Timeline of audio formats

Short description: Evolution of auditory media

An audio format is a medium for sound recording and reproduction. The term is applied to both the physical recording media and the recording formats of the audio content—in computer science it is often limited to the audio file format, but its wider use usually refers to the physical method used to store the data. Note on the use of analog compared to digital in this list; the definition of digital used here for early formats is that which is represented using discrete values rather than fluctuating variables. A piano roll is digital as it has discrete values, that being a hole for each key, unlike a phonograph record which is analog with a fluctuating groove.

Music is recorded and distributed using a variety of audio formats, some of which store additional information.

## Contents

* 1 Timeline of audio format developments
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Timeline of audio format developments

Year  | Physical media formats  | Recording formats

|
|

1805  | Panharmonicon | Digital, automated sound reproducing machine.
1817  | Apollonicon | Digital, automated sound reproducing machine.
1851  | Piano Cylinder | Digital, automatically played by means of revolving cylinders
1877  | Tinfoil Phonograph |  In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the first recorder that could also play back Analog; sound waveform transcribed to tinfoil
1883  | Piano roll |  A piano roll used in a player piano Digital (vacuum-operated piano)
1886  | Music Box disc  |  8'' disc for playback on a music box Digital (vacuum-operated music box)
Late 1880s  | Brown Wax cylinder  |  A collection of brown wax cylinders, vertical-groove Analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion – could be re-recorded
Organ Cob  | Mechanical digital (vacuum-operated organ)
Ediphone, Dictaphone |  A Dictaphone cylinder for voice recording Analog, the Ediphone and subsequent wax cylinders used in Edison's other product lines continued to be sold up until 1929 when the Edison Manufacturing Company folded.
1894  | Pathé cylinder  |  The vertical-groove pathé cylinder Mechanical analog; vertical grooves, vertical stylus motion
1897  | 7'' 78rpm Record (Emile Berliner Patent)  | Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion – made from hard rubber
1898  | Wire recording |  A Peirce 55-B dictation wire recorder from 1945 Analog; magnetization; DC bias
1901  | 10'' 78rpm Record  | 78rpm record - playable on modern turntables Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion – made from shellac
1902  | Edison Gold Moulded Record  | Edison's "gold moulded" black wax cylinder record Mechanical analog; vertical groove, horizontal stylus motion – made from hard black wax – 160 rpm standard – 100 threads per inch
1903  | 12'' 78rpm record  | Mechanical analog; lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion
Phonograph Postcard  |  A phonograph post card, playable on 78rpm turntables Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion
1905  | Centre-start phonograph Record  | A modern vinyl LP with a centre-start cut Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion, starts from the centre of the disc
Pathé disc  | The vertical-groove pathé disc Mechanical analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion
1907  | Indestructible Record  | Indestructible Record cylinder, vertical groove. Constructed of black celluloid on a cardboard core with metal bands at each end Mechanical analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion – made from black celluloid with cardboard and inner metal bands
1908  | Amberol Cylinder Record |  The Edison "Amberol" cylinder record, vertical groove Mechanical analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion – made from hard black wax – 160 rpm standard – 200 threads per inch
1912  | Diamond Disc  |  The Edison vertical-groove "diamond disc" Mechanical analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion – made from Bakelite or china clay
Blue Amberol cylinder record  |  The Edison vertical-groove "Blue Amberol" cylinder Mechanical analog; vertical groove, vertical stylus motion – made from blue celluloid with plaster of paris core – 160 rpm standard – 200 threads per inch
1924  | Electrical cut record  | Mechanical analog; electrically cut from amplified microphone signal, lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion, discs at 7", 10", 12", most at 78 rpm[1]
1930  | Filmophone flexible record  | A red Filmophone record Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus movement – made from cellulose of various colours – 78 rpm
Durium Record or Hit of the Week Records  | A brown Durium 78 rpm record Mechanical analog; lateral groove – made from paper coated in a brown resin (Durium)
