AIFF, Audio Interchage File Format (.aiff)

The AIFF Audio file format

The AIFF (Audio Interchage File Format) extension is a standard for the storage of sound data on various electronic audio devices. It was created in 1988 by Apple using Electronic Art’s Interchange File Format (IFF). AIFF files are uncompressed (lossless) and are much larger than the well-known compressed and lossy MP3 files. AIFF files can include loop information and sound samples. AIFF files are commonly used on computers with the MAC OS. The common users of AIFF files are professional musicians that value the high quality of the files and can handle the large storage needs. The various types of AIFF files are often stored under the same file extension despite small variances in storage method with no difference in quality.

Technical details of AIFF files

One minute of an AIFF file (at 44.1 kHz and 16-bits) requires 10mb of storage. AIFF files contain various chunks: Common, Sound data, Marker, Instrument, Comment, Name, Author, Copyright, Annotation, Audio recording, MIDI data, Application, and ID3. The two data chunks required at all times are Common and Sound. AIFF files are useful for streaming data rapidly with multiple files sending at one time between the disk and application. Compressed AIFF files should use the AIFC extension, but are not required to do so. One variant of AIFF files is the AIFF-C/sowt. The two are nearly identical and can be converted back and forth without quality loss, but some applications cannot play the AIFf-C/sowt, so conversion is necessary.

More information about the AIFF file format

File extension .aiff
File category Audio
Example file Download example.aiff file (6.3 MiB)
Associated programs Apple QuickTime
VLC media Player
Winamp
Windows Media Player
Useful links More information on AIFF
File conversion Convert a file to AIFF
Developer Apple Inc
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Convert your AIFF file to another file format

  1. AIFF to AAC
  2. AIFF to FLAC
  3. AIFF to M4A
  4. AIFF to MMF
  5. AIFF to MP3
  6. AIFF to OGG
  7. AIFF to OPUS
  8. AIFF to WAV
  9. AIFF to WMA
  10. AIFF to MP4

Convert your audio file to the AIFF format

  1. MP2 to AIFF
  2. PDF to AIFF
  3. WMV to AIFF
  4. MOV to AIFF
  5. M4R to AIFF
  6. AIFC to AIFF
  7. AIF to AIFF
  8. WMA to AIFF
  9. AAC to AIFF
  10. MPEG to AIFF
  11. M4V to AIFF
  12. WAV to AIFF
  13. OPUS to AIFF
  14. AMR to AIFF
  15. 3G2 to AIFF
  16. MID to AIFF
  17. APE to AIFF
  18. 3GP to AIFF
  19. WEBM to AIFF
  20. M4A to AIFF

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