AU File Documentation

Overview

Feature Value
File Extension .au
MIME Type audio/basic
Developed by Sun Microsystems
Format Type Audio file format
Compression Both uncompressed and compressed
Endian Big Endian
Header Contains magic number, data offset, data size, encoding, sample rate, channels
Magic Number .snd
Data Offset Specifies audio data start position
Data Size Specifies the size of audio data in bytes
Encoding Types Various, including PCM, a-law, μ-law
Sample Rate Variable
Channels Monaural or stereo
Usage Primarily on UNIX systems
Quality Depends on the specific encoding and sample rate
File Structure Header followed by audio data
Primary Application For simple audio recordings, system sounds
Advantages Simple format, widely supported in UNIX
Disadvantages Limited metadata, not as widely supported outside UNIX