User Guide

FILE FORMATS AND ATTRIBUTES
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The Format drop-down list shows the format of the data that will be saved in
the file. Usually this will be PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), which is the standard
for most file types. PCM is a standard format for normal uncompressed audio.
If you are saving a file to a file type that supports other formats, they are
displayed in the drop-down list. Other formats are typically used when saving
audio data in a compressed form.
The Attributes drop-down list shows the sample size, channels, and sample rate
that will be stored when saving this file. Examples include 11,025 Hz, 8-bit
Mono or 44,100 Hz 16-bit stereo.You can quickly change the attributes of the
data by selecting one of the options available in the drop-down list.When you
change from a mono file to a stereo file using the Attributes field, that data is
copied to both channels. If you change a stereo file to a mono file, the data is
mixed to one channel.
When you change the Save as type you may notice that the Format and Attributes
fields will also change.This is because not all file types support the same types
of sound data. For example the Dialogic VOX format only supports 16-bit
mono Dialogic ADPCM files.This means you can’t store stereo 8-bit data in this
file. Don’t worry, in most cases Sound Forge XP automatically converts any file
you save to an acceptable format.
EMBEDDING SUMMARY INFORMATION
Several important sound formats let you include text information with sound
data.These formats include:
•WAV
• AVI (Microsoft Video for Windows)
• ASF (Active Streaming Format files using Microsoft NetShow)
• RM (RealMedia, including RealAudio and RealVideo)
When you create one of these files, you can include over 30 text fields
including, Creation Date, Copyright, Keywords, and a variety of other informational
text data. Sound Forge XP supports viewing and editing any of these fields.