Summary

Computers represent sound using binary because computers only understand  1s and 0s. Sound is an analogue signal, but computers use digital representation. In binary, everything is broken down into 1s and 0s.

Sound files consist of bits, and the number of bits per second is called the sample rate. During recording, sound is divided into small pieces called samples. A higher sample rate means better sound quality.

Bit depth is the number of bits used to represent each sample, determining the sound's quality. More bits mean better sound.

Using binary to represent sound allows computers to process and store it efficiently. However, more bits and higher sample rates mean larger file sizes, so a balance between quality and file size must be found.