// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Core Audio say? It's a core issue.

Not to be confused with the Microsoft Windows Core Audio APIs, which include the Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI).

Core Audio
Developer	Apple Inc.
Release	2003
Stable release	3.2.6
Operating system	macOS, iOS
Type	Developer library
License	Proprietary
Website	https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coreaudio

Core Audio is a low-level API for dealing with sound in Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. It includes an implementation of the cross-platform OpenAL.

Apple's Core Audio documentation states that "in creating this new architecture on Mac OS X, Apple's objective in the audio space has been twofold. The primary goal is to deliver a high-quality, superior audio experience for Macintosh users. The second objective reflects a shift in emphasis from developers having to establish their own audio and MIDI protocols in their applications to Apple moving ahead to assume responsibility for these services on the Macintosh platform."

History

It was introduced in Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah).

Architecture

Core Audio supports plugins, which can generate, receive, or process audio streams; these plugins are packaged as a bundle with the extension .component.

See also

• Audio Units
• Core Foundation
• PulseAudio

References

Bibliography

• Singh, Amit (June 19, 2006). Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0-13-270226-3.

External links

• Apple's Core Audio page