Shorten (codec)

Shorten (SHN) is a file format used for compressing audio data. It is a form of data compression of files and is used to losslessly compress CD-quality audio files (44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo PCM). Shorten is no longer developed and other lossless audio codecs such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), TTA, and WavPack (WV) have become more popular. It is still in use to trade concert recordings that are already encoded as Shorten files. Shorten files use the .shn file extension.

Handling Shorten files

All libavcodec based players and converters support the Shorten codec; and since the LAVFilters are based on libavcodec, support can easily be added to Windows Media Player and other software that uses the standard filter / codec APIs. As far as less common programs, some Rockbox applications can play Shorten files without decompression, and third-party Shorten plug-ins exist for Nero Burning ROM, Foobar2000, and Winamp; alternately VLC media player is an actually updated choice, or ffplay from the ffmpeg package if a command line utility is desired.

Many devices such as smart TVs that can act as music players lack support for shorten and can't have new support added, but most of the software listed above can also convert to formats that are playable on such devices.

See also

• FLAC
• MPEG-4 ALS
• Meridian Lossless Packing
• Monkey's Audio (APE)
• TTA
• WavPack

References

External links

• Shorten Research Paper, written by the author of Shorten and detailing how it works.
• Trader's Little Helper Download page. Trader's Little helper converts shn to wav among other things
• 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play .shn files, you will probably be better served by the etree software page, as the Shorten FAQ has many broken and outdated links.)
• Lossless audio formats, a performance comparison of lossless audio formats, including Shorten.
• A Small SHN and MD5 FAQ Includes a decent list of programs to handle Shorten files.

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