Windows Media Audio

1999

RealNetworks also challenged Microsoft's claims regarding WMA's superior audio quality compared to RealAudio. Newer versions of WMA became available: Windows Media Audio 2 in 1999, Windows Media Audio 7 in 2000, Windows Media Audio 8 in 2001, and Windows Media Audio 9 in 2003.

Microsoft first announced its plans to license WMA technology to third parties in 1999.

The first version of the codec released in 1999 is regarded as WMA 1.

This test, however, used CBR for WMA 10 Pro and VBR for the other codecs. At 64 kbit/s, WMA Pro outperformed Nero HE-AAC in a listening test commissioned by Microsoft but independently performed by the National Software Testing Labs in 1999.

2000

RealNetworks also challenged Microsoft's claims regarding WMA's superior audio quality compared to RealAudio. Newer versions of WMA became available: Windows Media Audio 2 in 1999, Windows Media Audio 7 in 2000, Windows Media Audio 8 in 2001, and Windows Media Audio 9 in 2003.

2001

RealNetworks also challenged Microsoft's claims regarding WMA's superior audio quality compared to RealAudio. Newer versions of WMA became available: Windows Media Audio 2 in 1999, Windows Media Audio 7 in 2000, Windows Media Audio 8 in 2001, and Windows Media Audio 9 in 2003.

2003

RealNetworks also challenged Microsoft's claims regarding WMA's superior audio quality compared to RealAudio. Newer versions of WMA became available: Windows Media Audio 2 in 1999, Windows Media Audio 7 in 2000, Windows Media Audio 8 in 2001, and Windows Media Audio 9 in 2003.

In 2003, Microsoft released new audio codecs that were not compatible with the original WMA codec.

In the absence of the appropriate audio hardware, WMA Pro can automatically downmix multichannel audio to stereo or mono, and 24-bit resolution to 16-bit during playback. A notable example of WMA Pro being used instead of WMA Standard is the NBC Olympics website which uses WMA 10 Pro in its low-bitrate mode at 48 kbit/s. ===Windows Media Audio Lossless=== Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless is a lossless incarnation of Windows Media Audio, an audio codec by Microsoft, released in early 2003.

On the Macintosh platform, Microsoft released a PowerPC version of Windows Media Player for Mac OS X in 2003, but further development of the software has ceased.

2005

In 2005, Nokia announced its plans to support WMA playback in future Nokia handsets.

2008

See Windows Media DRM for further information. Since 2008 Microsoft has also been using WMA Professional in its Protected Interoperable File Format (PIFF) based on the ISO Base Media File Format and most commonly used for Smooth Streaming, a form of adaptive bit rate streaming over HTTP.

2012

As of 2012, the ffmpeg and libav projects have open source WMA Lossless decoders based on reverse engineering of the official decoder.

Only 16-bit WMA files can be successfully decoded by ffmpeg as of June 20, 2012. ===Windows Media Audio Voice=== Windows Media Audio Voice (WMA Voice) is a lossy audio codec that competes with Speex (used in Microsoft's own Xbox Live online service), ACELP, and other codecs.




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