# 14.4 `sunau` -- Read and write Sun AU files

The `sunau` module provides a convenient interface to the Sun AU sound format. Note that this module is interface-compatible with the modules `aifc` and `wave`.

The `sunau` module defines the following functions:

`open` (file, mode)
  If file is a string, open the file by that name, otherwise treat it as a seekable file-like object. mode can be any of
  `'r'`
    Read only mode.
  `'w'`
    Write only mode.
  Note that it does not allow read/write files.

  A mode of `'r'` returns a `AU_read` object, while a mode of `'w'` or `'wb'` returns a `AU_write` object.

`openfp` (file, mode)
  A synonym for `open`, maintained for backwards compatibility.

The `sunau` module defines the following exception:

`Error`
  An error raised when something is impossible because of Sun AU specs or implementation deficiency.

The `sunau` module defines the following data item:

`AUDIO_FILE_MAGIC`
  An integer every valid Sun AU file begins with a big-endian encoding of.

- 14.4.1 AU_read Objects
- 14.4.2 AU_write Objects