:mod:`sndhdr` --- Determine type of sound file ============================================== .. module:: sndhdr :synopsis: Determine type of a sound file. .. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. .. Based on comments in the module source file. .. index:: single: A-LAW single: u-LAW **Source code:** :source:`Lib/sndhdr.py` -------------- The :mod:`sndhdr` provides utility functions which attempt to determine the type of sound data which is in a file. When these functions are able to determine what type of sound data is stored in a file, they return a tuple ``(type, sampling_rate, channels, frames, bits_per_sample)``. The value for *type* indicates the data type and will be one of the strings ``'aifc'``, ``'aiff'``, ``'au'``, ``'hcom'``, ``'sndr'``, ``'sndt'``, ``'voc'``, ``'wav'``, ``'8svx'``, ``'sb'``, ``'ub'``, or ``'ul'``. The *sampling_rate* will be either the actual value or ``0`` if unknown or difficult to decode. Similarly, *channels* will be either the number of channels or ``0`` if it cannot be determined or if the value is difficult to decode. The value for *frames* will be either the number of frames or ``-1``. The last item in the tuple, *bits_per_sample*, will either be the sample size in bits or ``'A'`` for A-LAW or ``'U'`` for u-LAW. .. function:: what(filename) Determines the type of sound data stored in the file *filename* using :func:`whathdr`. If it succeeds, returns a tuple as described above, otherwise ``None`` is returned. .. function:: whathdr(filename) Determines the type of sound data stored in a file based on the file header. The name of the file is given by *filename*. This function returns a tuple as described above on success, or ``None``.