Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices. The format was co-developed by Apple Computer in 1988 [1] based on Electronic Arts Interchange File Format (IFF, widely used on Amiga systems) and is most commonly used on Apple Macintosh computer systems. AIFF is also used by Silicon Graphics Incorporated. An audio file format is a container format for storing audio data on a computer system. ... Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a longitudinal wave, and therefore is a mechanical wave. ... Apple Inc. ... EA redirects here. ... Interchange File Format (IFF), is a generic file format originally introduced by the Electronic Arts company in 1985 (in cooperation with Commodore-Amiga) in order to ease transfer of data between software products produced by different companies. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with various peripherals The Amiga is a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... Silicon Graphics, Inc. ...

The audio data in a standard AIFF file are uncompressed big-endian pulse-code modulation (PCM). There is also a compressed variant of AIFF known as AIFF-C or AIFC, with various defined compression codecs. In computing, endianness is the byte (and sometimes bit) ordering in memory used to represent some kind of data. ... Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a digital representation of an analog signal where the magnitude of the signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, then quantized to a series of symbols in a digital (usually binary) code. ...

Standard AIFF is a leading format (along with SDII and WAV) used by professional-level audio and video applications, as unlike the better known lossy MP3 format, it is non-compressed (which aids rapid streaming of multiple audio files from disk to the application), and lossless. Like any non-compressed, lossless format, it uses much more disk space than MP3 -- about 10MB for one minute of stereo audio. In addition to audio data, AIFF can include loop point data and the musical note of a sample, for use by hardware samplers and musical applications. WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... A lossy data compression method is one where compressing a file and then decompressing it retrieves a file that may well be different to the original, but is close enough to be useful in some way. ... For LP MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular audio encoding format. ... Lossless data compression is a class of data compression algorithms that allow the original data to be reconstructed exactly from the compressed data. ... // A loop is generally something that closes back on itself such as a circle or ring. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Traditional AIFF-C compressed formats are of poor quality and were used only when necessary in multimedia applications. With the development and popularization of the MP3 and related compressed audio formats, their use has become essentially nonexistent. For LP MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular audio encoding format. ...

The file extension for the standard AIFF format is .aiff or .aif. For the compressed variants is it supposed to be .aifc, but .aiff or .aif are accepted as well by audio applications supporting the format.

AIFF on Mac OS X

With the development of the Mac OS X operating system, Apple quietly created a new type of AIFF which is in effect an alternate little-endian byte order format. Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... When integers or any other data are represented with multiple bytes, there is no unique way of ordering of those bytes in memory or in a transmission over some medium, and so the order is subject to arbitrary convention. ...

Almost nothing is documented about the purpose of this -- one source describes it as making the writing of data to audio CDs more efficient, but the then-secret plans for transition to the Intel platform may explain both the format switch and the fact that it is an extremely obscure subject that has never been discussed explicitly by Apple. The Apple Intel transition was the process of changing the CPU of Macintosh computers from PowerPC processors to Intel x86 processors. ...

Because the AIFF architecture has no provision for alternate byte order, Apple used the existing AIFF-C compression architecture, and created a "pseudo-compressed" codec called sowt. The only difference between a standard AIFF file and an AIFF-C/sowt file is the byte order -- there is no compression involved at all.

Apple uses this new little-endian AIFF type as its standard on Mac OS X. When a file is imported to or exported from iTunes in "AIFF" format, it is actually AIFF-C/sowt that is being used. When audio from an audio CD disc is imported by dragging to the Mac OS X Desktop, the resulting file is also an AIFF-C/sowt. In all cases, Apple refers to the files simply as "AIFF", and uses the ".aiff" extension. This article is about about the iTunes application. ...

What meaning sowt may have as an acronym or abbreviation does not appear to be documented, but it is probably the reverse of "twos", the big-endian designation for twos-complement format.

For the vast majority of users this technical situation is completely unnoticeable and irrelevant. The sound quality of standard AIFF and AIFF-C/sowt are identical, and the data can be converted back and forth without loss. Users of older audio applications however, may find that an AIFF-C/sowt file will not play, or will prompt the user to convert the format on opening, or will play as static.

All traditional AIFF and AIFF-C files continue to work normally on Mac OS X (including on the new Intel-based hardware), and many third-party audio applications continue to use the standard AIFF big-endian byte order.

Note: As of Mac OS X version 10.4.9, many programs are only able to export AIFF-C. QuickTime Pro, and Digital Performer 5.11 for example, will export AIF-C when AIFF is selected as the export format. This can be verified by highlighting any newly created AIFF, and selecting "Get Info" from the "File" Menu. This was not the case with OS 10.4.8 and earlier. This is not, however, observed in all programs. iTunes and Logic Express, for example continue to properly export AIFF files. QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ... Digital Performer is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation/Sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh platform. ... This article is about about the iTunes application. ... Logic Express is a cut-down version of Logic Pro, a MIDI sequencer and Digital Audio Workstation software application maintained by Apple that runs on the Mac OS X platform. ...

