-bit bit depth and anything higher. There is an argument to be made for\u00a0<em>recording<\/em> audio with a bit depth above 16-bit (this is mainly just to give the engineer as much flexibility as possible), but for listeners? Those 24-bit FLAC files are rarely worth the space.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, we\u2019re coming to the end of this piece, so let\u2019s refresh. Fundamentally, bit depth describes how much data is taken per sample in an audio file. Have a look at this to help out:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-featured_img wp-image-1341617 lazy\" alt=\"how are bit depth and sampling rate related cds\" width=\"796\" height=\"448\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-796x448.jpg\" data-lazy=\"true\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-796x448.jpg 796w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-280x158.jpg 280w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-1592x896.jpg 1592w, https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/8-how-are-bit-depth-and-sampling-rate-related-cds-1200x675.jpg 1200w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/plugged\/2021\/03\/08\/what-is-bit-depth-audio-music-impact-analysis\/#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenextweb.com%2Fplugged%2F2021%2F03%2F08%2Fwhat-is-bit-depth-audio-music-impact-analysis%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: Now you know how bit depth is related to sampling rate. And, so you\u2019re aware, these figures are based on the CD standards.\u00a0\" data-title=\"Share Now you know how bit depth is related to sampling rate. And, so you\u2019re aware, these figures are based on the CD standards.\u00a0 on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share Now you know how bit depth is related to sampling rate. And, so you\u2019re aware, these figures are based on the CD standards.\u00a0 on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>Now you know how bit depth is related to sampling rate. And, so you\u2019re aware, these figures are based on the CD standards.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And the other thing to remember? Bit depth controls the dynamic range of tracks, which can be understood to be the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds in a piece of audio. Phew, haven\u2019t we learnt some stuff?<\/p>\n<p>This piece is part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> revolving around CDs and you can find that Big Beefy Boy post right here. Go on, click, you\u2019re gonna love it.<\/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 8, 2021 \u2014 10:17 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. 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And how does it impact music?&#8221; If you\u2019ve started to get into audio, you\u2019ve probably seen something called \u201cbit depth.\u201d The thing is\u2026 what the hell\u00a0is\u00a0it? Well, we\u2019re here to help. First off, bit depth is one of two metrics involved in measuring the quality of a piece of digital music. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196732,"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-bit-depth-and-how-does-it-relate-to-sample-rate.png&signature=371790bf3f03782be68521a3043a1956","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196731","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\/196731","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=196731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}