Editing Audio Interchange File Format (section)

{{Short description|File format family}}
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{{Infobox file format
| name                   = Audio Interchange File Format <br>(AIFF)
| icon                   = 
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             = 
| caption                = 
| extension              = .aiff<br />.aif<br />.aifc
| mime                   = audio/x-aiff<br />audio/aiff
| type code              = AIFF, AIFC
| uniform type           = public.aiff-audio<br />public.aifc-audio
| magic                  = 
| owner                  = [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]
| released               = {{start date and age|1988|01|21|df=yes}}<ref name="aiff-spec">{{citation |url=https://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 |author=Apple Computer, Inc. |date=1989-01-04 |access-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}}<!-- {{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=https://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 |access-date=2010-03-21}}</ref>
| genre                  = [[Audio file format]], [[container format (digital)|container format]]
| container for          = 
| contained by           = 
| extended from          = [[Interchange File Format|IFF (File format)]]
| extended to            = 
| standard               = 
| free                   = 
| url                    = 
}}

'''Audio Interchange File Format''' ('''AIFF''') is an [[audio file format]] standard used for storing [[sound]] data for [[personal computer]]s and other electronic audio devices. The format was developed by [[Apple Inc.|Apple Inc]]. in 1988 based on [[Electronic Arts]]' [[Interchange File Format]] (IFF, widely used on [[Amiga]] systems) and is most commonly used on [[Macintosh|Apple Macintosh]] computer systems.

The [[digital audio|audio data]] in most AIFF files is uncompressed [[pulse-code modulation]] (PCM). This type of AIFF file uses much more disk space than [[lossy]] formats like [[MP3]]—about 10 MB for one minute of stereo audio at a sample rate of 44.1&nbsp;kHz and a bit depth of 16 bits. There is also a compressed variant of AIFF known as '''AIFF-C''' or '''AIFC''', with various defined compression codecs.

In addition to audio data, AIFF can include [[Loop (music)|loop]] point data and the musical note of a [[sampling (music)|sample]], for use by hardware samplers and musical applications.

The file extension for the standard AIFF format is <code>.aiff</code> or <code>.aif</code>. For the compressed format the preferred suffix is <code>.aifc</code>, but audio applications supporting the format also allow <code>.aiff</code> or <code>.aif</code>.