This change presents potential compatibility issues between systems which use only AIFF, and files written in OS 10.4.9 as AIFF-C. For example, the Alesis HD24 hard disk recorder imports AIFF files, but none created in Mac OS X 10.4.9 Alesis is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments based in Cumberland, Rhode Island. ...

AIFF Apple Loops

Apple has also created another recent extension to the AIFF format in the form of Apple Loops[2] used by GarageBand and Logic Audio, which allows the inclusion of data for pitch and tempo shifting by an application in the more common variety, and MIDI-sequence data and references to GarageBand playback instruments in another variety. GarageBand is a software application that allows users to create music or podcasts. ... ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

AppleLoops use the .aiff (or .aif) extension regardless of type.

Data Format

An AIFF file is divided into a number of chunks. Each chunk is identified by a chunk ID more broadly referred to as FourCC. A FOURCC (literally, four character code) is a sequence of four bytes used to uniquely identify data formats. ...

Types of chunks found in AIFF files:

• Common Chunk (required)
• Sound Data Chunk (required)
• Marker Chunk
• Instrument Chunk
• Comment Chunk
• Name Chunk
• Author Chunk
• Copyright Chunk
• Annotation Chunk
• Audio Recording Chunk
• MIDI Data Chunk
• Application Chunk

See also

• Apple Lossless
• FLAC
• RIFF
• OSType
• FourCC

Apple Lossless (also known as Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE, or Apple Lossless Audio Codec, ALAC) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. ... FLAC, an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec, is a popular file format for audio data compression. ... The Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks. ... OSType (also known as FourCC or ResType) is the name of a four-byte type commonly used as an identifier in Mac OS. The four bytes could in principle have any binary value, though they are usually ASCII or characters from the Mac Roman character set. ... A FOURCC (literally, four character code) is a sequence of four bytes used to uniquely identify data formats. ... ... In computer science and information theory, data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes. ... Video compression refers to making a digital video signal use less data, without noticeably reducing the quality of the picture. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) is an informal name for multimedia formats where each video frame or interlaced field of a digital video sequence is separately compressed as a JPEG image. ... MPEG-1 defines a group of Audio and Video (AV) coding and compression standards agreed upon by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). ... MPEG-2 is a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information [1]. It is widely used around the world to specify the format of the digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. ... MPEG-4 Part 2 is a video compression technology developed by MPEG. It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standard (ISO/IEC 14496-2). ... H.264 is a standard for video compression. ... The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) coordinates standards for telecommunications on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. ... H.261 is an 1990 ITU video coding standard originally designed for transmission over ISDN lines on which data rates are multiples of 64 kbit/s. ... H.262 is an ITU-T digital video coding standard. ... H.263 is a video codec designed by the ITU-T as a low-bitrate encoding solution for videoconferencing. ... H.264 is a standard for video compression. ... The Peoples Republic of China government is supporting an effort to develop own standard for compressing digital audio and video, to assert its technological independence from the rest of the world. ... Bink is a video file format (extension . ... Dirac is a prototype algorithm for the encoding and decoding (see codec) of raw video. ... Indeo Video (commonly known now simply as Indeo) is a video codec developed by Intel in 1992. ... Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) is an informal name for multimedia formats where each video frame or interlaced field of a digital video sequence is separately compressed as a JPEG image. ... RealVideo is a proprietary video format developed by RealNetworks. ... Theora is a video codec being developed by the Xiph. ... VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard initially developed by Microsoft. ... TrueMotion VP6 is a video codec developed by On2 Technologies as a successor to earlier efforts such as VP3 and VP5. ... TrueMotion VP7 is a video codec developed by On2 Technologies as a successor to earlier efforts such as VP3, VP5 and TrueMotion VP6. ... Windows Media Video (WMV) is a generic name for the set of video codec technologies developed by Microsoft. ... Audio compression is a form of data compression designed to reduce the size of audio files. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... The Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG is a working group of ISO/IEC charged with the development of video and audio encoding standards. ... For LP MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular audio encoding format. ... MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2, sometimes Musicam) is an audio codec defined by ISO/IEC 11172-3. ... MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, commonly abbreviated to MP1, is one of three audio codecs included in the MPEG-1 standard. ... Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. ... High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) is a lossy data compression scheme for digital audio. ... The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) coordinates standards for telecommunications on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. ... G.711 is an ITU-T standard for audio companding. ... G.722 is a ITU-T standard wideband speech codec operating at 32-64 kbit/s. ... G.722. ... Adaptive Multi Rate - WideBand or AMR-WB is a speech coding standard developed after the AMR using same technology like ACELP. The codec provides excellent speech quality due to wider speech bandwidth of 50 - 7000 Hz compared to narrowband speech codecs which in general are optimized for POTS wireline quality... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... G.723. ... G.726 is ITU-T speech codec operating at bit rates of 16-40 kbit/s. ... G.728 is a ITU-T standard for speech coding operating at 16 kbit/s. ... G.729 is an audio data compression algorithm for voice that compresses voice audio in chunks of 10 milliseconds. