Once we've converted sound into a string of numbers, we'll need somewhere to put them. Windows systems most commonly use Microsoft's .WAV file format. AIFF files are also an option on Windows, and are a wise choice if audio needs to move between Mac OS and Windows machines. Although AIFF, SoundDesigner II and .WAV files are structured differently from each other, the actual stream of numbers representing our audio is the same in each. This makes it possible to convert the audio information from format one to another without affecting sound quality.
Sound files can get pretty big.
When storing sound at the sampling rate and resolution of CDs, a minute-long piece of sound will require 10 MB of disk space. An hour-long recording will take over 600 megs. Making Sound Files Smaller Sound for web sites, games and other programs often must fit into much smaller sound files. There are different ways to do this. The most simple is to reduce the sampling rate or bit-resolution of a sound file.