PCM File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Extension .pcm
MIME Type audio/x-pcm
Format Type Digital audio
Compression None (Lossless)
Sample Rate 44.1 kHz (CD), 48 kHz, 96 kHz, etc.
Channels Mono, Stereo, Multichannel
Bit Depth 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit
Byte Order Big Endian, Little Endian
Quantization Linear
Dynamic Range Dependent on Bit Depth
Signal-to-Noise Ratio Dependent on Bit Depth
Total Harmonic Distortion Very Low
Storage Requirement High due to lack of compression
Usage Professional audio recording, Audio editing
Advantages High-quality audio, Simple, Flexible format
Disadvantages Large file size
Related Formats WAV, AIFF
Decoding Simple, as no compression is used