Music is recorded and distributed using a variety of audio formats, some of which store additional information.
| Year |
Media formats |
Recording formats |
| 1877 |
Phonograph cylinder |
Mechanical analog; "hill-and-dale" grooves, vertical stylus motion |
| 1883 |
Music roll |
Mechanical digital (automated musical instruments) |
| 1895 |
Gramophone record |
Mechanical analog; lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion |
| 1898 |
Wire recording |
Analog; magnetization; no "bias" |
| 1925 |
Electrical cut record |
Mechanical analog; electrically cut from amplified microphone signal, lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion, discs at 7", 10", 12", most at 78 rpm |
| 1930s |
Reel-to-Reel, Magnetic Tape |
Analog; magnetization; "bias" dramatically increases linearity/fidelity, tape speed at 30 ips, later 15 ips with NAB equalization; refined speeds: 7 1/2 ips, 3 3/4 ips, 1 7/8 ips |
| 1930s |
Electrical transcriptions |
Mechanical analog; electrically cut from amplified microphone signal, high fidelity sound, lateral or vertical grooves, horizontal or vertical stylus motion, most discs 16" at 33 1/3 rpm |
| 1948 (Commercial release) |
Vinyl Record |
Analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques (LP, RIAA); lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion; discs at 7" (most 45 rpm), 10" and 12" (most 33 1/3 rpm) |
| 1957 |
Stereophonic Vinyl Record |
Analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques. Combination lateral/vertical stylus motion with each channel encoded 45 degrees to the vertical. |
| 1962 |
4-Track (Stereo-Pak) |
Analog, 1/4 inch wide tape, 3 3/4 inches/sec, endless loop cartridge. |
| 1963 |
Compact Cassette |
Analog, with bias, preemphasis, 0.15 inch wide tape, 17/8 inches/sec. 1970: introduced Dolby noise reduction. |
| 1965 |
8-Track (Stereo-8) |
Analog, 1/4 inch wide tape, 3 3/4 inches/sec, endless loop cartridge. |
| 1969 |
Microcassette |
Analog, 1/8 inch wide tape, used generally for notetaking, mostly mono, some stereo. 2.4 cm/s or 1.2 cm/s. |
| 1969 |
Minicassette |
Analog, 1/8 inch wide tape, used generally for notetaking, 1.2 cm/s |
| 1970 |
Quadraphonic 8-Track (Quad-8) (Q8) |
Analog, 1/4 inch wide tape, 3 3/4 inches/sec, 4 Channel Stereo, endless loop cartridge. |
| 1971 |
Quadraphonic Vinyl Record (CD-4) (SQ Matrix) |
| 1975 |
Betamax Digital Audio |
'Dolby Stereo' cinema surround sound |
| 1976 |
Elcaset |
| 1978 |
Laserdisc |
| 1982 |
Compact Disc (CD-DA) |
PCM |
| 1985 |
|
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) |
| 1985 |
|
Sound Designer (by Digidesign) |
| 1987 |
Digital Audio Tape (DAT) |
|
| 1991 |
MiniDisc (MD) |
ATRAC |
| 1992 |
Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) |
| 1992 |
|
WAVEform (WAV)
Dolby Digital surround cinema sound
|
| 1993 |
|
Digital Theatre System (DTS)
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS)
|
| 1995 |
|
MP3 |
| 1997 |
DVD |
Dolby Digital |
| 1997 |
DTS-CD |
DTS Audio |
| 1999 |
DVD-Audio |
|
| 1999 |
Super Audio CD (SACD) |
|
| 1999 |
|
Windows Media Audio (WMA) |
| 1999 |
|
The True Audio Lossless Codec (TTA) |
| 2000 |
|
Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) |
| 2001 |
|
Advanced audio coding (AAC) |
| 2002 |
|
Ogg Vorbis |
| 2003 |
DualDisc |
|
| 2004 |
|
Apple Lossless (ALE or ALAC) |
| 2005 |
HD DVD |
| 2005 |
|
OggPCM |
| 2006 |
Blu-Ray |
