Skip Navigation

if you could standardise a file format for a specific task what would you pick and why

if you could pick a standard format for a purpose what would it be and why?

e.g. flac for lossless audio because...

(yes you can add new categories)

summary:

  1. photos .jxl
  2. open domain image data .exr
  3. videos .av1
  4. lossless audio .flac
  5. lossy audio .opus
  6. subtitles srt/ass
  7. fonts .otf
  8. container mkv (doesnt contain .jxl)
  9. plain text utf-8 (many also say markup but disagree on the implementation)
  10. documents .odt
  11. archive files (this one is causing a bloodbath so i picked randomly) .tar.zst
  12. configuration files toml
  13. typesetting typst
  14. interchange format .ora
  15. models .gltf / .glb
  16. daw session files .dawproject
  17. otdr measurement results .xml
283

You're viewing a single thread.

283 comments
  • Something for I/Q recordings. But I don't know what would do it. Currently the most supported format seems to be s16be WAV, but there's different formats, bit depths and encodings. I've seen .iq, .sdriq, .sdr, .raw, .wav. Then there's different bit depths and encodings: u8, s8, s16be, s16le, f32,... Also there's different ways metadata like center frequency is stored.

    • what is this

      • God damnit. I wrote an answer and it disappeared a while after pressing reply. I am lazy to rewrite it and my eyes are sore.

        Anyway, I am too dumb to actually understand I/Q samples. It stands for In-Phase and Quadrature, they are 90° out of phase from each other. That's somehow used to reconstruct a signal. It's used in different areas. For me it's useful to record raw RF signals from software defined radio (SDR).
        For example, with older, less secure systems, you could record signal from someone's car keyfob, then use a Tx-capable SDR to replay it later. Ta-da! Replay attack. You unlocked someone's car.
        In a better way, you could record raw signal from a satellite to later demodulate and decode it, if your computer isn't powerful enough to do it in real-time.

        If you want an example, you can download DAB+ radio signal recording here: https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/DAB%2B and then replay it in Welle.io (available as Appimage) if it's in compatible format. I haven't tested it.

You've viewed 283 comments.