File Formats
I just converted a file from .m4a to .mp3. To do so, I needed to install Audacity, then download another tool called FFMPEG, then run Audacity again, then export as an .mp3. All so that I could upload audio to be transcribed.
Why? Why in 2022 are we still fussing over file formats?
My hypothesis is that it’s because most people don’t often deal with file formats any more. You snap a photo from you phone and put it on Instagram or stream directly to YouTube (or watch from YouTube). You never actually touch the file with the data and after awhile, it gets deleted from you device anyways.
For those who have services using a particular format for upload or processing, the incentive to add a universal file converter upfront is probably small. However, it would create delight amongst the few users who encounter this difficulty.
The parallel is medication for rare diseases. There needs to be an intervention to develop drugs even when the payoff won’t be a huge windfall. In that case, we do it because we’re human and it benefits humanity. For our file format case… well, it enables sanity.
