Audio Interchange File Format: Difference between revisions

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Because the AIFF architecture has no provision for alternative byte order, Apple used the existing AIFF-C compression architecture, and created a "pseudo-compressed" codec called '''sowt''' ('''twos''' spelled backwards). 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.<ref name="RF04">{{cite web |date=1995-05-01 |title=Technical Q&A QTMRF04: QuickTime Sound |url=https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/qa/qtmrf/qtmrf04.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705133320/https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/qa/qtmrf/qtmrf04.html |archive-date=2022-07-05 |access-date=2009-11-09 |website=Apple |publisher=}}</ref>
 
Apple uses this new little-endian AIFF type as its standard on macOS. 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 is imported by dragging to the macOS Desktop, the resulting file is also an AIFF-C/sowt. In all cases, Apple refers to the files simply as "AIFF", and uses the "<code>.aiff"</code> extension.
 
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.
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Apple has also created another recent extension to the AIFF format in the form of Apple Loops<ref>{{cite web |title=Logic Studio - Plug-ins & Sounds |url=https://www.apple.com/logic-pro/plugins-and-sounds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720011337/http://www.apple.com/logic-pro/plugins-and-sounds |archive-date=2013-07-20 |access-date=2010-04-30 |website=Apple |publisher=}}</ref> used by [[GarageBand]] and [[Logic Pro]], 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.
 
Apple Loops use either the <code>.aiff</code> (or <code>.aif</code>) or <code>.caf</code> extension regardless of type.
 
==Data format==