What is a CAF file?
Apple's high-capacity audio container format
The Core Audio Format (CAF) was created in 2005 by Apple and is a container for storing high quality audio. It is compatible with all macOSX 10.4 and higher operating systems. It is often seen as an improvement to the AIF, AIFF, and WAV file formats namely by exceeding the 4GB file size limit of those older formats. It uses 64-bit offsets to accomplish this. A CAF container is similar to the QuickTime .MOV container file; they both can contain many different audio formats, metadata tracks, and much more metadata including (creator, track length, file name, album, composer, and more). CAF files are primarily used by Soundtrack Pro and Logic Studio for loops and audio effects. When used with the Apple Lossless codec, surround sound audio clips are stored in CAF files.
Common uses for CAF files
- Logic Pro audio production
- Soundtrack Pro loops
- Long-form audio recording
- Logic Pro
- Soundtrack Pro
- Apple audio applications
Who works with CAF files?
Music producers and audio-post professionals working in Logic Pro (and formerly Soundtrack Pro) encounter CAF as the native format for Apple Loops and sound effects. iOS and macOS app and game developers work with CAF files for system sounds, alerts, and in-game audio through Apple's Core Audio framework, and sound designers use it to package UI effects and surround-sound clips. Field recordists and audio engineers capturing multi-hour sessions also choose it because it avoids the 4 GB ceiling of WAV and AIFF.
CAF vs WAV: which should you use?
Both CAF and WAV can store uncompressed PCM audio at identical quality, but WAV's 32-bit header caps files at 4 GB while CAF's 64-bit offsets allow recordings of virtually any length. CAF can also hold compressed codecs such as AAC and Apple Lossless along with richer metadata, whereas WAV has near-universal support across platforms and software. Choose WAV for maximum compatibility outside the Apple ecosystem; choose CAF for very long sessions or Apple-centric production workflows.
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