Audio Interchange File Format: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:34, 1 December 2020

Revision as of 20:08, 26 December 2020

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| magic =

| owner = [[Apple Inc.]]

| released = {{start date and age|1988|01|21|df=no}}<ref name="aiff-spec">{{citation |url=http://www-mmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Documents/AudioFormats/AIFF/Docs/AIFF-1.3.pdf |title=Audio Interchange File Format, A Standard for Sampled Sound Files, Version 1.3 |format=PDF |author=Apple Computer, Inc. |date=1989-01-04 |accessdateaccess-date=2010-03-21}}</ref><!-- {{Start date|YYYY|dd|mm|df=yes}} -->

| latest release version = 1.3

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|1989|01|04|df=no}}<!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|dd|mm|df=yes}} --><br />AIFF-C / {{Start date and age|1991|07|df=yes}}<ref name="aiff-spec2">{{cite web |url=http://www-mmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Documents/AudioFormats/AIFF/AIFF.html |title=Audio File Format Specifications - AIFF / AIFF-C Specifications |author=P. Kabal |publisher=McGill University |date=2005-03-15 |accessdateaccess-date=2010-03-21}}</ref>

| genre = [[audio file format]], [[container format (digital)|container format]]

| container for =

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With the development of the [[Mac OS X]] operating system, Apple created a new type of AIFF which is, in effect, an alternative [[little-endian]] byte order format.<ref>[https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/say.1.html Mac OS X Reference Library]</ref><ref>[https://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/musicaudio/Conceptual/CoreAudioOverview/SupportedAudioFormatsMacOSX/SupportedAudioFormatsMacOSX.html Supported Audio File and Data Formats in Mac OS X]</ref>

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 | title=Technical Q&A QTMRF04: QuickTime Sound | url=https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/qa/qtmrf/qtmrf04.html | publisher=Apple | date=1995-05-01 | accessdateaccess-date=2009-11-09}}</ref>

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 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.

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==AIFF Apple Loops==

Apple has also created another recent extension to the AIFF format in the form of Apple Loops<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apple.com/logicstudio/soundlibrary/#loops |title=Logic Studio - Plug-ins & Sounds |publisher=Apple |accessdateaccess-date=2010-04-30}}</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.

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

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{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+AIFF-C common compression types<ref name="aiff-spec" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://shoko.calarts.edu/~tre/AIFFC/comptype.html |title=AIFF-C Compression Types and Names |author=Tom Erbe |year=1999 |accessdateaccess-date=2010-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620002145/http://shoko.calarts.edu/~tre/AIFFC/comptype.html |archive-date=2006-06-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/aiff-hul.html |title=JSTOR/Harvard Object Validation Environment - AIFF-hul Module |date=2005-05-09 |accessdateaccess-date=2010-03-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629090032/http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/aiff-hul.html |archive-date=2010-06-29 }}</ref>

|-

! Compression type