WAVE and AIFF are two
audio formats that support 44.1 KHz, 16-bit, stereo audio, which is the standard
audio specification used by audio CDs. They are also encoded with pulse code
modulation (PCM), which is the same encoding used by CD audio tracks. Therefore,
WAV and AIF files can be easily converted to audio tracks when burned to a
CD.
The WAVE and AIFF formats are very similar, but they use different file
headers. Since the headers are stripped away when the audio data is converted to
CD audio, both file types are a good choice for creating audio
CDs.
[...]
Since the AIFF format is so similar to the audio CD format, the
tracks on an audio CD actually appear as AIFF files when you load an audio CD
into a Mac. This means you can copy the tracks to your hard drive by simply
dragging them from the CD window to your desktop.
[...]
In Windows, audio
CD tracks show up as .CDA files. These are shortcuts to tracks on the CD, which
do not contain audio data. Instead CDA files instruct the computer which audio
track to play on a CD. Therefore, if you drag a CDA file to your desktop, it
will only produce a shortcut. To import audio from a CD, you will need to use a
program like Windows Media Player or iTunes.