Audio Interchange File Format
| Audio Interchange File Format | |
|---|---|
| File extension : |
.aiff
|
| MIME type : |
audio / x-aiff audio / aiff |
| Developed by: | Apple |
| Type: | Audio file |
| Extended by: | IFF |
Audio Interchange File Format ( AIFF ) is a file format (container format) for storing LPCM audio data. It was developed by Apple and is used as the standard audio format on the Macintosh . AIFF is based on the structure of the universal IFF format developed by Electronic Arts . Regular audio CDs save their audio signal in PCM format , just like AIFF. The counterpart to AIFF in systems under Windows is the RIFF WAVE format .
Compared to other audio data formats such as. As MP3 , Vorbis or different at AIF C used variants provides LPCM (Linear Pulse Code Modulation) no data compression . On the one hand, this has the disadvantage that large amounts of data are created when saving in AIFF files; on the other hand, the audio data is lossless and can be processed without additional computational effort.
AIFF files can be provided with " ID3v2 tags ", which is the same metadata format that is also used for MP3 files. ITunes , MP3Tag or the open source alternative Kid3 can be used as a metadata editor .
Due to the spread of Apple Macintosh computers in recording studios and in music production, which is above the normal market share, the AIFF format is very widespread in these areas.