The au file format, created by Sun Microsystems, is an older audio format used by early personal computers and web pages. It uses u-Law coding and newer versions support other encoding formats. Au files have a header and can be opened by various programs, but may require conversion for newer media players. The format is still used on the internet and by Audacity.
An au file is a computer file with the filename extension .au or sometimes .snd, and is an older audio file format often described as simple or basic. The au file format was commonly used by various early personal computer systems and web pages, but is not as commonly used today, so to listen to an au file on newer media players, it is often necessary to use an audio converter. This audio file format was created by the computer company Sun Microsystems and originally used what is called the u-Law coding method for data, referring to a logarithmic coding type used primarily in Japan and North America. Newer versions of the au format also support other types of audio encoding formats. Audio programs that can open an au file include QuickTime, the 32-bit version of Real Player, Winamp, and Microsoft Windows Media Player.
A raw audio file created using the u-Law logarithmic encoding method, sometimes called mu-Law, is essentially identical to an au file, except that newer au files have a header. The u-Law raw files and the earlier au files were both headerless. This audio file format was used on computer systems developed and sold by NeXT, a computer company founded by Steve Jobs in 1985. The u-Law method of logarithmic encoding of audio data was also used extensively on the Unix operating system, used by Sun Microsystems for some of its computer systems.
A newer au file has three basic parts: a header, an optional block of information that can vary in length, and the audio data itself. Included in the header is the sample rate, data length in bytes, and number of words. For example, if the header specifies the number of channels as one, the audio is in mono and if it is set to two, the audio is in stereo.
To listen to an au file using the latest audio technology, conversion of the file is often required. Various audio converters in the market can handle au format, including Fx Audio Tools, ACDR and Allok Audio Converter. Despite the development of many new computer file formats for audio, such as mp3, the au file format is still used on the Internet and can be used for audio from Java programs. Au files are also used by the digital audio editor Audacity, which is a freeware program.
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