Many of the world's radio stations broadcast in a variety of analog and digital formats. This page will list and compare them in chart form.
World radio systems (Terrestrial)| System | Type | Modulation | Data rate | Sidebands? | Ch. Bandwidth (KHz) | Radio spectrum | Sound Codec | Digital subchannels | SFN | Metadata/RDS/RBDS |
|---|
| AM radio | Analog radio | Amplitude Modulation | N/A | ? | 18–20 kHz | 148.5-283.5 kHz (Longwave)
510–1610 kHz (Europe)
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada) | N/A | N/A | No | None |
| Motorola C-QUAM | Analog radio (AM stereo) | QAM | N/A | ? | 18–20 kHz | 510–1610 kHz (Europe
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada) | N/A | N/A | No | None |
| DAB | Digital radio | OFDM (DQPSK) | around 1000 kbit/s (4 channels up to 256 kbit/s) | ? | 1500 kHz | VHF-High/174-240 MHz,
L-band/1452-1492 MHz | MPEG-Layer 2 | Yes, typically 4-6 "stations" per channel | Yes | Yes |
| DAB+ | Digital radio | OFDM (DQPSK) | up to 256 kbit/s | ? | 1500 kHz | VHF-High/174-240 MHz,
L-band/1452-1492 MHz | HE-AAC | No | Yes | Yes |
| Digital Radio Mondiale | Digital radio | COFDM (QAM) | up to 72 kbit/s | ? | 4.5–5 kHz (hybrid mode),
9–10 kHz,
18-20 kHz | 510-1610 kHz (Europe),
510–1710 kHz (USA and Canada),
SW, LW | MPEG-4 HE-AAC/CELP/HVXC | Yes, via IBOC | No? | Yes |
| FM radio | Analog radio | Frequency Modulation | N/A | ? | 200 kHz | 87.5-108 MHz,
76-90 MHz (Japan),
65.8-74 MHz (USSR) | N/A | N/A | None | Yes (depending on station) |
| HD Radio | Hybrid/Digital radio | COFDM-HDC (SBR) | up to 60 kbit/s on AM,
up to 300 kbit/s on FM | ? | 20–30 kHz on AM band ±5 kHz (on adjacent channel),
up to 400 kHz on FM band (2 full FM channels) | 510–1710 kHz,
87.5-108 MHz | HDC | up to 7 (3 full-power, 4 low-power) subchannels (FM) | No? | Yes |
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