Sampling Resolution (Bit Depth)
Sampling resolution, also known as bit depth, determines how many possible values each sample can have. It's measured in bits, and a higher bit depth allows for more accurate representation of the sound's amplitude.
Example:
8-bit resolution gives 256 possible values for each sample (2^8 = 256)
16-bit resolution (CD-quality) gives 65,536 possible values (2^16 = 65,536)
24-bit resolution (professional audio) gives 16,777,216 possible values (2^24 = 16,777,216)
– representation used to write samples in digital sound recording
– resolution is the number of distinct values available to encode/represent each sample
– specified by the number of bits used to store/record each sample
– sometimes referred to as bit depth
– the higher the sampling resolution the smaller the quantization error
– a higher sampling resolution results in less distortion of the sound
– usually 8bit, 16bit, 24bit or 32bit
Putting It All Together
When we encode sound digitally:
We start with an analogue sound wave.
We sample the wave at a fixed rate (e.g., 44,100 times per second).
For each sample, we measure the amplitude and assign it a digital value based on our sampling resolution.
The result is a series of numbers that represent the original sound. To play back the sound, this process is reversed: the digital values are converted back into an analogue signal that can drive speakers or headphones.
Remember, higher sampling rates and bit depths result in more accurate representations of the original sound, but also larger file sizes. The goal is to balance quality with practical considerations like storage space and processing power.