1930s  | Reel-to-reel, magnetic tape | Studio master tape reel Analog; magnetization; AC "bias" dramatically increases linearity/fidelity, tape speed at 30 ips, later 15 ips and other refined speeds: ​7 1⁄2 ips, ​3 3⁄4 ips, ​1 7⁄8 ips
Electrical transcriptions | Mechanical analog; electrically cut from amplified microphone signal, high fidelity sound, lateral or vertical groove, horizontal or vertical stylus motion, most discs 16" at ​33 1⁄3 rpm
1942  | SoundScriber  | Green, vertical groove Sound Scriber disks Mechanical analog; vertical groove, 4–6 inch discs, it recorded sound by pressing grooves into soft vinyl discs
1947  | Dictabelt (Memobelt)  | Analog, medium consisting of a thin, plastic belt 3.5" wide that was placed on a cylinder and rotated like a tank tread, developed by the Dictaphone company in 1947
1948  | Vinyl LP record (Columbia)  | Analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques (LP, RIAA); lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion; discs 7", 10" and 12" at ​33 1⁄3 rpm, 1st LP Columbia ML 4001 Milstein, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
1949  | Vinyl 45 record (RCA)  | A 7'' 45rpm record Analog 45 rpm vinyl 7" disk, first 45 pressed "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA 47-0147 Indianapolis
1950  | Tefifon | A stand-alone Tefifon player with cartridge loaded Electro–mechanical analog, vinyl belt housed in a cassette, used an embossing technique using a stylus to imprint the information, was the first thing to resemble a modern audio cassette
16 2/3rpm vinyl record  |  A label close-up on a 16 rpm vinyl Mechanical analog; lateral groove, horizontal stylus motion – played at half the regular speed of an LP
1951  | Minifon P55  | Minifon cassette Analog, magnetic wire on reel, 30 cm/s or about 11.8 ips was quickly adopted by many governments as being the ultimate "spy" recorder of its day
1957  | Stereophonic vinyl record  |  An early stereo record label Analog, with pre-emphasis and other equalization techniques. Combination lateral/vertical stylus motion with each channel encoded 45 degrees to the vertical
Dictet  | Cassette for the Dictaphone Dictet dictation machine Analog, ​1⁄4 tape, 2.48 in/s, (3-inch reels housed 5.875 × 3 × .4375 inch cassette), developed by the Dictaphone Corp
1958  | RCA tape cartridge (Sound Tape) (Magazine Loading Cartridge)  |  The cassette format created by RCA Analog, ​1⁄4 inch wide tape (stereo & mono), ​3 3⁄4 in/s & 1.875 in/s, one of the first attempts to offer reel-to-reel tape recording quality in a convenient format for the consumer market
1959  | NAB Cart Tape (Fidelipac)  |  The cartridge known as a "Fidelipac" Analog, ​1⁄4 inch wide tape in cartridge, ​7 1⁄2 in/s & 15 in/s, Introduced in 1959 by Collins Radio, the cart tape format was designed for use by radio broadcasters to play commercials, bumpers and announcements
Synchrofax Sound Paper | Magnetic coating on paper.
1962  | 4-Track (Muntz Stereo-Pak)  | Analog, 1⁄4-inch-wide (6.4 mm) tape, ​3 3⁄4 in/s, endless-loop cartridge
1962  | Compact cassette  |  Variants of the Compact Cassette Analog, with bias. 0.15 inches (3.81 mm) tape, ​1 7⁄8 ips. 1970: introduced Dolby noise reduction
1964  | Sanyo Micro Pack 35
Channel Master 6546
Westinghouse H29R1  |  The micro pack recording system, intended for dictation ​1⁄4 inch wide tape housed in a transparent cartridge measuring 2.6 × 2.9 × 1.9 inches, tape was stored on two reels residing atop one another, keeping the cartridge compact
1964  | Sabamobil | A cartridge format for embedding and easy handling usual 3-inch-tape-reels with ​1⁄4 inch tape, compatible to reel-to-reel audio recording in ​3 3⁄4 ips.
1965  | 8-Track (Stereo-8)  | The inside of an 8-track cartridge Analog, ​1⁄4 inch wide tape, ​3 3⁄4 in/s, endless-loop cartridge
DC-International cassette system  | DC-International cassette Analog cassette format introduced by Grundig, Telefunken and Blaupunkt: 120 × 77 × 12 mm cassette with ​1⁄4 inch wide tape run at 5.08 cm per second.
1966  | PlayTape | Two PlayTape cartridges Analog, ​1⁄8 inch wide tape, endless-loop cartridge, introduced by Frank Stanton
1969  | Microcassette  |  A comparison of sizes for the Microcassette and Minicassette Analog, ​1⁄8 inch wide tape, used generally for note taking, mostly mono, some stereo (developed in the early '80s). 2.4 cm/s or 1.2 cm/s
Minicassette  | Analog, ​1⁄8 inch wide tape, used generally for note taking, 1.2 cm/s
1970  | Quadraphonic 8-Track (Quad-8) (Q8)  | A Quadraphonic 8-Track Cartridge Analog, ​1⁄4 inch wide tape, ​3 3⁄4 in/s, 4-channel stereo, endless-loop cartridge
1971  | Quadraphonic Vinyl Record (CD-4) (SQ Matrix)  | An SQ quadraphonic record Analog, introduced by CBS Records for matrix and RCA / JVC for CD-4

