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Shorten Lossless Audio Compression Format (SHN), Version 3.5.1
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Format Description Properties
• ID: fdd000199
• Short name: SHN_3_5_1
• Content categories: sound
• Format category: bitstream encoding, file format
• Last significant update: 2006-08-30
• Draft status: Partial (low priority for LC)
Identification and description 
| Full name | Shorten Lossless Audio Compression Format, Version 3.5.1 |
| Description |
Format used to losslessly compress LPCM audio files. According to the Wikipedia (as of August 25, 2006), this capability is limited to CD-quality (44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo) source material. |
| Relationship to other formats | |
| Other | LPCM, Linear Pulse Code Modulated Audio, is compressed to create SHN_3_5_1 |
Local use
Sustainability factors
| Disclosure | Developed by SoftSound, Ltd., with extensions from etree.org. |
| Documentation | Some documentation and downloadable executables from etree.org. |
| Adoption | According to the Wikipedia (as of August 25, 2006), Shorten remains a popular format due to the large number of legally tradable concert recordings in circulation that are encoded as Shorten files. |
| Licensing and patent claims | Generally described as available to the public for non-commercial use. |
| Transparency | Not investigated. |
| Self-documentation | Not investigated. |
| External dependencies | None. |
| Technical protection considerations | None identified. |
Quality and functionality factors (sound)
| Normal rendering | Supported; software applications like Winamp and XMMS are reported as able to decode and play Shorten files on the fly. |
| Fidelity (support for high audio resolution) | Lossless compression of LPCM. |
| Support for downloadable or user-defined sounds, samples, and patches | Not applicable |
| Functionality beyond normal sound rendering | Can include seek tables that can be used skip to portions of a selection in compliant players. |
File type signifiers
Notes
| General | |
| History | According to the Wikipedia (as of August 25, 2006), "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." |
Format specifications
URLs
• Documentation and downloadable executables from etree.org (http://www.etree.org/shncom.html)
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Useful references
URLs
• Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorten)
• The File Extension Source (http://filext.com/)
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Last Updated: 03/ 7/2007
