What is a .WAV file?
File extension: .wav
Format Type: Uncompressed Lossless
Waveform audio files (also known as WAV files) are one of the most popular digital audio formats and the gold standard for studio recording. WAV was one of the first digital audio formats and quickly became a staple on all platforms. Although decades have passed, it still maintains its position as one of the world’s leading professional audio formats.
WAV files capture and reconstruct the original audio waveform at the highest quality without affecting or altering the sonic character of the sound in any way. WAV uses PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) to encode data by dividing it into small parts to provide the best possible quality. This is a lossless file format, which means no data is lost. Therefore, what is captured and recorded is the closest mathematical/numerical representation of the original audio waveform, with no appreciable loss of audio quality in the process.
WAV files are also uncompressed, which means that the data is stored as-is in its full original format, without decoding.
What is an .AIFF file?
File extension: .aif or .aiff
Format Type: Uncompressed Lossless
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) works the same way: it provides studio-quality audio recording and playback. AIFF offers the same sample rate and bit depth options as WAV files, AIFF uses PCM to record audio waveforms as precise samples (slices) to provide the best possible audio recording quality and sound playback. Like WAV, AIFF also stores data in an uncompressed lossless format, which means no quality loss, just pure sound.
So what is the difference between the two? Mainly it’s about the story. WAV was created by a partnership between Microsoft Windows and IBM, so WAV files can only be played natively on Windows computers. AIFF, on the other hand, is the Macintosh’s answer to WAV files, enabling studio-quality audio recording and playback on Apple computers. Today, both formats can be recorded and played back natively on any operating system, making them easily interchangeable and providing the same high-quality audio regardless of format.
