|
Format |
Common File Extensions |
Comments |
|
ACELP.net |
|
A popular codec built into many popular web streaming formats, including Windows
Media and RealMedia |
|
Active Streaming Format (audio track) |
ASF |
Multimedia format developed by Microsoft, often combining audio, video, pictures,
and web content |
|
ADPCM |
WAV |
Adaptive Delta Pulse Code Modulation; comes in many codec varieties |
|
Annotated Speech File |
VAP |
Developed by Stok Software for their VBASE/40 speech editor |
|
ASCII text-formatted Audio |
TXT |
Audio data encoded in 8-bit text |
|
Aspect |
VSN |
formerly Voicetek Generations |
|
Audio Interchange File Format |
AIFF, AIF |
Developed by Apple for cross-platform compatability |
|
Audio Visual Research Sound |
AVR |
A propietary format developed by AVR |
|
BiCom |
|
Proprietary format for BiCom Computer Telephony systems |
|
Broadcast Wave |
BWF, WAV |
A PCM Wave file with additional encoding for broadcast use |
|
Centigram / SS8 Networks |
|
Proprietary VoIP format |
|
Covox 8-bit |
V8
|
|
|
Creative Labs Sound |
VOC |
Developed for Soundblaster PC sound cards - both new and old format versions supported |
|
Creative Nomand Voice |
NVF |
|
|
Dialogic VOX PCM/ADPCM |
VOX |
Used in many speech-enabled appliances and hardware |
|
DiamondWare Digitized Audio |
DWD |
|
|
DSP Group TrueSpeech |
|
|
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Elan Informatique / Babel Technologies |
|
French manufacturer of telephony cards and interfaces, developers of 'voice fonts' for
use in text-to-speech applications
|
|
Ensoniq PARIS Audio |
PAF |
Native format of the PARIS Production system |
|
ESPS Audio |
ESPS |
|
|
Free Lossless Audio Codec |
FLAC |
|
|
G.711 CCITT/ITU A-law |
ALAW, ALW, WAV |
Provides compatibility with Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) standards
used in Europe |
|
G.711 CCITT/ITU µ-law |
ULAW, ULW, WAV |
Sometimes called mu-law or u-law. A companding format which provides compatibility
with Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) standards used in the USA
and Japan. We use an patented, proprietary codec for the best possible
sound. |
|
G.721 CCITT/ITU 4-bit ADPCM |
G721 |
|
|
G.723 CCITT/ITU 3 or 5-bit ADPCM |
G723 |
|
|
G.726 CCITT/ITU 2, 3, 4 or 5-bit ADPCM |
G726 |
|
|
Group 2000 |
VSN |
|
|
GSM 6.10 |
GSM |
Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) format designed for the efficient compression of speech,
best for mid to high bit rate applications; normal or 'byte-aligned' |
|
IBM DirectTalk |
|
IBM's proprietary A-law codec |
|
IMA ADPCM |
|
Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) ADPCM format, designed for multiple hardware
platforms, similar to Intel's DVI format |
|
INRS-Telecommunications Audio |
INRS |
|
|
Interchange File Format |
IFF |
|
|
Interchange File Format, 8SVX/16SV |
SVX |
|
|
InterVoice-Brite |
|
Proprietary telephony format |
|
IRCAM SoundFile |
SF
|
Commonly used in film production |
|
Lernout & Hauspie CELP/SBC |
|
Speech format |
|
Matlab Variables Binary |
MAT |
Used by Matlab software |
|
Microlog Intela |
VSN |
|
|
Microsoft Audio Video Interleave |
AVI |
An older, general-purpose multimedia format developed by Microsoft |
|
Monkey Audio Losslessly Compressed |
APE |
PCM format using a proprietary compression algorithm |
|
MPEG 1 system stream |
MPEG, MPG |
Motion Picture Experts Group Type 1, widely used in DVD and digital transmission |
|
MPEG audio stream, layer I |
MP1, MPA |
|
|
MPEG audio stream, layer II |
MP2, MPA |
Various constant bit rates, used in digital cable, satellite TV & radio, and
DVD |
|
MPEG audio stream, layer III |
MP3, MPA |
Various constant and variable bit rates, very popular all-purpose entertainment
format. We use the Fraunhofer IIS (FhG) codec. |
|
Musifile MPEG Layer II |
MUS |
An alternate MPEG codec optimized for music |
|
Natural Microsystems |
VCE |
single-prompt, non-indexed |
|
Natural Microsystems |
VOX |
