Audio Formats
Your computer will save audio information to its hard drive (or specified floppy disk drive) in a digital format depending on what type of hardware, operating system and audio-related application you are using. These digital audio sound files do not degrade with continuous use and listening. You can listen to these files on your PC, either from a file, CD or over the Internet, depending on what format they are in and what type of audio-related application or player your computer has installed on it. These formats are identified by their file extension. There are many different sound files type that have developed over the years due to various competing hardware, operating systems and software applications. These sound files differ from each other based on the encoding parametrs (how the actual sounds were stored in the file) and their compression formats. Some files even include additional information other than the digital audio data. Some of these formats have been superseded by newer formats and are not widely in use any more but you will still see references made to them.
| Format, File Extension or Acronym | Association | |
|---|---|---|
| AAC | MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coding video and sound file | |
| ACD | Acidized Sonic Foundry Project (.wav files) File (.acd) | |
| ADM | Adaptive Delta Modulation | |
| ADPCM | Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation | |
| AIFF | Audio Interchange / Information File Format (Apple Computers, .aiff, .aif and .aifc compressed format) | |
| AKP | Akai S5000 and Akai S6000 Program File | |
| APE | Monkey’s Audio digital audio file (.ape) | |
| APT-X | Audio Processing Technology compression algorithm | |
| ARL | Aureal Sound Bank File | |
| ARR | Steinberg Cubasis AV Arrangement File | |
| ASF | Microsoft Active Streaming Format (.asf) | |
| ASX | Microsoft Meta-file for redirection to an ASF streaming format file located on a HTTP Server (.asx) | |
| ASFS | Audiosoft format | |
| ATRAC | Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (Sony Mini-disc; Also as ATRAC-3) | |
| AU | Sun Audio Unix Workstation ulaw/NeXT Audio File ulaw | |
| AVI | Microsoft Audio Video Interleave File | |
| AVR | Audio Visual Reasearch, Atari computers | |
| B4S | ShoutCast Playlist format (Winamp 3) | |
| BMO | Blue Matter File (.bmo; also .bmr and .bmt) | |
| BMW | Buzz Machine Song File (without embedded sample) | |
| BMX | Buzz Machine embedded sample Song File | |
| BNK | Ad-lib Instrument File | |
| BSE | Bedeviled Sound Engine (Linux-based) samplr file (.bse) | |
| BWF | Broadcast Wave format subset specified by the European Broadcast Union | |
| CBK | Creative Labs Wave Blaster Sound Bank file | |
| CDA | Compact Disk Audio (sometimes as CD-DA) | |
| CFX | Crystal Audio Engine Audio real-time effects plug-in | |
| CIN | Crystal Audio Engine Audio Input | |
| CMF | Creative Labs Creative Music File | |
| CYC | Cakewalk Cyclone Groove Sampler embedded sample and settings File | |
| CWO | Crystal Audio Engine Audio Output | |
| DIG SD | Sound Designer I | |
| DLS | Down Loadable Sounds (.dls) | |
| DMF | Delusion Digital Music File | |
| DMF | XTracker Sound Module | |
| DS | DrumSynth .ds file | |
| DSD | Direct Stream Digital (Super Audio CD) | |
| DSF | Delusion Digital Sound File | |
| DSI | Dream Station Sounds (Audio Simulation) | |
| DSM | Digital Sound Module | |
| DSP | Dynamic Studio Professional Module | |
| DSS | Dream Station Songs (Audio Simulation) | |
| DTM | DigiTrekker Module | |
| DTS | Digital Theater Systems | |
| DWD | DiamondWare Digitized File | |
