Definition of audio

Audio is sound within the acoustic range available to humans. An audio

frequency (AF) is an electrical alternating current within the 20 to 20,000 hertz
(cycles per second) range that can be used to produce acoustic sound. In
computers, audio is the sound system that comes with or can be added to a
computer. An audio card contains a special built-in processor and memory for
processing audio files and sending them to speakers in the computer. An audio
file is a record of captured sound that can be played back. Sound is a sequence
of naturally analog signals that are converted to digital signals by the audio card,
using a microchip called an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). When sound is
played, the digital signals are sent to the speakers where they are converted
back to analog signals that generate varied sound
Audio files are usually compressed for storage or faster transmission.
Audio files can be sent in short stand-alone segments - for example, as files in
the Wave file format. In order for users to receive sound in real-time for a
multimedia effect, listening to music, or in order to take part in an audio or video
conference, sound must be delivered as streaming sound. More advanced audio
cards support wavetable, or precaptured tables of sound. The most popular audio
file format today is MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3).
To listen to an audio file on user computer, user need special software
called a media player.Most current operating systems contain a media player for
example, the Windows operating system includes Windows Media Player. Some
audio files, however, might require you to downloada media player. Media
players available for download include iTunes (Figure 2-23) and RealPlayer. User
can download media players free from the web.