SND to AU Converter

Dependable online SND to AU converter

Drop files here. 1 GB maximum file size or Sign Up
to
Facebook Amazon Microsoft Tesla Nestle Walmart L'Oreal

Group Conversion

Batch mode lets you convert dozens of SND files to AU simultaneously. Upload your collection and convert in one pass.

Faithful Audio

Converting SND to AU preserves the sonic character of your original recording. Audio data is processed with precision.

Protected Files

Your SND uploads are wiped as soon as conversion finishes. All AU results are purged automatically within 24 hours.

How to convert SND to AU

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose au or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your au file right afterwards

About formats

SND is a multi-platform audio file extension used across several computing ecosystems since the late 1980s. On Sun and NeXT workstations, .snd files follow the AU format structure — a header with magic number 0x2e736e64, data offset, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count, followed by raw audio. On MS-DOS PCs, the same .snd extension was used by early sound utilities like Sounder and SoundTool for simple 8-bit unsigned PCM recordings. Macintosh systems also employed .snd for sound resources embedded in the resource fork. Because the extension is shared across incompatible formats, audio processing tools typically inspect the file header to determine which variant they are handling: files beginning with the AU magic number are treated as Sun/NeXT audio, while headerless files are interpreted as raw PCM with assumed parameters. The Sun/NeXT variant supports multiple encodings including mu-law, A-law, 8-bit and 16-bit linear PCM, and ADPCM, making it versatile for both speech and general audio. One advantage of the AU-style SND is its self-describing header, which enables any compliant player to determine sample format and rate without external metadata. The MS-DOS SND variants hold historical value as artifacts of the era when Sound Blaster cards first brought digital audio to personal computers. SND files from all platforms can be processed and converted using SoX and other audio tools.
Initial release: 1988
AU is an audio file format introduced by Sun Microsystems for its Unix workstations and the NeXT platform. It features a minimal 24-byte header specifying data offset, size, encoding type, sample rate, and channel count, followed by the audio payload. AU supports numerous encodings, including uncompressed linear PCM at various bit depths, mu-law and A-law companding (logarithmic compression used in telephone systems), and several ADPCM variants. This versatility made AU a workhorse across early Unix environments, web audio (Java applets defaulted to AU), and telephony applications. One advantage is simplicity: the compact header and straightforward structure make it trivial to parse, generate, and stream programmatically. The built-in mu-law option provides another benefit, delivering reasonable voice quality at just 8 KB per second — half the rate of 16-bit uncompressed audio — invaluable when storage and bandwidth were scarce. Although modern formats have largely supplanted AU in consumer applications, it retains a foothold in scientific computing and audio processing pipelines where minimal overhead and reliable cross-platform behavior are valued.
Developer: Sun Microsystems
Initial release: 1992

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert SND to AU?

SND has minimal software support. AU is widely recognized across UNIX systems and supported by Audacity, VLC, and Java audio.

How do I open AU recordings?

Play AU with Audacity, VLC, SoX, QuickTime, or Sun/NeXT audio playback tools.

Can I convert multiple SND recordings to AU at once?

You can upload as many SND files as you need. The converter handles them all at once, outputting AU for each.

Is the SND to AU conversion private?

Your data is safe. Uploaded SND files are removed after conversion, and the AU outputs are cleared within 24 hours.

Do I need to install anything for this conversion?

Zero software required. The converter is browser-based and handles SND to AU conversion without any local installation.

How fast is SND to AU conversion?

SND to AU conversion is quick. Our servers are optimized for audio transcoding, so you get your output with minimal wait.

SND to AU Quality Rating

4.7 (3 votes)
You need to convert and download at least 1 file to provide feedback!