Interchange File Format

file format (IFF, full name "EA IFF 1985") A generic file

format published by Electronic Arts as an open standard.

IFF is chunk-based and hierarchical so files can include

other files. It is easily extensible and an all round Good

Idea.

An IFF file starts with one of the following "group IDs":

'FORM', 'LIST' or 'CAT '. This is followed by an unsigned

32-bit number of bytes in the remainder of the file. Then

comes an ID that indicates which type of IFF file this is.

The main image type is ILBM, audio is either AIFF or

8SVX, animations are ANIM etc. An IFF file will probably

have a filename extension related to this file type stored

in the file. The rest of the file is divided into chunks

each of which also has a four-byte header and byte count.

Microsoft WAV and AVI are all based around an almost

identical scheme to IFF called RIFF. The main difference is

that, in RIFF files, numbers are little-endian as on Intel

processors, whereas in IFF files they are big-endian, as on

the Motorola 68000 processors in the Amiga where IFF files

were first used.

(1997-07-23)