Hi,
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:51:03 -0000
From: "John Lundsten" <john.lunds...@blueyonder.co.uk>
IMO if one wants to store so called linear PCM, use WAV. All other
formats offer less & only exist for (a) backward compatibility for
which I have no problem or (b) to screw the customer, which I find
obnoxious.
AIFF, AIFC, SD2, CAF, have no good reason to exist! (beyond some
dodgy Commercial imperative to .....)
John L
The first three have existed for some time, and presumably there were
good reasons for them being created. Apple showed interest in sound
long before Microsoft. They fall into your category a).
SD2 has long been discarded for general use, but it is still
desirable to be able to read and convert it.
AIFF to WAV conversion and vice versa is fairly trivial nowadays and
both formats are generally cross platform.
AIFC has never really been in mainstream use, and the compression
algorithms allowed in it have been superseded.
CAF is slightly different in that it is a container format that can
contain many different audio formats and other data. Unlike .mov
or .mpeg it is audio only, so possibly most useful for sample and
loop libraries.
WAV itself, although adopted for compatibility and universality
reasons, has been modified (BWAV, WAVE-FORMAT-EXTENSIBLE, W64, RF64),
and may become obsolete. Nothing lasts for ever.
Being a long term Mac user, almost my entire collection of audio
files are AIFF. I feel secure using it, and have never had any
problem with the format, whereas some WAV files don't work with some
applications and have to be converted
Ciao,
Dave.
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