Other audio editors do this also. They create a file of the waveform so 
they don't have o build it each time the file is opened. In Soundforge 
it is a .sfk file. In Audition it is the .pk file. If it is thrown away 
the program takes longer to open the file next time, that's all.

Don't know if this is the same for Audacity.

joe salerno


On 3/4/2011 4:53 PM, ADRIAN COSENTINI wrote:
> Hi Melodie,
>
> Now I've never used Audacity, but all the audio editors I've used create
> linked files that have the information on how to draw the picture of the
> "wav" file. Most likely thats what they are and no I wouldn't erase them.
>
> Cheers,
> Adrian Cosentini
> New York Philharmonic
> Audio Preservation Manager
>
> On Mar 4, 2011, at 3:01 PM, Frances, Melodie wrote:
>
>> All
>>
>> We use Audacity to convert our reel to reel tapes into digital files.
>> We recently noticed that there are a bunch of extra files that end in
>> .auf They are all about 1000 KB and have a name along the lines of
>> b02720. There are TONS of these files. We are wondering what they are
>> and if it is safe to delete them or not?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Melodie Frances
>
>