Editing Audio file format (section)

===Uncompressed audio format===
{{See also|Raw audio format | Uncompressed video}}
One major uncompressed audio format, [[LPCM]], is the same variety of PCM as used in [[Compact Disc Digital Audio]] and is the format most commonly accepted by low level audio [[API]]s and [[D/A converter]] hardware. Although LPCM can be stored on a computer as a [[raw audio format]], it is usually stored in a <code>.wav</code> file on [[Windows]] or in a <code>.aiff</code> file on [[macOS]]. The [[Audio Interchange File Format]] (AIFF) format is based on the [[Interchange File Format]] (IFF), and the WAV format is based on the similar [[Resource Interchange File Format]] (RIFF). WAV and AIFF are designed to store a wide variety of audio formats, lossless and lossy; they just add a small, [[metadata]]-containing header before the audio data to declare the format of the audio data, such as LPCM with a particular [[sampling (signal processing)|sample rate]], [[audio bit depth|bit depth]], [[endianness]] and number of [[audio channel|channels]]. Since WAV and AIFF are widely supported and can store LPCM, they are suitable file formats for storing and archiving an original recording.

[[Broadcast Wave Format|BWF]] (Broadcast Wave Format) is a standard audio format created by the [[European Broadcasting Union]] as a successor to WAV. Among other enhancements, BWF allows more robust [[metadata]] to be stored in the file. See ''[[Broadcast Wave Format|European Broadcasting Union: Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format]]'' (EBU Technical document 3285, July 1997). This is the primary recording format used in many professional audio workstations in the television and film industry. BWF files include a standardized [[timestamp]] reference which allows for easy synchronization with a separate picture element. Stand-alone, file based, multi-track recorders from AETA,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aeta-audio.com/ |title=AETA AUDIO SYSTEMS: home |date=2016-01-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129100145/http://www.aeta-audio.com/ |archive-date=January 29, 2016 }}</ref> Sound Devices,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sounddevices.com/|title=Sound Devices - Home|website=www.sounddevices.com}}</ref> Zaxcom,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://zaxcom.com/|title=Zaxcom|website=zaxcom.com}}</ref> HHB Communications Ltd,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hhb.co.uk/|title=- HHB|website=www.hhb.co.uk}}</ref> [[Fostex]], Nagra, Aaton,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aaton.com|title=Aaton Digital|website=aaton.com}}</ref> and [[TASCAM]] all use BWF as their preferred format.