44,100
44,100 samples per second is the CD audio sampling rate.
Where 44,100 fits
Why 44,100 is special
The figure comes from the video equipment used to store early digital audio masters — it had to fit the line and frame structure of PAL and NTSC video tape. A television standard determined how music is digitised.
Not just a mathematical number
44,100is also used in ways where ordinary arithmetic doesn't apply — each listed below with what genuinely does and doesn't follow from it.
- Mathematical number
A genuine quantity — its mathematical properties (prime, square, factors, and so on) are real facts about it.
A genuine quantity that ordinary arithmetic applies to — it can be prime, even, a perfect square, added to another number meaningfully, and so on.
- Measurement
Also used as a measurement — Digital audio sample-rate standards.
A quantity expressed against a defined unit or standard (24 hours in a day, 60 seconds in a minute) — arithmetic is meaningful, but the specific value is a fixed convention of the measuring system, not a discovered mathematical property.
44,100 is part of
Factors & digit properties
- Divisors (81)
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 25, 28, 30, 35, 36, 42, 45, 49, 50, 60, 63, 70, 75, 84, 90, 98, 100, 105, 126, 140, 147, 150, 175, 180, 196, 210, 225, 245, 252, 294, 300, 315, 350, 420, 441, 450, 490, 525, 588, 630, 700, 735, 882, 900, 980, 1050, 1225, 1260, 1470, 1575, 1764, 2100, 2205, 2450, 2940, 3150, 3675, 4410, 4900, 6300, 7350, 8820, 11025, 14700, 22050, 44100
- Prime factorisation
- 2^2 × 3^2 × 5^2 × 7^2
- Digit sum
- 9
- Digital root
- 9
Representations
- Decimal
- 44100
- Binary
- 1010110001000100
- Octal
- 126104
- Hexadecimal
- ac44
- Scientific notation
- 4.410 × 10^4
Other mathematical patterns
- Abundant number
- Powerful number
- Harshad (Niven) number
Related numbers & connections
44.1 kHz became the compact disc sample rate because early digital audio was stored on video tape.
CD audio samples at 44.1 kHz and video at 48 kHz, a split inherited from different industries. Material crossing between them must be resampled, and doing it badly is a recognised production fault.
View 48000 →Technology & computing
44.1 kHz was chosen for the compact disc because early digital audio was stored on video tape, and the rate fits a whole number of samples into both PAL and NTSC video lines. The standard outlived the storage method that produced it.
DocumentedTechnology & computingGeography: InternationalPeriod: 1979–44.1 kHz was chosen because early digital audio was stored on video recorders, and the rate had to divide evenly into both PAL and NTSC line rates. Music sampling still carries the fingerprint of 1970s television engineering.
DocumentedTechnology & computing
Common questions
Is 44,100 a prime number?
No, 44,100 is not prime.
What are the factors of 44,100?
The factors of 44,100 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 25, 28, 30, 35, 36, 42, 45, 49, 50, 60, 63, 70, 75, 84, 90, 98, 100, 105, 126, 140, 147, 150, 175, 180, 196, 210, 225, 245, 252, 294, 300, 315, 350, 420, 441, 450, 490, 525, 588, 630, 700, 735, 882, 900, 980, 1050, 1225, 1260, 1470, 1575, 1764, 2100, 2205, 2450, 2940, 3150, 3675, 4410, 4900, 6300, 7350, 8820, 11025, 14700, 22050, 44100.
About this page's data
Mathematical facts:computed directly from the number's value — nothing to source or verify externally.
Contextual records: 2 reviewer-confirmed records, sourced and reviewed before publication.
Last reviewed: 3 August 2026