indexed multi-prompt |
|
NewVoice CVSD |
|
|
|
NIST Sphere Audio |
NIST |
|
|
Nortel Generations |
VSN |
Proprietary format used by many Nortel PBXs |
|
Ogg Vorbis |
OGG |
Used in some hardware and telephony |
|
OKI |
OKI |
|
|
Olympus DSS |
DSS |
Used by Olympus digital recorders/players |
|
PerfectVoice |
|
Proprietary format used in TELECO Voice Processing Systems |
|
PCM |
WAV |
See 'Wave (Windows PCM)' |
|
Phillips VoiceManager |
VSN |
Proprietary format used by Phillips |
|
PhoneBlaster SuperVoice |
|
Used by the Pacific Image SuperVoice application accompanying Creative Labs' PhoneBlaster
modem
|
|
PSION A-law Audio |
PSION |
|
|
QuickTime (Apple) |
MOV, QT |
Apple's popular multimedia format |
|
Raw 32-bit IEEE Floating Point |
F32 |
|
|
Raw 64-bit IEEE Floating Point |
F64 |
|
|
Raw Signed Byte (8-bit) |
SB
|
|
|
Raw Signed DWord (32-bit) |
SDW |
|
|
Raw Signed PCM |
RAW |
|
|
Raw Signed Word (16-bit) |
SW
|
|
|
Raw Unsigned Byte (8-bit) |
UB
|
|
|
Raw Unsigned DWord (32-bit) |
UDW |
|
|
Raw Unsigned PCM |
SND |
|
|
Raw Unsigned Word (16-bit) |
UW
|
|
|
RealMedia Audio / RealAudio |
RA, RM |
RealNetwork's streaming format for the Internet; many bit rates supported, including
'G2' multiple-bit-rate streams |
|
Rhetorex OKI |
|
Widely used in IVR, ACD, digital dictation (also see OKI) |
|
Rockwell 2, 3, or 4-bit ADPCM Raw |
ROCKWELL |
for generic modems using the Rockwell chipset |
|
Rockwell Rapidcom Voice/Quicklink ADPCM |
RIF |
for Rapidcom and Quicklink modems using the Rockwell chipset |
|
Samplevision Sample |
SMP |
|
|
SCII |
|
A proprietary French manufacturer of telephony and ISDN equipment |
|
Signed 8-bit Sample data |
SAM |
|
|
SndTool Sound |
SNDT |
|
|
Sonic Foundry 64-bit Wave |
W64 |
Hi-resolution wave format used by Sonic Foundry applications (now Sony) |
|
Sonic Foundry Sample Resource |
SFR |
Sound Forge musical sample format |
|
Sony Playstation/PS2 Compressed |
VAG |
Used in soundtracks of Sony Playstation games |
|
Sound Designer I |
DIG, SD |
Original format used by Sound Designer, an early Mac program |
|
Sound Designer II |
SD2, SDII |
native format for the Digidesign Pro Tools production system |
|
Sounder Sound |
SNDR |
|
|
Speach Data |
SPD |
|
|
SPPack Sound |
SPPACK, SPP |
|
|
Sun/NeXT/DEC Audio |
AU
|
Sound format for SUN/NeXT workstations |
|
Syntellect |
|
Proprietary telephony format |
|
Talx |
|
Proprietary format for the Talx Human Resources / Payroll IVR system |
|
US Robotics voice modems headered GSM (QuickLink) |
GSM |
developed for use in voice modems |
|
US Robotics voice modems headerless GSM (VoiceGuide / RapidComm) |
GSM |
developed for use in voice modems |
|
VBase/40 |
VAP |
Telephony format used by early Dialogic and other systems for indexed multi-prompt files |
|
Visual Voice |
|
Format for voice processing, IVR, and speech recognition systems from Stylus Innovation,
now defunct |
|
VivoActive G.723.1 |
|
Web / general purpose multimedia format, good for speech |
|
VivoActive Siren |
|
Web / general purpose multimedia format, higher bit rate than G.723.1 |
|
VoiceTek Generations |
VSN |
see 'Aspect' |
|
Voxware MetaSound |
|
excellent high-fidelity compression for many different types of audio, similar to
MP3 |
|
Voxware Metavoice |
|
good performance for extremely low bit rate speech |
|
Wave (Windows PCM) |
WAV |
The most widely used digital audio format, developed by Microsoft; many sample rates,
bit depths supported: 8-bits linear PCM, 16-bits linear PCM, 24-bits linear PCM,
A-law, Mu-law, Dialogic ADPCM, OKI ADPCM
|
|
Wave (Windows PCM) 'Extensible type' |
WAV |
Windows PCM variant adapted for web applications |
|
Windows Media Audio |
WMA |
Original Windows Media audio format, both V1 and V2 |
|
Windows Media Audio 9 |
WMA |
several codecs, including Constant Bit Rate, Variable Bit Rate, Lossless, Professional,
Voice, and ACELP.net |
|
Windows Media Video (audio track) |
WMV |
Streaming video, developed by Microsoft |