Core Audio Format
Encyclopedia
The Core Audio Format is a container for storing audio, developed by Apple Inc.. It is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4
and higher; Mac OS X 10.3
needs QuickTime
7 to be installed.
Core Audio Format is designed to overcome limitations of older digital audio formats, including AIFF
and WAV
.
Just like the QuickTime .mov container, a .caf container can contain many different audio formats, metadata tracks, and much more data.
Not limited to a 4 GB
file size like older digital audio formats, a single .caf file can theoretically save hundreds of years of recorded audio due to its use of 64-bit file offsets.
Soundtrack Pro
and Logic Studio
use the .caf format extensively for their loop and sound effects library, particularly for surround-sound audio compressed with the Apple Lossless
codec.
Mac OS X v10.4
Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Tiger was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X Panther , which had been released 18 months earlier...
and higher; Mac OS X 10.3
Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
needs QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
7 to be installed.
Core Audio Format is designed to overcome limitations of older digital audio formats, including AIFF
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...
and WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
.
Just like the QuickTime .mov container, a .caf container can contain many different audio formats, metadata tracks, and much more data.
Not limited to a 4 GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
file size like older digital audio formats, a single .caf file can theoretically save hundreds of years of recorded audio due to its use of 64-bit file offsets.
Soundtrack Pro
Soundtrack Pro
Soundtrack Pro was a music composing and audio editing application made by Apple Inc., which includes a collection of just over 5000 royalty free professional instrument loops and sound effects...
and Logic Studio
Logic Studio
Logic Studio is a music production suite by Apple Inc. The first version of Logic Studio was unveiled on September 12, 2007.It claims to be the largest collection of modeled instruments, sampler instruments, effect plug-ins, and audio loops ever put in a single box.The package contains Logic Pro,...
use the .caf format extensively for their loop and sound effects library, particularly for surround-sound audio compressed with the Apple Lossless
Apple Lossless
Apple Lossless Apple Lossless Apple Lossless (also known as ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), or ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder) is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. After initially being proprietary for many years, in late 2011 Apple open sourced...
codec.