Podcasts - Different Types of Formats

So you've decided to produce a podcast. Good for you! They're a great way to build traffic. And an excellent way to build your reputation as an industry expert.

So have you decided what format you're going to use?

Now let's get something straight right off the bat. I'm not talking about the format of your audio files. That's a matter of choosing between MP3, WAV and WMA (hint, go with MP3). What I'm talking about is the format of the presentation. Think of it as the format of the content delivery.

In this article I'm going to discuss four different formats which you can use for your podcasts. Now while you are going to want to pick a primary format there is nothing saying you can't change the format either occasionally for specials or after a period of time in order to keep the show fresh.

So what are the four most common formats?

The first is the short course. Think of it as a regularly occurring teleseminar. You present the teleseminar. Record it and post it as a podcast. The primary difference between the two forms of learning content is that a teleseminar is usually one to one and half hours in length. Sometimes they'll go longer but they aren't normally any shorter. Podcasts, on the other hand, tend to top out around the one hour range. But other than the length both teleseminars and podcasts are the same. The same techniques and rules apply to both media.

The second format I'm going to talk about is the interview. This consists of having an industry expert (or maybe just someone with an interesting viewpoint) appear on the podcast with the host. The host proceeds to ask the guest questions to explore the guest's opinions and views. The host engages the guest in a discussion about the topic which hopefully will interest the listeners.

The third format is the audio blog. This is probably the shortest format and the most flexible. It also has the least relationship to radio broadcast of any of the formats. Basically it consists of an audio version of a blog entry. Short, hopefully pithy and hopefully interesting to the audience. One day it might contain an article teaching a tool. The next could be an opinion piece (aka a bitch session) on a news item. The next could be a book review. And the next? Well whatever you feel like writing in your blog.

The fourth and final format I'm going to discuss is the column format. Have you seen the interview shows on the television? You know the one where there's a male host and a female host with a stream of guests -- roughly one every seven to fifteen minutes? Or the self-help shows where there's a series of segments - say a review spot followed by a how to use spot, followed by an "in the news" segment? Those are video versions of the column. This is simply the audio version. The podcast is separated into a number of segments with a different topic in each segment. Of course, there should be an overriding theme or topic but each column stands alone.

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Different Podcast File Formats

So you've written your podcast. You've recorded it. You've edited it and added music. You're all set. Everything has come together well.

And then along comes a problem. It's time to save the audio file. So you hit the save button and you get a long, long list of file formats.

What file format should you choose?

The choice can be overwhelming at first glance. After all audacity provides more than twelve different file formats. It seems like everyone who is producing a sound program produces their own format. And instead of becoming obsolete each of the formats seems to hold on for ever after.

Of course, in an article of this size discussing all the formats possible isn't possible. So in this article I'm going to discuss nine different podcast file formats available to you.

1. Moving Pictures Expert Group - Standard 1 or 2 Audio Layer III (MPG or MP3). This is the de-facto standard for audio files -- podcast or otherwise. Usable on most players it has only one problem. It is a lossy format meaning that it reduces file size by discarding frequencies outside of the given range. As a result, the quality of the recording can vary from tinny telephone up to near-CD quality.

2. Microsoft Waveform Audio File Format (WAV). This format is raw and uncompressed -- meaning it takes up a lot of space but gives a high quality, lossless sound. Occasionally, these are used for podcasting but frankly they are ill-suited to a talk show format where lost frequencies will improve the overall sound rather than reduce the quality.

3. Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF). This is Apple's version of the WAV file. While it is used for professional sound recording it is both specialized and massive meaning that it, like the WAV is ill-suited for podcasts.

4. Windows Media Audio (WMA). This is a proprietary format which can be either lossless or lossy. It was developed to overcome deficiencies in the MP3 format. However, because it is proprietary it varies in acceptance. Use of this format for your podcast may mean some potential customers cannot play your audio files.

5. Ogg Vobis. This is actually an Open Source media container. While the fact that it is open source encourages its adoption, it has not in fact caught on. The majority of your audience probably doesn't know what it is or how to use it.

6. Compact Disk Audio (CDA or PCM). This is the format used by Compact Discs. CDA format is actually a pointer to a Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM) file. These files are often used as the basis for WAV and other files. However, they aren't used very often for podcasts due to their size.

7. Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). This was originally designed to be the replacement for the MP3 format. Although it is loss (like the MP3) it is generally achieves lower files sizes than MP3 for the same quality. It is the default format for Sony, Apple and several smartphone manufacturers. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the same adoption rate as MP3.

8. Real Audio (RA or RAM). This was originally a streaming media format. While it is used in the PC world, it is frequently not supported in other industries.

9. Audio (AU). Developed by Sun Microsystems for the NexT computer, it is a lossy file format. In practice it is not used a great deal as most podcast players consider it as a proprietary format.

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