SND to CAF Converter

SND is a multi-platform audio file extension used across several computing ecosystems since the late 1980s. On Sun and NeXT workstations, .snd files follow the AU format structure — a header with magic number 0x2e736e64, data offset, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count, followed by raw audio. On MS-DOS PCs, the same .snd extension was used by early sound utilities like Sounder and SoundTool for simple 8-bit unsigned PCM recordings. Macintosh systems also employed .snd for sound resources embedded in the resource fork. Because the extension is shared across incompatible formats, audio processing tools typically inspect the file header to determine which variant they are handling: files beginning with the AU magic number are treated as Sun/NeXT audio, while headerless files are interpreted as raw PCM with assumed parameters. The Sun/NeXT variant supports multiple encodings including mu-law, A-law, 8-bit and 16-bit linear PCM, and ADPCM, making it versatile for both speech and general audio. One advantage of the AU-style SND is its self-describing header, which enables any compliant player to determine sample format and rate without external metadata. The MS-DOS SND variants hold historical value as artifacts of the era when Sound Blaster cards first brought digital audio to personal computers. SND files from all platforms can be processed and converted using SoX and other audio tools.

CAF (Core Audio Format) is a flexible audio container developed by Apple and introduced with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger in 2005. Built to overcome limitations of older formats, CAF eliminates the 4 GB file size ceiling that constrains WAV and AIFF, theoretically supporting unlimited length. The container accommodates virtually any codec — AAC, ALAC, MP3, linear PCM, IMA ADPCM, and more — within a unified wrapper. Its chunk-based architecture stores audio alongside rich metadata including channel layouts, marker regions, annotations, and MIDI data. A defining advantage is handling extremely long recordings: broadcasters and field recordists can capture hours of continuous audio without size boundaries. Flexible codec support is another strength, as one container works whether the content is high-resolution 24-bit/192 kHz lossless audio or compressed speech. Apple's Core Audio framework provides native support on macOS and iOS, ensuring low-latency playback in professional applications like Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro. For Apple ecosystem workflows requiring both versatility and scale, CAF is an exceptionally capable choice.