| EA | Emblaze Audio File | |
| EFA | Ensoniq ASR File | |
| EFS | Ensoniq SQ80 File | |
| EMM | IBM EMMS File (.emm) | |
| ePAC | Lucent Technologies Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coding | |
| EPOC | Psion series palmtop audio file | |
| EXS24 | Logic Audio sample audio file | |
| FAR | Farandole Composer Module | |
| FLA | Macromedia Flash File | |
| FLAC | FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) lossless digital audio file (compatible with Ogg Vorbis) | |
| FLP | Fruity Loops Loop File (.flp) | |
| FLT | StarTrekker Sound Module | |
| FSM | Farandole Composer WaveSample | |
| FST | Fruity Loops Sample Instrument File (.fst) | |
| F2R | Farandole Linear Module | |
| F3r | Farandole Blocked Linear Module | |
| FXP | Steinberg HALion instrument file (.fxp) | |
| GIG | GigaStudio Native Instrument file (.gig) | |
| GKH | Ensoniq Disk Image (VFX, SD, EPS, ASR, TS) | |
| GS MIDI | Roland Instruments MIDI | |
| GT2 | GraoumfTracker Sound Module | |
| IBK | Instrument Bank File (FM sysnthesis) | |
| IDF | MS Windows Instrument Definition File | |
| IFF | Interchange Format File (IFF), Amiga Computers format | |
| IMA ADPCM | Interactive Multimedia Association Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation | |
| INS | Cakewalk Instrument Definition File | |
| INS | Ensoniq Instrument File | |
| IT | Impulse Tracker | |
| IVC | Intervoice | |
| KMP | Korg Trinity KeyMap File | |
| KRZ | Kurzweil K2000 File | |
| LA1 | Liquid Audio File (.la1) | |
| LAW | Logic Audio song file | |
| LQT | Liquid Audio Track (.lqt) | |
| LAVS | Liquid Audio Secure Download (.lavs) | |
| MDZ | Cubic Player / OpenCP Module | |
| MED | MED/OctaMED Module; sometimes also as MMD0 through MMD3 | |
| MES | a2b music file by AT&T (.mes) | |
| MJF | Mjuice Audio File (.mjf) | |
| MND | MusicNet Download File (.mnd) | |
| MND | RealOne Music Download File (.mnd) | |
| MNS | MusicNet Streaming File (.mns) | |
| MOD | Protracker/Fastracker/Startrekker Module, Amiga Computers | |
| MOV | Apple Quicktime and QDesign multimedia File (.mov) | |
| MPC | Akai MPC2000XL Sampler file (.mpc) | |
| MPC | MusePack (.mpc) | |
| MPE | Destiny MPE Secure Audio | |
| MPEG-1 | MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) Layer 1 (.mp1) | |
| MPEG-2 | MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) Layer 2 (.mp2) | |
| MP3 | MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) Layer 3 (.mp3) | |
| MPEG-4 | MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) 4 File (.mp4, .mpe) | |
| MPG | Moving Pictures Experts Group | |
| MPGA | MPEG Audio File (.mpga) | |
| MTM | MultiTracker Module | |
| MT2 | Mad Tracker 2 Sound Module | |
| M3U | .mp3 Playlist File (.m3u) | |
| MX3 | MPEG File (.mx3) | |
| NAP | Napster secure file | |
| NST | Noise Tracker Sound Module | |
| NTX | NETrax proprietary format of mcy.com | |
| OGG | Ogg Vorbis File (.ogg) | |
| OKT | Oktalizer Sound Module (spelled also Oktalyzer and Octalyser) | |
| OMS | Open Music System by Opcode | |
| PAC | SBStudio II Package or Song | |
| PAC | LPAC lossless digital audio file (.pac) | |
| PAF | PARIS (Professional Audio Recording Integrated System) by Ensoniq Audio File | |
| PAT | Gravis Ultrasound Patch | |
| PBF | Pinnacle Bank File (Turtle Beach) | |
| PCA | Perfect Clarity Audio (Sonic Foundry) | |
| PCM | Pulse Code Modulation (Uncompressed Raw Sound File) (.pcm) | |
| PLS | ShoutCast Playlist File (.pls) | |
| PSM | Protracker Studio Module | |
| PTM | PolyTracker Sound Module | |
| QDX | Q Design | |
| RA | RealAudio (.ra) | |
