SUPPORTED AUDIO FORMATS
Sonos supports streaming the formats listed below. Whether or not you are streaming over SonosNet or Ethernet wired Sonos components, Sonos does not downsample audio streams in any way. For better quality streams, we recommend using a lossless codec such as Apple Lossless or FLAC. Both of these formats are compressed lossless formats. This give you the lossless quality and due to the compression, you save space compared to other formats like WAV or AIFF. Metadata support for these formats is better as well.
Click any of the links below for more information:
From Wikipedia.org
When ripping to an MP3 file, there is a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically, the creator is allowed to set a bit rate, which specifies how many kilobits the file may use per second of audio. Using a lower bit rate provides a relatively lower audio quality and produces a smaller file size. Likewise, using a higher bit rate outputs a higher quality audio, but also results in a larger file.
Files encoded with a lower bit rate will generally play back at a lower quality. With too low a bit rate, compression artifacts (i.e. sounds that were not present in the original recording) may be audible in the reproduction. Some audio is hard to compress because of its randomness and sharp attacks. When this type of audio is compressed, artifacts such as ringing or pre-echo are usually heard.
- MP3 File Extension is: .mp3
- Average file size: 3 to 5 MB
- Most supported audio codec with 3rd party devices
- Good quality and uses little storage space on your hard drive
From Wikipedia.com
Like MP3, when ripping to an WMA file, there is a trade-off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically, the creator is allowed to set a bit rate, which specifies how many kilobits the file may use per second of audio. Using a lower bit rate provides a relatively lower audio quality and produces a smaller file size. Likewise, using a higher bit rate outputs a higher quality audio, but also results in a larger file.
Files encoded with a lower bit rate will generally play back at a lower quality. With too low a bit rate, compression artifacts (i.e. sounds that were not present in the original recording) may be audible in the reproduction. Some audio is hard to compress because of its randomness and sharp attacks. When this type of audio is compressed, artifacts such as ringing or pre-echo are usually heard.
- WMA File Extension is: .wma
- Average file size: 3 to 5 MB
- Sonos does not support WMA Pro or WMA Lossless formats at this time
- Good quality and uses little storage space on your hard drive
From Wikipedia.com
AAC is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates.
AAC is also the default or standard audio format for: Apple's iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Sony's PlayStation 3 and is supported by Sony's Playstation Portable, latest generation of Sony Walkman, phones from Sony Ericsson, Nseries Phones and the latest S40 models from Nokia, Android based phones, Nintendo's Wii, the Nintendo DSi and the MPEG-4 video standard.
- AAC File Extension is: .m4a
- Average file size: 3 to 5 MB
- Sonos does not support protected AAC tracks
- Good quality and uses little storage space on your hard drive
From Wikipedia.com
OGG is a lossy codec for audio. OGG is patent-free and has free and open-source implementations and therefore is free to use, implement, or modify as one sees fit, yet produces smaller files than most other codecs at equivalent or higher quality.
- OGG File Extension is: .ogg
- Average file size: 3 MB
- OGG is not as commonly supported among 3rd party audio devices
- Good quality and uses little storage space on your hard drive
Audible books can be downloaded in different version / qualities. Sonos supports "Format 4" Audible books.
- Audible File Extension is: .aa
- Audible audio files are compatible with over 500 models of audio players
- More details at www.audible.com
From Wikipedia.org
Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is a file format for lossless audio data compression. FLAC reduces bandwidth and storage requirements without sacrificing the integrity of the audio source. A digital audio recording (such as a CD track) encoded to FLAC can be decompressed into an identical copy of the audio data. Audio sources encoded to FLAC are typically reduced to 50–60% of their original size. During compression, FLAC does not lose quality from the audio stream, a notable characteristic of lossy compression formats such as MP3, AAC, and OGG Vorbis.
FLAC is suitable for everyday audio playback and archival, with support for tagging, cover art and fast seeking. FLAC's free and open source royalty-free nature makes it well-supported by many software applications. FLAC playback support in portable audio devices is limited at this time.
- FLAC File Extension is: .flac
- Average file size: 30 to 50 MB
- FLAC is compressed and lossless. You do not lose any audio quality with using FLAC over WAV/AIFF
- Sonos supports FLAC files up to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
- Sonos does not currently support high-resolution FLAC (24/96)
From Wikipedia.org
Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music.
Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename extension .m4a. It is not a variant of AAC, but uses linear prediction similar to other lossless codecs such as FLAC and Shorten. All current iPod players can play Apple Lossless-encoded files. It does not utilize any digital rights management (DRM) scheme.
- ALAC File Extension is: .alac
- Average file size: 30 to 50 MB
- ALAC is compressed and lossless. You do not lose any audio quality with using ALAC over WAV/AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an uncompressed and lossless audio format.
Sonos does not recommend choosing AIFF files for your library because of AIFF's outdated metadata support. You can acheive the same audio quality by using FLAC or Apple Lossless, both of which fully support metadata and album art.
WAV, short for Waveform Audio File Format is an uncompressed and lossless audio format.
Sonos does not recommend choosing WAV files for your library because of WAV's outdated metadata support. You can achieve the same audio quality by using FLAC or Apple Lossless, both of which fully support metadata and album art.
from : SONOS
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