What is a .CAF file?
CAF is Apple’s Core Audio Format, able to hold very large audio files. Created by Apple.
- Did you know
- CAF lifts the size limits of WAV and AIFF for long, high-resolution recordings.
- Core Audio Format was introduced by Apple in Mac OS X Tiger and uses 64-bit offsets throughout, so a single file can in theory exceed nine exabytes.
- A CAF file is built as a sequence of variable-length chunks in big-endian order, with a header that names the format and its version.
- What Analyser reads
- Identify many more audio formats: lossless/hi-res codecs (Monkey’s Audio, WavPack, TAK, True Audio, DSD/SACD, Musepack), pro containers (Core Audio, RF64/BW64, Wave64, Sun AU, Broadcast Wave with timecode), speech/mobile (Speex, AMR-WB, QCP, 3GA, M4R, GSM), MPEG Layer I/II, instrument banks (SoundFont, SFZ, DLS, RIFF MIDI, GigaStudio), ringtones (RTTTL, iMelody, SAP), tracker modules (MOD, XM, IT, S3M, OctaMED, 669, Oktalyzer), chiptunes (NES NSF, SNES SPC, VGM, Game Boy GBS, AY, YM) and Audacity projects.
- Depth of analysis
- .CAF is an identification-grade format: Analyser recognises it from its bytes and decodes the header metadata it carries, rather than opening it in a full viewer. Formats that do get a full viewer are marked "Full" on the formats page.
- Open a .CAF file
- Drag a .CAF file onto the Analyser home page (or tap to pick one). It is identified entirely in your browser - nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it works offline once installed.