**2.4.3 Multimedia sound formats**

The WAVE (waveform) format is developed by IBM and Microsoft. It is supported by all computers running Windows, and by all the most popular web browsers. Sounds stored in the WAVE format have the extension .wav.

MP3 files are actually MPEG files. But the MPEG format was originally developed for video by the Moving Pictures Experts Group. We can say that MP3 files are the sound part of the MPEG video format. MP3 is one of the most popular sound formats for music recording. The MP3 encoding system combines good compression (small files) with high quality. Expect all your future software systems to support it. Sounds stored in the MP3 format have the extension .mp3, or .mpga (for MPG Audio). The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) was developed by Apple. AIFF files are not cross-platform and the format is not supported by all web browsers. Sounds stored in the AIFF format have the extension .aif or .aiff.
