Shorten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shorten (SHN) 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. 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 data loss (which, depending on the quality of the encoding, the playback equipment, the level of ambient noise during playback, and the listener's hearing, may or may not be perceptible). Shorten is no longer developed and more mature lossless audio codecs such as FLAC, MPEG-4 ALS, Monkey's Audio (APE), TTA, and WavPack have become popular recently, although Shorten remains a common format due to the large number of legally tradable concert recordings in circulation that are encoded as Shorten files. Some applications require (and some hi-fi enthusiasts demand) the lossless digital output that such codecs provide. Shorten files use the .SHN file extension.
The Shorten algorithm and the reference code that implement it were developed by Tony Robinson of Cambridge University in 1992/1993 and later assigned to 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Shorten Research Paper, written by the author of Shorten and detailing how it works.
- etree.org Wiki article. etree.org is a trading site for authorized recordings of live performances; etree formerly used Shorten exclusively but is increasingly using FLAC.
- Shorten FAQ (note: If looking for software to play .shn files, you will probably be better served by the etree software page, as the Shorten FAQ has many broken and outdated links.)
- SoftSound Ltd.
- Lossless audio formats, a performance comparison of lossless audio formats, including Shorten.
| Multimedia compression formats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video compression formats | ISO/IEC | MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 | MPEG-4/AVC | ITU-T | H.261 | H.262 | H.263 | H.264 | Others | AVS | Dirac | Indeo | MJPEG | RealVideo | VC-1 | Theora | VP6 | VP7 | WMV |
| Audio compression formats | ISO/IEC MPEG | MPEG-1 Layer III (MP3) | MPEG-1 Layer II | AAC | HE-AAC | ITU-T | G.711 | G.722 | G.722.1 | G.722.2 | G.723 | G.723.1 | G.726 | G.728 | G.729 | G.729.1 | G.729a | Others | AC3 | ATRAC | FLAC | iLBC | Monkey's Audio | Musepack | RealAudio | SHN | Speex | Vorbis | WavPack | WMA |
| Image compression formats | ISO/IEC/ITU-T | JPEG | JPEG 2000 | JPEG-LS | JBIG | JBIG2 | -- | -- | Others | BMP | GIF | ILBM | PCX | PNG | TGA | TIFF | WMP |
| Media container formats | General | 3GP | ASF | AVI | FLV | Matroska | MP4 | MXF | NUT | Ogg | Ogg Media | QuickTime | RealMedia | Audio only | AIFF | AU | WAV | -- | -- |
