devices/audio/data_formats.html

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<p>
Android uses a wide variety of audio
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_format">data formats</a>
internally, and exposes a subset of these in public APIs,
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format">file formats</a>,
and the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_abstraction">Hardware Abstraction Layer</a> (HAL).
</p>

<h2 id="properties">Properties</h2>

<p>
The audio data formats are classified by their properties:
</p>

<dl>

  <dt><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression">Compression</a></dt>
  <dd>
    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_data">Uncompressed</a>,
    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_compression">lossless compressed</a>, or
    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_compression">lossy compressed</a>.
    PCM is the most common uncompressed audio format. FLAC is a lossless compressed
    format, while MP3 and AAC are lossy compressed formats.
  </dd>

  <dt><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth">Bit depth</a></dt>
  <dd>
    Number of significant bits per audio sample.
  </dd>

  <dt><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizeof">Container size</a></dt>
  <dd>
    Number of bits used to store or transmit a sample. Usually
    this is the same as the bit depth, but sometimes additional
    padding bits are allocated for alignment. For example, a
    24-bit sample could be contained within a 32-bit word.
  </dd>

  <dt><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure_alignment">Alignment</a></dt>
  <dd>
    If the container size is exactly equal to the bit depth, the
    representation is called <em>packed</em>. Otherwise the representation is
    <em>unpacked</em>. The significant bits of the sample are typically
    aligned with either the leftmost (most significant) or rightmost
    (least significant) bit of the container. It is conventional to use
    the terms <em>packed</em> and <em>unpacked</em> only when the bit
    depth is not a
    <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_two">power of two</a>.
  </dd>

  <dt><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signedness">Signedness</a></dt>
  <dd>
    Whether samples are signed or unsigned.
  </dd>

  <dt>Representation</dt>
  <dd>
    Either fixed point or floating point; see below.
  </dd>

</dl>

<h2 id="fixed">Fixed point representation</h2>

<p>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-point_arithmetic">Fixed point</a>
is the most common representation for uncompressed PCM audio data,
especially at hardware interfaces.
</p>

<p>
A fixed-point number has a fixed (constant) number of digits
before and after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_point">radix point</a>.
All of our representations use
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_number">base 2</a>,
so we substitute <em>bit</em> for <em>digit</em>,
and <em>binary point</em> or simply <em>point</em> for <em>radix point</em>.
The bits to the left of the point are the integer part,
and the bits to the right of the point are the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_part">fractional part</a>.
</p>

<p>
We speak of <em>integer PCM</em>, because fixed-point values
are usually stored and manipulated as integer values.
The interpretation as fixed-point is implicit.
</p>

<p>
We use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two%27s_complement">two's complement</a>
for all signed fixed-point representations,
so the following holds where all values are in units of one
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_significant_bit">LSB</a>:
</p>
<pre class="devsite-click-to-copy">
|largest negative value| = |largest positive value| + 1
</pre>

<h3 id="q">Q and U notation</h3>

<p>
There are various
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-point_arithmetic#Notation">notations</a>
for fixed-point representation in an integer.
We use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(number_format)">Q notation</a>:
Q<em>m</em>.<em>n</em> means <em>m</em> integer bits and <em>n</em> fractional bits.
The "Q" counts as one bit, though the value is expressed in two's complement.
The total number of bits is <em>m</em> + <em>n</em> + 1.
</p>

<p>
U<em>m</em>.<em>n</em> is for unsigned numbers:
<em>m</em> integer bits and <em>n</em> fractional bits,
and the "U" counts as zero bits.
The total number of bits is <em>m</em> + <em>n</em>.
</p>

<p>
The integer part may be used in the final result, or be temporary.
In the latter case, the bits that make up the integer part are called
<em>guard bits</em>. The guard bits permit an intermediate calculation to overflow,
as long as the final value is within range or can be clamped to be within range.
Note that fixed-point guard bits are at the left, while floating-point unit
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_digit">guard digits</a>
are used to reduce roundoff error and are on the right.
</p>

<h2 id="floating">Floating point representation</h2>

<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point">Floating point</a>
is an alternative to fixed point, in which the location of the point can vary.
The primary advantages of floating-point include:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Greater <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headroom_(audio_signal_processing)">headroom</a>
      and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range">dynamic range</a>;
      floating-point arithmetic tolerates exceeeding nominal ranges
      during intermediate computation, and only clamps values at the end
  </li>
  <li>Support for special values such as infinities and NaN</li>
  <li>Easier to use in many cases</li>
</ul>

<p>
Historically, floating-point arithmetic was slower than integer or fixed-point
arithmetic, but now it is common for floating-point to be faster,
provided control flow decisions aren't based on the value of a computation.
</p>

<h2 id="androidFormats">Android formats for audio</h2>

<p>
The major Android formats for audio are listed in the table below:
</p>

<table>

<tr>
  <th></th>
  <th colspan="6"><center>Notation</center></th>
</tr>

<tr>
  <th>Property</th>
  <th>Q0.15</th>
  <th>Q0.7 <sup>1</sup></th>
  <th>Q0.23</th>
  <th>Q0.31</th>
  <th>float</th>
</tr>

<tr>
  <td>Container<br />bits</td>
  <td>16</td>
  <td>8</td>
  <td>24 or 32 <sup>2</sup></td>
  <td>32</td>
  <td>32</td>
</tr>

