SOFA (Spatially Oriented Format for Acoustics)

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UPDATE: SOFA Toolbox v2.1 has been released. See Software and APIs for details.

SOFA is a file format for storing spatially oriented acoustic data like head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and binaural or spatial room impulse responses (BRIRs, SRIRs). SOFA has been standardized by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) as AES69-2015 and reaffirmed as AES69-2020 and AES69-2022. This website aims at providing SOFA-relevant information.


SOFA conventions are designed for a consistent description of data stored in SOFA. The aim is the exchange of the data between researches and users. For each conventions, data exist from corresponding measurement setups and its description has been accepted by the peer group. Suggestions for new SOFA conventions and additions to existing ones are highly welcome.


List of repositories with SOFA files containing HRTFs, PRTFs, BRIRs, and DRIRs measured by different researchers.


SOFA files can be read and modified by software and application-programming interfaces (APIs).


SOFA is result of the work of many people from various institutions.


The SOFA project got awarded with the Reproducibility in Audio and Music Research Prize 2013 [1].

News history

  • 29.08.2023: KAIST-IEM: DRIRs from the KAIST-IEM database added (Credit: Jung-Woo Choi, KAIST, Korea; Franz Zotter, IEM Graz)
  • 11.07.2023: SOFA Toolbox v2.2 was released on Sourceforge; the sources are stored at github
  • 03.07.2023: AXD: HRTFs from the AXD/SONICOM database added (Credit: Lorenzo Picinali, London)
  • 02.12.2022: ARI (LAS) database added (Credit: Piotr Majdak & Michael Mihocic, Vienna)
  • 21.10.2022: SOFA Toolbox v2.1 was released on Sourceforge; the sources are stored at github
  • 18.07.2022: SCUT: Near-field HRTFs and anthropometric data of listeners
  • 18.07.2022: CIPIC: Local copy of anthropometric data provided because original site down.
  • 02.05.2022: CIPIC data fixed
  • 28.12.2021: Room Transition dataset added (Credit: Thomas McKenzie, Aalto)
  • 28.12.2021: 6DoF dataset added (Credit: Thomas McKenzie, Aalto)
  • 28.12.2021: SADIE database added (Credit: Gavin Kearney and Cal Armstrong, York)
  • 28.12.2021: Listen database added (Credit: Markus Noisternig, Paris)
  • 28.12.2021: Crossmod database added (Credit: Markus Noisternig, Paris)
  • 28.12.2021: BiLi database added (Credit: Markus Noisternig, Paris)
  • 14.12.2021: Application WaveCloud-M removed (broken link, university cannot provide application)
  • 02.11.2021: sofar, a SOFA API for Python added (Credit: Fabian Brinkmann, Berlin)
  • 27.10.2021: Application Individualized HRTF Synthesis added to Software and APIs (Credit: Davi Carvalho, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brasil)
  • 19.10.2021: 3D3A, HRTFs and 3D scans from the Princeton database added (Credit: Edgar Choueiri, USA)
  • 11.10.2021: Application Webcam Headtracker added to Software and APIs
  • 02.07.2021: Application Binaural Audio database added to Software and APIs
  • 28.06.2021: PKU-IOA, High spatial resolution in-the-ear HRTFs added (Credit: Tianshu Qu, China)
  • 25.06.2021: Several external links updated
  • 12.02.2021: Test and example files added to files
  • 02.02.2021: TU Berlin, Directivity HRTFs (sources) added (Credit: David Ackermann, Germany)
