Determining which audio type is best for your connection type
| Wav |
A wav file is the main file format of a PC and does not require any added components to play on either a PC or on a Macintosh. As this file does not compress the audio the size is generally larger then that of the mp3, however the sound quality is very high. It takes approximately 6KB of storage for every second of audio, a 1 minute message is typically around 350KB in size. As there is no compression there is no quality loss and is as clear as the phone can provide. This setting is recommended for Cable Modem or faster connections. |
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| mp3 High | Mp3 files are compressed to save space. This format uses a variable bit rate which means it alters it's compression to save space while maintaining a high quality output. Most newer PC and Macintosh computers have built in support for this format, but may not work properly on older machines. This format saves the audio using 32 bits per second of compression. This means that it takes approximately 4KB of storage for every second of audio, a 1 minute message is typically around 270KB in size. The quality of this type of file is good for all types of speech but looses some of the higher tones found in music. Music files are generally stored at a rate of 128 bits per second. This setting is recommended for users who are using a DSL connection. |
| mp3 Low | Mp3 files are compressed to save space. This format uses a constant bit rate which means the compression is always the same throughout the file. Nearly all PC and Macintosh computers have built in support for this format. This format saves the audio using 16 bits per second of compression. This means that a lot of compressions is used to create this file and it takes approximately 2KB of storage for every second of audio, a 1 minute message is typically around 120KB in size. The quality of this type of file is lower that the other formats but is still regarded as acceptable for standard speech. This is recommended for users who are using a dial up connection. |