This page offers free downloads of programs that convert sound files in the Canary file format to both the MacBinary and AIFF formats. Canary files were created by the Canary sound analysis application for Macintosh computers, sold by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology beginning in 1991.

For information on opening Raven-saved files in Canary, go to the Canary FAQ page.

In the following, we will discuss only who needs these converters and how to choose which converters to apply. Documentation for the conversion programs themselves appears in the downloads.

Who Should Download These Converters?

• If you have Canary files that you want to open only in Raven for Mac OS X, you do not need these converters. As of Raven for Mac OS X version 1.2, now available for beta testing, Raven can open regular Canary files directly.

• If you want to open Canary files in Raven for Windows, you will need to download one of the Macintosh packages below. Your download will include a program that you can run on a Macintosh to convert your Canary files to MacBinary format. You can then copy the MacBinary format files to a PC and open them in Raven for Windows version 1.2.

• If you have Canary files that you want to convert to AIFF format on a Macintosh running Mac OS X, you will need to download the Mac OS X package. This package includes two programs, one that converts Canary files to MacBinary format and another that converts MacBinary files to AIFF format.

• If you have Canary files that you want to convert to AIFF format, and you do not have access to a Macintosh running Mac OS X, you will need to download the Mac OS 9 and Windows packages. Then you must convert your Canary files to MacBinary format under Mac OS 9, move them to a PC, and there convert the MacBinary files to AIFF files.

MacBinary or AIFF?
On the Macintosh platform a file has two internal parts, called the data fork and the resource fork. When a Macintosh file is moved to a PC, only the data fork is retained, and the resource fork is discarded. This renders Canary files unreadable, since the resource fork contains data essential for interpreting the data fork.

The MacBinary file format allows a Macintosh file to be safely transferred to a PC, by combining the data and resource forks of the original file in the data fork of a new file. The new file contains all of the information in the original file: nothing is discarded. For Canary sound files this includes the sound samples exactly as they appeared in the original file, as well as amplitude calibration data, etc.
When a Canary file is converted to an AIFF file, some information may be lost. For example, sound samples are stored in a Canary file as 32-bit floating point numbers, while the converters offered here create AIFF files with 16-bit integer samples. Some resolution may be lost when the 32-bit samples are converted to the 16-bit ones. In addition, any amplitude calibration data present in original Canary file are discarded during the conversion.

For this reason, if you will work with your Canary files only in Raven we recommend that you either leave them as they are (if you will use Raven for Mac OS X) or convert them to the MacBinary format (if you will use Raven for Windows). We recommend conversion to the AIFF format only if you wish to open the files in a program other than Raven.

The table below shows which conversions can performed on Windows, Mac OS X, and Mac OS 9 computers, using the downloadable software packages available on this page.

Available Installers and Disk Images

Windows Instructions:

      Instructions

•  After downloading, double-click CanaryFileConverterWin.exe to install the application, after which you can launch from the Start/Programs menu.
  

      Notes

• You do not need to install any other software. A Java virtual machine is included with this download.

Mac OS X Instructions:

      Instructions

•  after downloading, double-click CanaryFileConverterOsX.sea.hqx or CanaryFileConverterOsX.sea as necessary to extract the software. Follow the instructions within the file readme.txt that is contained within the archive.

Mac OS 9 Instructions:

      Instructions

• After downloading, double-click CanaryFileConverterOs9.sea.hqx or CanaryFileConverterOs9.sea as necessary to extract the software. Follow the instructions within the file readme.txt that is contained within the archive.

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