8SVX
| Filename extension | .8svx, .iff |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | audio/8svx, audio/x-8svx |
| Type code | 8SVX |
| Developed by | Electronic Arts and Commodore International |
| Initial release | 1985 |
| Type of format | audio file format, container format |
| Extended from | IFF |
| Extended to | 16SVX, MAUD |
8-Bit Sampled Voice (8SVX) is an audio file format standard developed by Electronic Arts for the Commodore-Amiga computer series. It is a data subtype of the IFF file container format. It typically contains linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) digital audio.
The 8SVX subtype stores 8-bit audio data within chunks contained within an IFF file container. 8SVX subtypes can exist alone within IFF file containers (audio only), or can be multiplexed together with other IFF subtypes, such as video animation streams.
Metadata about the 8SVX data stream is contained in separate descriptor chunks that come prior to the main data body chunk. Sample rate, volume and compression type are described in a VHDR chunk. Various other chunks are available to describe the name, author and copyright.
8SVX supports features such as attack, release and section repeat, which are useful for storage of musical instrument samples.
An example layout of an audio-only 8SVX IFF audio file:
The majority of 8SVX data streams are encoded using uncompressed linear PCM streams. Optionally, Fibonacci-delta lossy data compression is also available, resulting in a 50% compression ratio at the cost of decreased fidelity. Multi-byte values are stored in big-endian format, the native byte order for the Motorola 68000 family.
IFF-8SVX encoded audio was the default audio format for the Commodore Amiga. Most audio programs for the Amiga supported the format. AmigaOS 3.0 introduced a multimedia framework using the datatype subsystem that included an 8SVX decoder (8SVX.datatype).
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