<tr>
  <td>Significant bits<br />including sign</td>
  <td>16</td>
  <td>8</td>
  <td>24</td>
  <td>24 or 32 <sup>2</sup></td>
  <td>25 <sup>3</sup></td>
</tr>

<tr>
  <td>Headroom<br />in dB</td>
  <td>0</td>
  <td>0</td>
  <td>0</td>
  <td>0</td>
  <td>126 <sup>4</sup></td>
</tr>

<tr>
  <td>Dynamic range<br />in dB</td>
  <td>90</td>
  <td>42</td>
  <td>138</td>
  <td>138 to 186</td>
  <td>900 <sup>5</sup></td>
</tr>

</table>

<p>
All fixed-point formats above have a nominal range of -1.0 to +1.0 minus one LSB.
There is one more negative value than positive value due to the
two's complement representation.
</p>

<p>
Footnotes:
</p>

<ol>

<li>
All formats above express signed sample values.
The 8-bit format is commonly called "unsigned", but
it is actually a signed value with bias of <code>0.10000000</code>.
</li>

<li>
Q0.23 may be packed into 24 bits (three 8-bit bytes), or unpacked
in 32 bits. If unpacked, the significant bits are either right-justified
towards the LSB with sign extension padding towards the MSB (Q8.23),
or left-justified towards the MSB with zero fill towards the LSB
(Q0.31). Q0.31 theoretically permits up to 32 significant bits,
but hardware interfaces that accept Q0.31 rarely use all the bits.
</li>

<li>
Single-precision floating point has 23 explicit bits plus one hidden bit and sign bit,
resulting in 25 significant bits total.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denormal_number">Denormal numbers</a>
have fewer significant bits.
</li>

<li>
Single-precision floating point can express values up to &plusmn;1.7e+38,
which explains the large headroom.
</li>

<li>
The dynamic range shown is for denormals up to the nominal maximum
value &plusmn;1.0.
Note that some architecture-specific floating point implementations such as
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#NEON">NEON</a>
don't support denormals.
</li>

</ol>

<h2 id="conversions">Conversions</h2>

<p>
This section discusses
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_conversion">data conversions</a>
between various representations.
</p>

<h3 id="floatConversions">Floating point conversions</h3>

<p>
To convert a value from Q<em>m</em>.<em>n</em> format to floating point:
</p>

<ol>
  <li>Convert the value to floating point as if it were an integer (by ignoring the point).</li>
  <li>Multiply by 2<sup>-<em>n</em></sup>.</li>
</ol>

<p>
For example, to convert a Q4.27 internal value to floating point, use:
</p>
<pre class="devsite-click-to-copy">
float = integer * (2 ^ -27)
</pre>

<p>
Conversions from floating point to fixed point follow these rules:
</p>

<ul>

<li>
Single-precision floating point has a nominal range of &plusmn;1.0,
but the full range for intermediate values is &plusmn;1.7e+38.
Conversion between floating point and fixed point for external representation
(such as output to audio devices) will consider only the nominal range, with
clamping for values that exceed that range.
In particular, when +1.0 is converted
to a fixed-point format, it is clamped to +1.0 minus one LSB.
</li>

<li>
Denormals (subnormals) and both +/- 0.0 are allowed in representation,
but may be silently converted to 0.0 during processing.
</li>

<li>
Infinities will either pass through operations or will be silently hard-limited
to +/- 1.0. Generally the latter is for conversion to a fixed-point format.
</li>

<li>
NaN behavior is undefined: a NaN may propagate as an identical NaN, or may be
converted to a Default NaN, may be silently hard limited to +/- 1.0, or
silently converted to 0.0, or result in an error.
</li>

</ul>

<h3 id="fixedConversion">Fixed point conversions</h3>

<p>
Conversions between different Q<em>m</em>.<em>n</em> formats follow these rules:
</p>

<ul>

<li>
When <em>m</em> is increased, sign extend the integer part at left.
</li>

<li>
When <em>m</em> is decreased, clamp the integer part.
</li>

<li>
When <em>n</em> is increased, zero extend the fractional part at right.
</li>

<li>
When <em>n</em> is decreased, either dither, round, or truncate the excess fractional bits at right.
</li>

</ul>

<p>
For example, to convert a Q4.27 value to Q0.15 (without dither or
rounding), right shift the Q4.27 value by 12 bits, and clamp any results
that exceed the 16-bit signed range. This aligns the point of the
Q representation.
</p>

<p>To convert Q7.24 to Q7.23, do a signed divide by 2,
or equivalently add the sign bit to the Q7.24 integer quantity, and then signed right shift by 1.
Note that a simple signed right shift is <em>not</em> equivalent to a signed divide by 2.
</p>

<h3 id="lossyConversion">Lossy and lossless conversions</h3>

<p>
A conversion is <em>lossless</em> if it is
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_function">invertible</a>:
a conversion from <code>A</code> to <code>B</code> to
<code>C</code> results in <code>A = C</code>.
Otherwise the conversion is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_data_conversion">lossy</a>.
</p>

<p>
Lossless conversions permit
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-trip_format_conversion">round-trip format conversion</a>.
</p>

<p>
Conversions from fixed point representation with 25 or fewer significant bits to floating point are lossless.
Conversions from floating point to any common fixed point representation are lossy.
</p>

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