Shorten - Definition and Overview

SHN (Shorten) is a file format used to losslessly compress CD-quality audio files (44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo PCM). It is a compressed data file format similar to ZIP, RAR, and StuffIt but is optimized for compressing audio data. The Shorten compression saves disk space and decreases transfer times. Lossy formats such as Vorbis and MP3 are more typically used as these are usually ten percent of the size of the original file rather than 50-70 percent, but the smaller file size comes at the cost of lower sound fidelity. More mature lossless audio codecs such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), and TTA have become popular recently, although Shorten remains a popular format due to the large number of live shows in circulation encoded as Shorten files. Some applications require (and some hi-fi enthusiasts demand) the lossless digital output that such codecs provide.

The Shorten algorithm and the reference code that implement it were developed by Tony Robinson of SoftSound Ltd. The code was made available under a generous non-commercial license and has since been extended by Wayne Stielau to include seek tables so that one may seek within individual tracks when playing the files on one's computer.

See also

• wiktionary:shorten

External links

• etree.org A trading site for legal recordings of live audio (in contrast to bootleg recordings); etree formerly used Shorten exclusively but is increasingly using the flac lossless audio compression format
• Shorten FAQ (http://research.umbc.edu/~hamilton/shnfaq.html)
• SoftSound Ltd. (http://www.softsound.com/)