File Extensions - AIF / AIFF File Format

SUMMARY: Explains .AIF / .AIFF files - audio files most often used on the Macintosh platform.

Files with the .AIF or .AIFF extension normally contain audio data (AIFF is short for Audio Interchange File Format). These types of files are common on Macintosh computers, especially with professional-quality audio recording and editing software.

AIFF files normally contain uncompressed audio data, meaning these files contain better quality sound than .MP3 music files, but they can take up a large amount of space. However, a separate AIFF-C compressed format exists.

On the Windows platform, many software packages can play these files including Windows Media Player and Winamp. However, some versions of Winamp may be vulnerable to maliciously-crafted AIFF files.

Windows users: NOTE that unless you have configured your computer with the file extension viewing tweak (Vista version of the file extension viewing tweak), it is possible that a filename that looks like it ends with ".aif" or ".aiff", especially one attached to an e-mail message, actually has a hidden OTHER extension, meaning that if you double-click the file, it may actually run a computer virus!