Recorded two tracks on both stereo channels, requiring a decoder to hear all four tracks. Despite this, the format is playable on any LP turntable.

1971  | HiPac | Analog, a successor of the 1966 PlayTape, using tape width of the 1963 Compact Cassette, Japan only
1976  | Dolby Stereo cinema surround sound  | Analog
Elcaset |  Elcaset (left) compared to a typical compact cassette (right) Analog, name comes from "L-Cassette/Large Cassette"
1982  | Compact Disc (CD-DA)  |  The underside of a compact disc Digital. Linear PCM (LPCM)
1986  | High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD)  | An HDCD album Digital. Redbook compatible physical CD containing 20–24 bit information (uses linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM))
1987  | Digital Audio Tape (DAT)  | A DAT tape Digital.

This audio format famously caused controversy among recording companies when released due to the potential of perfect digital copies to increase piracy[2]

1988  | AIFF (file format) | Digital. Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF)
1992  | Digital Compact Cassette (DCC)  |  A Digital Compact Cassette Digital, ​1⁄8 inch wide tape, ​1 7⁄8 in/s, introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992, marketed as the successor to the standard analog compact cassette
WAV (file format) | Digital. Named after the waveform created by a sound wave.
Dolby Digital Cinema Sound  | Digital. Also known as Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994.
A red, translucent MiniDisc cartridge Digital. Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC)
1993  | DTS, SDDS, MP3 (file formats)  | A photo of a theatrical DTS CD-ROM disc used for the original 1993 release of Jurassic Park Digital. Digital Theatre System (DTS), Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS), MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3)
1994  | TwinVQ | Digital.
1995  | RealAudio[3] |
1997  | DTS-CD  | Digital. DTS audio
1998  | WavPack (file format)  | Digital. PCM, lossless compression (2002 hybrid compression) (2016 DSD support)
1999  | DVD-Audio  | Digital. Including Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP), Linear PCM (LPCM), Dolby Digital (AC-3) and Digital Theatre System (DTS)
Super Audio CD (SACD)  | Digital. Direct Stream Digital
WMA (file format)  | Digital. Windows Media Audio
TTA (file format)  | Digital. The True Audio Lossless Codec.
2000  | FLAC (file format)  | Digital. Free Lossless Audio Codec (open, non-proprietary, patent-and-royalty-free)
Ogg Vorbis (file format)  | Digital. Vorbis compressed audio format (open, non-proprietary, patent-and-royalty-free)
DSDIFF (file format)  | Digital. DSD, optional DST compression
APE (file format)  | Digital. Monkey's Audio
2001  | AAC (file format)  | Digital. Advanced Audio Coding
2002  | WSD (file format)  | Digital. DSD
2004  | ALE or ALAC (file formats)  | Digital. Apple Lossless
2005  | DSF (file format)  | Digital. DSD
2008  | slotMusic |  A SlotMusic microSD card: an early attempt to sell pre-recorded music on an SD card Digital. Usually at 320 kbit/s MP3 on microSD or microSDHC.
Blu-spec CD  | Digital. PCM
2012  | Opus (file format)  | Digital. Opus lossy audio coding format (IETF standard, open, non-proprietary, royalty-free)

## See also

* Timeline of video formats
* Format war
* Audio data compression

## References

1. ↑ "The Electrical Era". August 2017. https://historyofrecordingblog.wordpress.com/24-2/.
2. ↑ Demetris, Jordan (1990-01-01). "The challenge of introducing digital audio tape technology into consumer markets" (in en). Technology in Society 12 (1): 91–100. doi:10.1016/0160-791X(90)90031-7. ISSN 0160-791X.
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `CornellTimeline`