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... G.729 is an audio data compression algorithm for voice that compresses voice audio in chunks of 10 milliseconds. ... Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies by Dolby Laboratories. ... Apple Lossless (also known as Apple Lossless Encoder, ALE, or Apple Lossless Audio Codec, ALAC) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. ... Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. ... Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is a popular file format for audio data compression. ... internet Low Bit Rate Codec (iLBC) is a royalty free narrowband speech codec, developed by Global IP Sound (GIPS). ... Monkey’s Audio is a lossless audio compression codec. ... In telecommunication, a mu-law algorithm (μ-law) is a standard analog signal compression or companding algorithm, used in digital communications systems of the North American and Japanese digital hierarchies, to optimize (in other words, modify) the dynamic range of an audio analog signal prior to digitizing. ... Musepack or MPC is an open source lossy audio codec, specifically optimized for transparent compression of stereo audio at bitrates of 160-180 kbit/s. ... This is a single-channel (mono) format optimized for low-bitrate transmission of speech. ... RealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks. ... SHN (Shorten) is a file format used to losslessly compress CD-quality audio files (44. ... Speex is a free software speech codec that claims to be unencumbered by patent restrictions. ... Vorbis is an open source, lossy audio codec project headed by the Xiph. ... WavPack is a free, open source lossless audio compression format developed by David Bryant. ... Windows Media Audio (WMA) is brand name for several technically distinct proprietary compressed audio file formats developed by Microsoft. ... TAK (Toms lossless Audio Kompressor) is a lossless audio compressor which promises compression performance similar to Monkeys Audio High and decompression speed similar to FLAC. The codec also supports streaming (necessary headers for decompressing the audio are written to the stream every 2 seconds), error tolerance (single bit... Image compression is the application of data compression on digital images. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) coordinates standards for telecommunications on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. ... In computing, JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg; IPA: ) is a commonly used standard method of compression for photographic images. ... JPEG 2000 is a wavelet-based image compression standard. ... The Joint Photographic Experts Group, in addition to their well-known lossy image compression techniques, JPEG and JPEG 2000, also have three standards for lossless compression (of which JPEG-LS has a lossy mode): Lossless JPEG was developed as a late addition to JPEG in 1993, using a completely different... JBIG is a lossless image compression standard from the Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group, standardized as ISO/IEC standard 11544 and as ITU-T recommendation T.82. ... JBIG2 is an image compression standard for bi-level images, developed by the Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group. ... PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. ... Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format (shortened to Wireless Bitmap and with file extension . ... The APNG (Animated Portable Network Graphics) file format is an extension to the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification proposed by Stuart Parmenter and Vladimir Vukicevic of the Mozilla Corporation. ... ICER is a wavelet-based image compression file format used by the NASA Mars Rovers. ... Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) (IPA pronunciation: ) is a public graphics file format for animated images. ... DIB redirects here. ... An example of a GIF image. ... ILBM is a subtype of the Interchange File Format used for storing picture data. ... PCX is an image file format that uses a simple form of run-length encoding (a type of lossless compression algorithm). ... Truevisions TGA File Format, often referred to as TARGA File Format, is a raster graphics file format. ... “TIFF” redirects here. ... HD Photo (formerly Windows Media Photo) is a still image compression algorithm and file format for continuous tone photographic images, developed by Microsoft as a part of the Windows Media family. ... A container format is a computer file format that can contain various types of data, compressed by means of standardized codecs. ... 3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for use on 3G mobile phones. ... Advanced Systems Format (formerly Advanced Streaming Format) is Microsofts proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media. ... // Audio Video Interleave, known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. ... DivX is a video codec created by DivX, Inc. ... DPX, the short form of Digital Picture Exchange, is a common file format for digital film work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard (268M-2003). ... Flash Video (FLV) is a proprietary file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player (formerly known as Macromedia Flash Player) version 6, 7, 8, or 9. ... Matroska (common file extensions being . ... MPEG-4 Part 14, formally ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003, is a multimedia container format standard specified as a part of MPEG-4. ... Material eXchange Format (MXF) is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. ... NUT is a patent-free, multimedia container format originally conceived by a few MPlayer and FFmpeg developers that were dissatisfied with the limitations of all currently available multimedia container formats such as AVI or Matroska. ... Ogg is an open standard for a free container format for digital multimedia, unrestricted by software patents and designed for efficient streaming and manipulation. ... Ogg Media (OGM), meaning Ogg Media File, is a container format (for video, audio and subtitle streams). ... QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ... RealMedia is a multimedia container format created by RealNetworks. ... A VOB file (DVD-Video Object or Versioned Object Base) is a container format contained in DVD-Video media. ... Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data on personal computers. ... The Au file format is a simple audio file format that consists of a header of 6 32-bit words and then the data (high-order byte comes first). ... WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ...

External links

Horns.aiff