AIF (AIFF) is an audio file format. Under the name Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF), it was developed in 1988 by Apple Computer Corporation. At the same time, the IFF format from the developer Electronic Arts has become the base. This format is commonly used on Apple Macintosh PCs. An AIFF file is an uncompressed CD-quality audio that is very similar to the .WAV format. Since there is no compression in AIFF, the file takes up more space compared to compressed counterparts: 1 minute of standard stereo audio usually takes about 10 MB. AIFF is a format that has found application in professional audio and video applications, because compared to such a popular format as mp3, the sound does not lose quality in it. The extension for a standard file of this format is .AIFF or .AIF. AIFF is mainly used in working with sound professionals who need to preserve high-quality sound bites, sound tracks. Most types of musical equipment support the loading of sound clips in AIFF format. AIFF audio files are usually large. They occupy approximately 10 MB per minute of sound. AIFF audio files have good support among universal players and multimedia software.
WAV (or WAVE) is actually the first full-fledged audio format with good sound quality. It was developed quite a few years ago by the joint efforts of Microsoft and IBM. Sometimes this format is even called “Audio for Windows,” because it is the standard for storing audio stream for a traditional Windows desktop computer. Full name - Wave Audio File Format. The short name is derived from the English word wave ("wave"). The peculiarity of this format of digitized audio stream is the lack of compression. WAV files take up too much space, but it is ideal for storing high quality files in their original form.