XMA audio format
Encyclopedia
XMA is the native Xbox 360
compressed audio format, based on the WMA
Pro architecture.
contains a full silicon implementation of the XMA decompression algorithm, including support for multichannel XMA sources. XMA is processed by the south bridge into standard PCM format in RAM. All other sound processing (sample rate conversion, filtering, effects, mixing, and multispeaker encoding) happens on the Xenon CPU.
The lowest-level Xbox 360 audio software layer is XAudio, a new API designed for optimal digital signal processing. The Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) API is also supported, along with new features such as conditional events, improved parameter control, and a more flexible 3D audio model.
In early 2006 the XMA format was modified slightly in order to improve file seeking. Prior to this change, it had been impossible to seek or loop an XMA file unless the entire file was resident in memory. The new format, dubbed XMA2, involved rearranging the file into "blocks" and making use of some previously undefined fields in the XMA header. XMA2 is backward-compatible with XMA1.
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
compressed audio format, based on the WMA
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
Pro architecture.
Implementation
The Xbox 360 system SouthbridgeSouthbridge (computing)
The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...
contains a full silicon implementation of the XMA decompression algorithm, including support for multichannel XMA sources. XMA is processed by the south bridge into standard PCM format in RAM. All other sound processing (sample rate conversion, filtering, effects, mixing, and multispeaker encoding) happens on the Xenon CPU.
The lowest-level Xbox 360 audio software layer is XAudio, a new API designed for optimal digital signal processing. The Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) API is also supported, along with new features such as conditional events, improved parameter control, and a more flexible 3D audio model.
In early 2006 the XMA format was modified slightly in order to improve file seeking. Prior to this change, it had been impossible to seek or loop an XMA file unless the entire file was resident in memory. The new format, dubbed XMA2, involved rearranging the file into "blocks" and making use of some previously undefined fields in the XMA header. XMA2 is backward-compatible with XMA1.