AIFF vs wave on Mac - processing power?

sam i am · Post by **sam i am** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:06 am

Hi

been recording some vinyl to start DJing from Ableton

before I get too far in, I thought I should ask..

am I better off recording to wave files or AIFF?

I know the quality is the same I'm just wondering about what one is less processor intensive

got a Mac so assuming maybe AIFF, but if there's no different I might stick to wave

if anyone's got the lowdown on this, I'd appreciate it. Cheers

oh yeah - I might want to back it all up on CD too if that makes a difference...

justin · Post by **justin** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:57 am

dont think it makes any difference... wav / aiff are just filetypes, the process remains the same and they are both uncompressed audio files.

u might also want to check out amadeus 2:
http://www.hairersoft.com/Amadeus.html

Q: What is an RIAA curve?
A: In general, LP’s are engraved with reduced bass levels and increased treble levels. In the sixties, the
RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) introduced a standard filter that was used on most
recordings since then. The filter “RIAA” available from “Filters” in the “Effect” menu allows to com-
pensate this filter in order to reproduce LP recordings in the correct way.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:47 pm

Both WAV and AIFF are derivatives of the IFF file type, so the processing power required to read/write to them is almost equivilent.

However, I personally prefer AIFF, as it has a better design and fewer compatibility problems (even though compatibility problems with WAV are no longer common).

for[e]sight · Post by **for[e]sight** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:05 pm

i've actually tried renaming AIFF file's extension to WAV and it still works! so my theory is that they are both the same.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:15 pm

for[e]sight wrote:i've actually tried renaming AIFF file's extension to WAV and it still works! so my theory is that they are both the same.

Are you using a mac? If so, then it's no magic... macs are just smart enough to tell the difference based on the MIME file type, not just the 3-character extension.

Because, I can assure you, internally the two formats are quite different.

for[e]sight · Post by **for[e]sight** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:39 pm

sqook: i've tried it on a PC years ago, and recently on a Mac too.