  • 15.01.2021: Aachen, High-resolution HRTFs (human, and KEMAR dummy head) added (Credit: Janina Fels, Aachen)
  • 27.11.2020: VIKING, Full-sphere HRTFs (.sofa) added (Credit: Simone Spagnol, Denmark)
  • 04.06.2020: CHEDAR, numerically calculated HRTFs added (Credit: Slim Ghorbal, France)
  • 07.04.2020: Applications 3D Tune-In Toolkit and Anaglyph added
  • 31.01.2020: HUTUBS, HRTFs from the HUTUBS database added (Credit: Fabian Brinkmann, Berlin)
  • 22.01.2020: Widespread (PRTFs and pinna meshes) of 1005 listeners added (Credits: Corentin Guezonoc, CentraleSupélec, Cesson-Sévigné, France)
  • 15.10.2019: Head-gear HRTFs of a mannequin added (Credits: Christoph Pörschmann, Technische Hochschule Köln, Germany)
  • 04.07.2019: SOFA for Max: object collection for Max added (Credits: Dale Johnson and Hyunkook Lee, APL, HUD, UK)
  • 18.06.2019: SOFASonix: Lightweight SOFA API for Python added (Credits: Ioseb Laghidze, Joey Lag, ISVR, Southhampton, UK)
  • 28.05.2019: pysofaconventions, a SOFA API for Python added (Credits: Andrés Pérez-López, UPF/Eurecat, Spain)
  • 06.09.2018: pySOFA, a SOFA API for Python added (Credits: Jörg Encke, TUM, Munich)
  • 05.09.2018: DRIRs from THK added (Credits: Johannes Arend, Tim Lübeck)
  • 11.06.2018: DirPat (Application) added (Credits: Franz Zotter and the DirPat team)
  • 13.11.2017: SBSBRIRs added (Credits: Chris Pike)
  • 19.07.2017: Aachen HRTF database added (Credits: Janina Fels)
  • 13.07.2017: WebSofa added to the Software section (Credits: Christian-W. Budde)
  • 25.05.2017: HRTFs and HpIRs of FABIAN from TU-Berlin added (Credits: Fabian Brinkmann)
  • 21.11.2016: Near-field HRTFs from the Fachhochschule Köln with 5 different measurement distances
  • 16.08.2016: Large update of the Oldenburg BRIRs.
  • 05.03.2015: AES standardization process completed. SOFA 1.0 is now AES69-2015.
  • 22.10.2014: Files added: HpIRs from the BT-DEI database provided (Credits: Michele Geronazzo, Italy)
  • 15.10.2014: Discussion: New datatype "SOS" proposed
  • 03.10.2014: Files added: Headphone IRs (HpIRs) from the ARI database for over 100 human listeners provided
  • 11.08.2014: Conventions: SimpleHeadphoneIR 0.1 completed
  • 23.05.2014: Files added: ARI (ARTIFICIAL), HRTFs of mannequins (dummy heads) measured at ARI using the same setup as for human listeners
  • 08.04.2014: Files added: ARI B, files with low-frequency content for Hifi listening experience.
  • 25.03.2014: Files updated: Update to SOFA 0.6
  • 20.03.2014: SOFA 0.6
  • 21.03.2014: Files added: RIEC Far-field HRTFs from the RIEC database (Credits: Kajni Watanabe, Japan)
  • 20.03.2014: Conventions: SimpleFreeFieldHRIR 0.4 completed
  • 27.11.2013: Files added: Near-field HRTFs from SCUT database of the KEMAR (Credits: Bosun Xie, China)
  • 18.11.2013: Files added: HRTFs of the dummy-head Neumann K100, gapless and high spatial resolution (Credits: Benjamin Bernschütz)
  • 30.08.2013: SOFA 0.5
  • 29.08.2013: Files added: DRIRs from Oldenburg. Recordings in an office under several conditions (Credits: Stephan Ewert)
  • 29.06.2013: Conventions: GeneralFIR and GeneralTF completed
  • 21.06.2013: Files added: ARI, LISTEN, CIPIC, MIT KEMAR, TU-Berlin
  • 20.08.2013: Conventions: SimpleFreeFieldHRIR 0.3 proposed
  • 17.05.2013: SOFA 0.3
  • 17.05.2013: Website released
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