## External links

* History of Recording Technologies
* Museum Of Obsolete Media – Audio Formats

* v
* t
* e

Digital preservation

Concepts|

* Artifactual value
* Curation
* Dark age
* Obsolescence
* Open Archival Information System

Techniques|

* Forensics
* Emulation

By type|

* Artworks
* Email
* Websites

Organizations|

* Computer museums
* Digital Curation Centre
* National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (USA)

Lists|

* Preservation initiatives
* Timeline
* Timeline of audio formats
* Web archiving initiatives
* Years in home video

Category

* v
* t
* e

Physical audio recording formats

Mechanical|

* Music box cylinder or disc (9th century)
* Mechanical cuckoo (early 17th century)
* Punched card (1881)
* Music roll (1883)

Analog|

| Grooved surface|

* Phonautogram (1857)

|

Grooved cylinder|

* Phonograph cylinder (1877)
* Graphophone/Dictaphone cylinder (1887)
* Perfected phonograph/Ediphone (1888)
* Salon cylinder (1890s)
* Stentor cylinder (1890s)
* Le Céleste cylinder (1890s)
* Gold moulded record (1902)
* Indestructible record (1907)
* Amberol record (1908)
* Blue Amberol record (1912)
* Paradis cylinder (1913)

Grooved disc|

* Phonograph record (1889)
* Pathé disc (1905)
* Diamond disc (1912)
* Pathé Actuelle (1920)
* Edison Voicewriter (late 1940s)
* SoundScriber (1945)
* Audograph (1945)
* Long play (1948)
* Highway Hi-Fi (1956)

Grooved tape|

* Tefiphon (early 1930s)
* Teficord (early 1930s)
* Tefifon (1936)
* Dictabelt (1947)

Sound-on-film|

* Phonofilm (1919)
* Tri-Ergon (1922)
* Movietone (1926)
* Photophone (1929)
* Fantasound (1940)

Loose magnetic wire|

* Wire recording (1898)

Magnetic wire cartridge|

* Lorenz Textophon (1942)
* US Army RD-11B/GNQ-1 (1944)
* Cosmos Industries MX-303A/ANQ-1 (1944)
* RCA MI-12875 (1947)
* RCA MI-12877 (1947)
* Peirce 265B (1951)
* Peirce 330/360 (1951)
* Protona Minifon P51 (1951)
* Protona Minifon P55 (1955)
* Protona Minifon special (1961)
* Crouzet-Jaeger cartridge (1962)

Magnetic surface|

* Magnetic stripe card (1900)

Magnetic disc|

* Telefunken magnetic disc (1945)
* Thermionic Products Recordon (1948)
* Record Maker Pye (1953)
* Synchrofax (1959)
* Audio High Density (1978)

Loose magnetic tape|

* Blattnerphone (1928)
* Magnetophon (1935)
* 1/4" tape (1949)
* 1/2" tape (1953)
* Fullcoat magfilm (1953)
* Stripe magfilm (1953)
* 1" tape (1957)
* 2" tape (1967)
* 3/4" tape (1969)
* 3" tape (1978)

Magnetic tape cartridge|

* Optaphon (1951)
* Cousino Echo-matic (1952)
* Mohawk Message repeater cartridge (1953)
* Stenorette (1954)
* Mohawk Midgetape RL (1955)
* Dictaphone Dictet (1957)
* Rediffusion Reditune (1957)
* Saba Sabafon (1958)
* RCA tape cartridge (1958)
* Philips EL 3581 (1958)
* Protona Attaché (1959)
* Fidelipac (1959)
* Cousino MR-9000 (1960)
* IBM Magnabelt (1961)
* Dictaphone Travel master (1961)
* Nippon Electronic Vity cassette (1961)
* Grundig Cassette LFH 0084 (1962)
* Orrtronic Tapette (1962)
* 3M Scotch (1962)
* Cousino Echo-matic II (1962)
* Stereo-Pak (1962)
* Philips EL 3583 (1963)
* Compact cassette (1963)
* Grundig En3 (1964)
* Sabamobil (1964)
* 8-track (1964)
* Micro pack 35 (1964)
* Assmann-Stuzzi Memocord (1965)
* Cantata 700 (1965)
* DC-International (1965)
* Nippon Electronic Memo-call (1965)
* PlayTape (1966)
* Muntz Stereo Mini-twin (1967)
* Grundig DeJ614 (1968)
* Microcassette (1969)
* Sanyo Tape cartridge (1969)
* HiPac (1971)
* Steno-Cassette (1971)
* Stenorette DL (1972)
* Capitol Records Audiopak (1972)
* Elcaset (1976)
* Bandai micro cartridge (late 1980s)
* Picocassette (1985)
* Pocket Rockers (1988)