| RAM | RealAudio Meta-file for redirecting to an RM streaming format file on an HTTP or Real server (.ram, also .rmm) | |
| RAW | PCM Signed Raw Sound File | |
| RCY | Propellerheads ReCycle .rcy sample file | |
| REX | Propellerheads ReCycle .rex sample file | |
| RIFF | Resource Interchange Format File, WAV is a subset of this format | |
| RJM | RealAudio 8 File (.rjm, Native format from RealNetworks) | |
| RM | RealMedia File (.rm; also .rmx, .rmj, .rms) | |
| RMI | An RIFF MIDI format that includes copyright and non performance data (MS Windows) | |
| RMF | Rich Music Format by Beatnik (.rmf) | |
| RMP | RealJukebox Track info package file (.rmp) | |
| RMVD | RealMedia VBR File (.rmvd) | |
| ROL | Ad-Lib Sound File | |
| RPM | Real Player Media | |
| RTM | Real Tracker Sound Module | |
| RTS | Real Tracker sample file | |
| RX2 | Propellerheads ReCycle 2.0 .rx2 sample file | |
| SACD | Sony/Philips Super Audio Compact Disk | |
| SAF | Secure Audio Format (InterTrust) | |
| SBK | Emu SoundFont Bank (AWE32 Sound Bank) (.sbk) | |
| SBI | Creative Labs Sound Blaster Instrument file | |
| SDII | Sound Designer II by Digidesign (also as .sd2 or Session8 on Windows) | |
| SDK | Roland S-550/S-50/W-30 Disk Image | |
| SDS | MIDI Sample DUMP Standard File | |
| SDS | MIDI SDS | |
| SDX | Sample DUMP Exchange File | |
| SES | Cool Edit Session File | |
| SF | IRCAM Sound File (also as .sf) | |
| SF2 | SoundFont, version 2 (EMU-Systems) (.sf2) | |
| SFD | SoundStage Sound File Data | |
| SFR | Sonic Foundry | |
| SHN | Shortened File by Softsound (.shn) | |
| SID | Sound Interface Device format from Commodore 64 | |
| SKD | SSEYO Koan Design File (.skd) | |
| SKM | SSEYO Koan Mix File (.skm) | |
| SKP | SSEYO Koan Play encryption File (.skp) | |
| SKT | SSEYO Koan Template File (.skt) | |
| 669 | Composer Tracker File | |
| SMP | Samplevision File or Ad Lib Sampler | |
| SMP | Turtle Beach | |
| SND | Either a NeXT SoundStruct file format or Apple format | |
| SND | Sounder / Soundtools (.snd) | |
| SNG | Tandy mod file | |
| SOU | SBStudio II Sound File | |
| S22 | Digigram; also S32 | |
| STM | Scream Tracker 1 & 2 | |
| STX | Scream Tracker Module | |
| ST3 | Scream Tracker 3 | |
| S3I | Digiplayer/ST3 Sample File | |
| S3M | Scream Tracker version 3 Module, also sometimes as S3Z | |
| SVX | Amiga Computers SVX, sometimes also as 8SVX | |
| SWA | Shockwave audio format | |
| SWF | Shockwave file format (.swf) | |
| SYN | SimSynth 1 and 2 | |
| SYW | Yamaha SY-85/SY-99 Wave File | |
| SYX | Yamaha XG compatible project file (saving and loading) | |
| SYX | MIDI System Exclusive File | |
| TRK | Mixman Studio | |
| TXW | Yamaha TX-16W Wave File | |
| ULT | UltraTracker Sound Module | |
| UMX | Unreal Music File | |
| UNI | UNIMOD Sound Module | |
| UWF | UltraTracker WaveSample | |
| V8 | Covox V8 | |
| VBA | VBase ADPCM File | |
| VCE | Natural MicroSystems VCE File | |
| VOC | Creative Lab’s SoundBlaster/Creative Voice Sound File (.voc) | |
| VOX | Dialogic Vox ADPCM File | |
| VOX | Pika ADPCM File | |
| VQF | Yamaha Sound TwinVQ (.vqf) | |
| WAV | Microsoft Windows file format, RIFF Waveform Audio (.wav) | |
| WMA | Microsoft Windows Media Audio (.wma) | |
| WOW | Grave Composer | |
| WVC | WavePack digital audio file (.wvc) | |
| WVE | Psion series palmtop audio file | |
| XG MIDI | Yamaha instruments MIDI | |
| XGP | Yamaha XG parameter files (for Loading only) | |
| XI | Fastracker 2.0 Extended Instrument File | |
| XM | Fastracker 2.0 Module | |
| XM | XM Audio | |
| XPL | MP3 Playlist File (.xpl) | |
| XWS | Yamaha XGworks Original File/XGworks Original File with .wav |
Categories: Basics