Sample-rate is the temporal resolution parameter of digital audio, specifying how many discrete amplitude samples are captured per second when converting analog audio to digital. Parameters: (1) nominal rate — common values at 8000, 11025, 22050, 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 384000 Hz; (2) actual rate — the implemented clock speed, which may drift from nominal. Persistence mechanism: standardized by audio industry bodies (AES, IEC), embedded in hardware specifications (ADCs, DACs, audio interfaces), and enforced by software protocols (S/PDIF, AES3, USB Audio). The definition maps the conceptual boundary: sample-rate is the specification, not the physical clock itself, but the abstract rate that determines maximum reproducible frequency (Nyquist = rate/2) and temporal granularity of the digital representation. [formal: sample-ratio | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
sample-rate
Sample-rate is the temporal resolution parameter of digital audio, specifying how many discrete amplitude samples are captured per second when converting analog audio to digital. Parameters: (1) nominal rate — common values at 8000, 11025,…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made map of digital audio's temporal resolution parameter: the number of discrete samples taken per second to convert an analog audio signal into digital form. Built to persist as a specification governing fidelity, frequency response (via the Nyquist limit), and system compatibility in all digital audio workflows. The map defines discrete values (8kHz through 384kHz) and their acoustic consequences.
Names and aliases
- sample-rateen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmstidkhm016p13a416eaddtdSERVES →
Sample-rate is a parameter and practice built for the sake of audio engineering: engineers choose sample rates to balance bandwidth, aliasing, and storage, and the entire recording/monitoring workflow is organized around the chosen rate. The concept exists to serve engineering decisions about fidelity and compatibility.
- cmsorsyn802qbjlss3cb2ruiyINSTANCE_OF →
A sample rate is a specific kind of frequency: the number of times per second a signal is sampled. The note pins the sense: frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time, and sample rate is that quantity applied to discrete sampling. Law 9: specific→general, nearest kind. This supersedes the measurement edge as the more precise rung.
- signal-samplingDERIVED_FROM →
Law 7: the practice came first. Signal-sampling (measuring amplitude at uniform instants) is the pre-existing telephony/PCM practice. The sample-rate is the standardized parameter abstracted from it: a nominal lattice (8k-384k) fixed by AES/IEC, embedded in S/PDIF, AES3, USB Audio. The accepted sampling definition already names 'the sampling rate (fixed by the system)' as the practice's own parameter. Precedent: nyquist-theorem DERIVED_FROM signal-sampling.
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Record identity
- Created
- Sep 12, 2026, 2:29 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 0f85c74eef32479637f96a90df0760630fc2eb7796e5d3ac6f983ed44cddd8c5