Creating Content for iPod and iTunes pdf
This guide provides information about the file formats you can use when creating content compatible with iTunes and iPod. This guide also covers using and editing metadata. To prepare for creating content, you should know a few basics about file formats and metadata. Knowing about file formats will guide you in choosing the correct format for your material based on your needs and the content. Knowing how to use metadata will help you provide your audience with information about your content. In addition, metadata makes browsing and searching easier. This guide also includes recommended tools for creating content.
Understanding File Formats
To create and distribute materials for playback on iPod and in iTunes, you need to get the materials (primarily audio or video) into compatible file formats. Understanding file formats and how they compare with each other will help you decide the best way to prepare your materials.
Apple recommends using the following file formats for iPod and iTunes content:
• AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) for audio content
AAC is a state-of-the-art, open (not proprietary) format. It is the audio format of choice for Internet, wireless, and digital broadcast arenas. AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.
• H.264 for video content
H.264 uses the latest innovations in video compression technology to provide incredible video quality from the smallest amount of video data. This means you see crisp, clear video in much smaller files, saving you bandwidth and storage costs over previous generations of video codecs. One of the factors to keep in mind when preparing your materials is file size. Using high-quality compressed formats, such as AAC and H.264, allows files to download faster and take up less space on your audience’s hard disk. Note: iPod and iTunes support many other formats, including MP3, MP3 VBR, AIFF, Apple Lossless, WAV, AA, MPEG-4, and PDF (iTunes only). See the following table for descriptions and usage.
Get Creating Content for iPod and iTunes pdf
