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Controlling volume differences

If you encode a file by using the Windows Media Audio 9 Professional or Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless codec, the peak and average values of the audio signal are calculated during encoding, and those values are placed in the header of the file. During file playback, users can can limit the difference between the softest and loudest sounds (the dynamic range) in the file using the Quiet Mode feature in the Player. This is useful, for example, for movie content that has a wide dynamic range; a user can limit the maximum loudness while maintaining voice intelligibility. (This feature is only available when the file is played on a computer running Microsoft Windows® XP, and using a player that is built on the Windows Media Format SDK.)

The Quiet Mode feature of the Player has three settings that affect dynamic range: off, little, and medium. By default, the settings affect the audio dynamic range during playback as follows:

When you use Windows Media File Editor to edit the file, you can specify different peak and average values than those that were calculated during encoding. Typically, it is recommended that you only adjust the peak value. Adjusting the average value will not compress the difference between loud and soft sounds. Instead it will cut or boost the overall average volume of the entire piece, which may produce undesirable distortion during playback. Changing the peak value affects the following changes to the settings of the Quiet Mode feature:

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