Standalone adaptor|

* Soundstream (1976)
* X80/ProDigi (1980)
* DASH (1982)
* PCM adaptor (1982)
* DA-88/DTRS (1993)

Digital|

| Magnetic tape cartridge|

* Digital Audio Tape (1987)
* NT (1992)
* Digital Compact Cassette (1992)

|

Sound-on-film|

* CDS (1990)
* Dolby Digital (1992)
* DTS (1993)
* SDDS (1993)

Optical disc|

* Compact disc (1982)
* Philips CD-BGM (1989)
* MiniDisc (1992)
* HDCD (1995)
* Super Audio CD (1999)
* DVD-Audio (2000)
* DataPlay (2002)
* Hi-MD (2004)
* DualDisc (2004)
* BD-Audio (2008)
* HFPA (2013)
* MQA-CD (2014)

Electronic circuit|

* Sound chip (late 1970s)
* MP3 player (1996)
* HitClips (1999)
* Yaboom Box (1999)
* Takara E-kara (2001)
* Toymax VJ Starz (2002)
* USB flash drive (2004)
* MicroSD (2007)

Hybrid|

* Mini-cassette (1967)
* U-matic (1971)
* Pioneer Artists Compact LaserDisc (1986)
* CD Video (1987)
* ADAT (1991)
* Timecode vinyl (2001)
* VinylDisc (2007)

* v
* t
* e

Music technology

Music technology|

* Mechanical
* Electrical
* Electronic and digital

Sound recording|

* Audio channel
* Mixing console
* Binaural recording
* Digital audio workstation (DAW)
* Effects unit
* Equalizer
* Headphones
* Microphone
* Microphone preamplifier
* Monitor speaker
* Multitrack recording
* Music production
* Music sequencer
* Outboard gear

Recording media|

* Phonograph record
* Magnetic tape
* Compact cassette
* Compact disc
* DAT
* Hard disk
* MiniDisc
* MP3
* Opus

Analog recording|

* 8-track cartridge
* Amplifier
* Cassette deck
* Comparison of analog and digital recording
* Experimental musical instrument
* Phonograph
* Player piano
* Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
* Tape recorder

Playback transducers|

* Loudspeaker
* Headphones
* Monitor speaker
* PA system
* Sound reinforcement system
* Speaker enclosure
* Subwoofer

Digital audio|

* Digital recording
* Digital signal processing

Live music|

* Mixing console
* Bass amplifier
* Effects unit
* Foldback
* Guitar amplifier
* Keyboard amplifier
* PA system
* Radio
* Reverberation
* Sound reinforcement system

Electronic music|

* Chiptune
* Circuit bending
* Drum machine
* Electronic drums
* Electronic musical instrument
* MIDI
* MIDI controller
* Music workstation
* Sampler
* Sequencer
* Sound module
* Synthesizer
* Theremin

Software|

* Digital audio editor
* Digital audio workstation
* GarageBand
* ProTools
* Scorewriter
* Software effect processor
* Software sampler
* Software synthesizer

Professions|

* Audio engineer
* DJ
* Guitar technician
* Mixing engineer
* Monitor engineer
* Piano tuner
* Record producer
* Re-recording mixer
* Sound designer
* Sound follower
* Sound operator
* Sound recording engineer
* Tape op

People and organizations|

* Audio Engineering Society
* Goji Electronics
* Institute of Broadcast Sound
* Lejaren Hiller
* IRCAM
* Max Mathews
* Musical Electronics Library
* Professional Lighting and Sound Association
* Robert Moog
* SMPTE
* STEIM

Related topics|

* Audiophile
* High fidelity
* Home audio
* Home cinema
* Music store
* Professional audio store
* New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)
* Vehicle audio

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