audio interchange file format (AIFF)
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is a defined container format for storing and transferring audio files. This manufacturer-specific standard was developed by Apple and works with Linear Pulse CodeModulation( LPCM). With this method the digital audio signals are stored lossless.
The AIFF files begin with a format chunk, a nested data structure from which the size and format of the file are derived. This is followed by the Common Chunk, which contains information about the channels, the number of data frames, the sampling rate and the recording size. The further data frame contains the Sound Data Chunk with the audio data of up to 6 channels. Where the data can be for mono and stereo playback, but also for 3, 4 and 6 channel playback.
In addition, Marker Chunks, Comment Chunks and Instruments Chunks support the integration of user-specific information and extended interfaces.
The AIFF file format was originally developed for exchanging audio data with Macintosh computers, but it is also part of the CD-I specification. There is a compressed version of AIFF, abbreviated as AIFF-C or Audio Interchange File Format Compressed( AIFC). The file extensions for AIFF files are *.aif, *.aiff and *.aifc.