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 plain or basic. The au file format was once commonly used on various personal computer systems and web pages, but is not as commonly used today, so in order to listen to an au file on newer media players, it is often necessary to use a converter. audio. This audio file format was created by the Sun Microsystems computer company and originally used what is called the U-Law data encoding method, referring to a type of logarithmic encoding 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.
Early personal computers used to use au files.
A raw audio file created with the u-Law logarithmic encoding method, sometimes called mu-Law, is essentially identical to an au file, with the only difference being that newer au files have a header. Raw u-Law files and older au files had no header. This sound file format was used in computer systems developed and sold by NeXT, a computer company founded by Steve Jobs in 1985. The u-Law method of logarithmic encoding of sound data was also used extensively in the Unix operating system, which it was used by Sun Microsystems for some of their computer systems.
Au files are used by the Audacity digital audio editor.
A newer au file has three basic parts: a header, an optional information block that can vary in size, and the audio data itself. Included in the header is the sample rate, the length of the data in bytes, and the number of channels. For example, if the header specifies the number of channels as one, the sound is mono, and if it is set to two, the sound is stereo.
To listen to an au file using the latest audio technology, conversion of the file is usually required. Several audio converters on the market can handle the au format, including Fx Audio Tools, ACDR, and Allok Audio Converter. Despite the development of many newer computer file formats for audio, such as mp3, the au file format is still used on the Internet and can be used for sound by Java programs. Au files are also used by the Audacity digital audio editor, which is a free program.
