There are three supported sound formats in Java to date, as well as the MIDI music format, which we will discuss later in the chapter. The available sound formats can be seen in the following table:

File Extension

Description

.wav

This is the most common file format for Windows-based computers, although the Apple Mac also supports it.

.au (or .snd)

This format tends to be used mainly on Sun workstations and also on the Internet; however, it is only really useful for speech samples.

.aif

The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is most commonly used on the Apple Mac.