Telling if a file has been compressed?

M

Murrley

New member
I have some mp3 and wave files, and I need to find out if they are direct copies of the original file, or if they have been compressed. How can you do this?
 
I think Mp3's compress files and Wav files don't compress at all. This is what I pulled up on google.

WAV files are lossless, uncompressed, broadcast CD quality music files. WAV files are also the right choice for loops to be processed with Flash for web animations. Use MP3 files for web pages, web videos, in fact for anything on the Internet. An MP3 file is a compressed music file.

So my guess would be that the files that are Mp3's would be compressed to all hell. Hope this helps!
 
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Correct at times, but a wav file could be a copy of a previously compressed file. And an mp3 file could be the only available direct HQ copy from a vinyl etc. I'm looking for a way to tell the quality of the file and I don't have the equipment to do it by ear. I'd assume the only way is to look at the frequencies etc, but need some guidance.
 
MP3 encoders usually apply some kind of high/low passing, so that might be something to look into - do the frequencies get abruptly cut off at, say, 20kHz? But I don't think there's an easy way to tell. Then again, if you can't hear any of it, does it matter?
 
Unfortunately I don't have the equipment or means available to tell by ear. I think that's the only solution, to look at the frequencies. Do you know any sources that explain how to do it (but for a beginner)?
 
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