Audio tools and software

Audio software lets a computer record, edit, play and convert sound. Digital audio represents a sound wave as a stream of numbers: the signal is measured many thousands of times per second (the sampling rate) and each measurement is stored with a certain precision (the bit depth). Higher rates and depths capture more detail at the cost of larger files, which is why format and quality settings matter when working with sound.

The central tool is the audio editor, which displays a recording as a waveform and allows it to be cut, copied, mixed and processed. Typical operations include trimming silence, adjusting volume, removing noise and applying effects such as equalisation, reverb or fades. Multitrack editors layer several recordings together for music production, while the open-source Audacity is a widely used example of a general-purpose editor. Separate recorders capture audio from a microphone or from the computer's own output.

Because sound is stored in many formats, converters translate between them and re-encode files using different codecs. Uncompressed formats such as WAV preserve every sample, lossless formats like FLAC shrink files without discarding data, and lossy formats such as MP3 and AAC reduce size further by removing detail the ear is less likely to notice. Media players, tag editors that manage track information, and tools for ripping audio from CDs round out a typical audio toolkit, much of it available as freeware.

Frequently asked questions

What does an audio editor do?

It shows a recording as a waveform and lets the user cut, mix and process it, applying changes such as volume adjustment, noise removal and effects.

What is the difference between WAV and MP3?

WAV stores audio uncompressed, keeping full quality but large files. MP3 uses lossy compression to make much smaller files by discarding some detail.

What is sampling rate?

It is how many times per second the sound wave is measured when digitised. A higher rate captures higher frequencies and more detail.