Supported Audio Formats
Audio Conversion
There are multiple workflows, in which DBM is used to convert an audio file into a pre-defined or user-selected format. These workflows include automatic conversion of imported files into a specified table format, or a user manually doing an audio format conversion via an entry's context menu. The supported source formats in these workflows are listed in the following tables.
File Formats
| Format | Remarks |
|---|---|
| WAVE/BWF/RF64 | If the audio data in the WAVE file has linear (PCM) or MPEG Layer 2 format, the file can be read by DBM. MPEG Layer 3 content can be decoded, if a suitable MP3 codec is installed. All other audio formats can be decoded, of a corresponding ACM (Audio Compression Manager) codec is installed. The same is true for BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) and RF64 files, which are extensions to the WAVE format. |
| AIFF/AIFC | DBM can read AIFF files with linear (PCM) audio data. It can also read AIFC files with the special compression type “sowt”. “sowt” is not a real compression, but indicates that the PCM data is in “big endian” format (normal AIFF files contain “little endian” data). |
| MusiFile | DBM can read MPEG Layer 2 files in MusiFile format. |
| Dalet Files | DBM supports reading and writing MPEG Layer 2 files in a proprietary format used by older Dalet systems. |
| MPEG4 | For reading MPEG4 audio files, a suitable DirectX codec must be installed. |
| Raw | DBM can read MPEG Layer 2 and Layer 3 raw files. Furthermore, the DLL can decode any audio file, which is recognized by the system’s DirectX codecs. |
| Ogg | DBM can read Ogg files with Vorbis or Opus audio content. |
| FLAC | DBM can read FLAC audio files, if the FLAC runtime DLLs are installed on the system. |
Audio Formats
| Format | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Linear (PCM) | DBM can read PCM audio with these formats:
|
| MPEG Layer 2 | The built-in MPEG Layer 2 codec can read audio with sampling rates of 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, in any valid MPEG bit rate. Additionally, MPEG II LSF (Lower Sampling Frequency) formats with sampling rates of 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz and 24 kHz are supported. |
| MPEG Layer 3 | For decoding MP3 audio, DBM tries to find a suitable DirectX codec installed on the system. Because all Windows OS come with such a codec, MP3 decoding usually works without installing additional codecs. The Windows codec can read any valid MP3 stream, including variable bit rate ones. |
| WMA, AAC | For reading files with audio in WMA (Windows Media Audio) or AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format, DBM uses the DirectX mechanism. This means, that the files can be read, if suitable codecs are installed on the system. |
| Opus | DBM can read Opus-encoded audio in an Ogg container. |
Audio Playback
For playback, DBM uses the MultiRec 4 OCX. MultiRec 4 can play all the file and audio formats listed above.