RealAudio

Also known as .ra, .ram, RA, Real Audio

RealAudio, also spelled Real Audio, is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that could be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can be used as a streaming audio format, that is played at the same time as it is downloaded.

Key facts

File format.name: RealAudio
File format.screenshot: RealAudio.webp
File format.extension: ,
File format.mime: audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-pn-realaudio

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Wikidata facts

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file extension: ram
media type: audio/x-realaudio
publication date: 1995-04-01
described at URL: raw.githubusercontent.com/haypo/hachoir3/master/hachoir/parser/audio/real_audio.py
file format identification pattern: 2E524D460000001200

Sources (4)

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Article

9 sections

Contents

File extensions
Players
Streaming audio
RealAudio: Pioneering real-time music streaming in 1998
Codecs
Cook codec
See also
References
External links

In the past, many internet radio stations used RealAudio to stream their programming over the internet in real time. In recent years, however, the format has become less common and has given way to more popular audio formats. RealAudio was heavily used by the BBC websites until 2009, though it was discontinued due to its declining use. BBC World Service, the last of the BBC websites to use RealAudio, discontinued its use in March 2011.