Channels

Digital audio can have one or more channels. Single channel audio, referred to as a monaural (or mono) audio, contains information for only one speaker and is similar to AM radio. Two channel audio, or stereo audio, contains information for two speakers, much like FM stereo. Stereo sounds can add depth, but they require twice as much storage and processing time as mono sounds. Most movie theatres have advanced audio systems with 4 or more channels, which are capable of making sounds appear to come from certain directions. Audio containing more than 2 channels are referred to as multichannel. GoldWave currently supports up to 8 channels in a 7.1 surround sound format as shown in the table.

Due to the internal structure of Wave files and the Windows default channel ordering, the "back" channels are stored before the "side" channels in 7.1 surround sound. Therefore GoldWave refers to the 5.1 surround channels as "back" channels and displays the 7.1 "side" channels below the "back" channels.