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# kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList

A list of structures describing the audio formats.

```
var kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList: AudioFormatPropertyID { get }
```

## Discussion

A list of <doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/CoreAudioTypes/AudioFormatListItem> structures describing the audio formats contained within the compressed bit stream, as described by the magic cookie. Set the `inSpecifier` parameter to an [`AudioFormatInfo`](/documentation/AudioToolbox/AudioFormatInfo) structure.

## Discussion

The `mFormatID` field of the `AudioStreamBasicDescription` structure must filled in. Formats are returned in order from the most to least “rich,” with channel count taking the highest precedence, followed by sample rate.

The [`kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList`](/documentation/AudioToolbox/kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList) property is the preferred method for discovering format information of the audio data. If the audio data can only be described by a single AudioFormatListItem, this property would be equivalent to using the [`kAudioFormatProperty_FormatInfo`](/documentation/AudioToolbox/kAudioFormatProperty_FormatInfo) property, which should be used by the application as a fallback case, to ensure backward compatibility with existing systems when [`kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList`](/documentation/AudioToolbox/kAudioFormatProperty_FormatList) is not present on the system.

---

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