Aliasing (Audio)
Audio Aliasing
Distortion occurring when audio frequencies above the Nyquist limit are sampled, producing false lower frequencies.
Technical Detail
According to the Nyquist-Shannon theorem, a aliasing (audio) must be at least twice the highest frequency to be captured. CD audio uses 44,100 Hz (capturing up to 22,050 Hz, beyond most human hearing at ~20,000 Hz). Professional audio uses 48,000 Hz (video standard), 96,000 Hz, or 192,000 Hz for headroom during processing. Higher sample rates are valuable for time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms but provide no audible benefit during playback for most listeners.
Example
```javascript
// Aliasing (Audio): Web Audio API example
const audioCtx = new AudioContext();
const response = await fetch('audio.mp3');
const buffer = await audioCtx.decodeAudioData(await response.arrayBuffer());
const source = audioCtx.createBufferSource();
source.buffer = buffer;
source.connect(audioCtx.destination);
source.start();
```
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Related Terms
Audio Codec
Audio Fingerprint
Audio Watermark
Bit Depth (Audio)
Bitrate
Channel
Chorus Effect
Clipping
Codec
Compression (Audio)
Crossfade
De-esser
Delay
Dithering (Audio)
Dynamic Range
Equalization
Fade
FLAC
Frequency Spectrum
Harmonic Distortion
Limiter
Loudness War
LUFS
Mid-Side Processing
Mono
Noise Gate
Noise Reduction
Normalization
Nyquist Frequency
PCM
Peak Level
Pitch
Psychoacoustics
Reverb
RMS Level
Sample Rate
Sidechain
Spatial Audio
Spectrogram
Stereo
Stereo Imaging
Tempo
Waveform