First Corporate Secretaries offers audio transcription services from various audio file formats. This means that whatever device you may be using to record your audio file, First Corporate Secretaries will be able to access your information for transcription. Our systems are able to work with the following common digital file formats and many more.
1. Digital Speech Standard (DSS)
Digital Speech Standard (DSS) is a digital audio file format defined jointly developed by leading digital recording equipment manufacturers, Olympus, Philips and Grundig. This is commonly used on digital dictation recorders.
The DSS file format stores voice audio data in a highly compressed format that allows basic recording functionality (such as recording, playing, rewinding, etc.) as well as the ability to record in either insert or overwrite mode making it ideal for dictation. This, along with ability to include additional information in the file header for the transcriptionist, including priority mark, author, job type, makes it even more ideal for dictation applications for lawyers and medical practitioners. The DSS file format is therefore not ideal for legal evidence purposes as it can record in insert or overwrite modes and can therefore be challenged. DSS is a format designed especially for speech recording.
2. MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)
The MPEG Layer-3 format or the mp3 transcription format is one of the most popular formats that are used to download and store music. It falls under the group of lossy compression and it is a proprietary format. It has the ability to reduce the amount of data that is required to represent the audio. The mp3 file format is also preferred by most for its superior quality.
The mp3 file format has numerous advantages like easy storage and minimal cost of production. It is small in size and is best suited for uploading audio on the internet. It takes very less transmission time over the internet. Mp3 files can very easily be stored in an electronic format. Mp3 files take less storage space as compared to other formats and thus more information can be stored in a single CD.
In the mp3 file format, the muffled portions of the audio file are eradicated and the mp3 file is compressed to one-tenth of the size of a PCM file without compromising. The MP3 file format is ideal for legal recordings as it does not record in insert or overwrite mode.
3. Waveform Audio (WAV)
The waveform audio file format falls under the category of free and open file formats. The wav format has been developed by Microsoft and IBM for storing audio on computers. It is one of the chief formats that is used on windows systems for raw audio. Wav can be played on all windows applications. It is also well-suited with Macintosh and Windows operating systems. In a wave format file, raw data is stored.
The wave file format is not well suited for transmission over the internet. This format is not suited to store too many audio files in a small disk space. Another disadvantage is that wav files are not compressed and are huge in size. In a wav transcription file the audio data is encoded using PCM.
Wav is a standard audio file container that is used in computers having Windows. Wav file formats can consist of data that are encoded with different kinds of codec. This feature helps reduce the file size. The wav file format is known to use a riff structure. The wav file format is popular for its CD like quality sound files. Wav files also have the ability to include huge files of 10 MB per minute.
4. Quick Time Movie Format (MOV)
The quick time movie file format or mov transcription format is an openly-documented media container. It was developed by apple. It is categorized as proprietary compression. This format is best suited for streaming audio and video. Mov files are well-matched with both windows and Macintosh platforms. The mov files format can enable you to create, view, edit and publish multimedia files.
5. MP4
The mp4 file format is also a proprietary file format. The mp4 transcription format is developed by Apple. It is mostly used for downloading music from the iTunes music store. The mp3 file format is a proprietary format of AAC and has digital rights management. The mp4 file format is very much similar to the mp3 file format. This format can also condense the audio files without any reduction in the quality of audio. It also has the capability to compress video files.
6. Audio Interchange File Format (Aiff)
Audio interchange file format or the aiff transcription format is a traditional file format that is developed by Apple. Aiff is an audio file format standard that is usually used for storing sound data on computers as well as other electronic audio devices. In the regular aiff file format, the data is not compressed. It is one of the most widespread used file formats for both video and audio applications.
When compared to the mp3 format it uses a much larger disk space. It is somewhat related to the wav format used for Mac. The aiff format has been designed to facilitate the exchange of sampled audio data between two applications. It is possible to store very high-quality sampled audio and musical instrument information in the aiff file format.
7. Mpeg4
The mpeg4 transcription format is an international standard organization specification. Mpeg4 can include various features of mpeg1 and mpeg2. It has many new features like enhanced support for 3D rendering, VRML objects, audio objects and video objects. The mpeg4 file format has a variety of functionalities like better coding efficiency, error resistance, ability to interact with audio visual scenes that are generated at the receiver and the ability to encode various media data.
By using the mpeg4 file format, you can take better care of your content. Mpeg4 can not only support audio and video. It can also support texts, 3D objects as well as other media types. The mpeg4 file format has the capability to deliver high-quality video at an unbelievable smaller size and with a lower data rate.
8. Windows Media Audio (WMA)
The windows media audio format is yet another widely used audio format. The wma format is owned by Microsoft. It has been designed with the ability of digital rights management which ensures copy protection. The sound quality of the windows media audio format is similar to the sound quality of the mp3 file format. Wma files have a downloadable format. It can be very easily streamed to listeners. With a wma file, you can easily confine the use of the file, because the wma code includes discretionary copyright protection. The wma file format is a compressed audio file format. It has similar advantages as that of mp3 file format.
9. Real Audio (RA)
The real audio format or the ra transcription format is a proprietary format. It has been specially designed for the purpose of streaming audio over the internet. It has been developed by RealNetworks. It uses a wide variety of audio codecs in order to compress files. Ra files also have the capability to match to low bandwidths. The ra file format has features to facilitate the storage of files in a self-contained manner on the computer. The audio data is preserved within the file. The ra file format can be used as a streaming audio format. It can be played and downloaded - both simultaneously. |