5 File Formats

This chapter describes the kind of files and these formats used in HARK . Since various and complex file formats are used in previous versions of HARK , it was difficult to understand the whole formats. From HARK 2.1, we simplify them into three main formats and standard formats.

The design policy of the new format is twofold:

Use less HARK special formats and more standard formats.
Provide rich file I/O APIs.

According to the policy, we define a simple binary format for matrix representation **Matrix binary**, and use a combination standard formats such as XML, Zip for other formats . We also provide file I/O library **libharkio3** for developers to write file I/O code easily.

The HARK mainly uses the following three formats:

XML: The format is used for files that represents positions. The extension is .xml
Matrix binary: The format is used for files that represents a matrix. The extensions is .mat
Zip: The format is used for files that represents a compound format such as transfer functions. The extension is .zip

Other file formats used in previous versions are integrated into the formats above or changed to a standard format.

Table 5.1 shows the node list that includes file I/O.

Table 5.1: HARK nodes that uses file I/O

Node name	Where to use	File type	New format	Old format
SaveRawPCM	Output	Raw Audio file	Raw Audio Format	No change
SaveWavePCM	Output	Wave file	PCM Wave Format	No change
LocalizeMUSIC	Property	Transfer function for localization	Zip	HGTF binary
SaveSourceLocation	Output	Localization result	XML	Localization result text
LoadSourceLocation	Property	Localization result	XML	Localization result text
GHDSS	Property	Transfer function for separation	Zip	HGTF binary
	Property	Microphone positions	XML	HARK text
	Property	Stationary noise positions	XML	HARK text
	Property	Initial separation matrix	Zip	HGTF binary
	Output	Separation matrix	Zip	HGTF binary
SaveFeatures	Output	Features	Matrix binary	`float` binary
SaveHTKFeatures	Output	Features	HTK format	No change
DataLogger	Output	`Map` data	XML	`Map` text
CMSave	Property	Correlation matrix	Zip	Correlation matrix text
CMLoad	Output	Correlation matrix	Zip	Correlation matrix text
JuliusMFT	Command line argument	Configuration	jconf (text)	No change
	in jconf file	Acoustic model, phoneme list	julius format	No change
	in jconf file	Language model, dictionary	julius format	No change
harktool	harktool	Sound source positions list	XML	srcinf text
	harktool	Impulse response	PCM Wave Format	`float` binary

The rest of the document describes the three formats in detail. We do not describe the standard formats: For Julius format including jconf format, see the document of Julius . For Raw Audio Format and PCM Wave Format, see the standard format description.